Forum Discussion

sillynikki's avatar
sillynikki
Explorer
Jul 06, 2013

Has anyone successfully cleaned the foam beds?

I took the covers off and they are in the wash. Yuck they were so gross! My parents 5 greyhounds slept on the one side and they smelled very doggy and were filthy.

The foam still smells. Has anyone successfully washed them in a mild bleach or detergent wash? I have a steam cleaner so I can suck a lot of the water out and lay them in the sun to dry. It's very hot and sunny here today.

I just wanted to check before I do anything that may damage them completely.

*Hmmm...I just read that bleach can eat away at the foam. Is that true?*
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  • xteacher's avatar
    xteacher
    Explorer
    Jul 08, 2013
    In the future, you could try using an enzyme cleaner such as Nature's Miracle on the foam to see if that works. It's good for all types of pet smells, urine, etc. It neutralizes odor.
  • sillynikki's avatar
    sillynikki
    Explorer
    Jul 07, 2013
    We actually have them hanging from the fence so the air can get both sides. Plus, the sun is shining on them. We kept them standing up all night and yes, the majority of the water is towards one end. We're just keeping them so that the water continues to migrate down towards that end.

    Maybe they'll be dry in 2 weeks. Otherwise, we will just use air mattresses until we get new foam mattresses.
  • DougE's avatar
    DougE
    Explorer
    Jul 07, 2013
    Put them in the sun and place them vertically on concrete so water will migrate to the bottom. Turn them occasionally so both sides get exposed to the sun. The concrete is porous so it will help pull the water out. This will surely take several days with your mattresses.
  • sillynikki's avatar
    sillynikki
    Explorer
    Jul 07, 2013
    Francesca Knowles wrote:
    I washed my 4 inch thick cushions in the bathtub once, and they took FOREVER to dry. (In August) In fact, almost a month later I was sitting in the trailer on one cushion that hadn't been sat on since washed. I suddenly had a sort of "creeping wetness" sensation...guess what? That puppy was STILL wet!

    If you do this, I recommend that you put the wet cushion down on the ground with a board over it and run over it with your car to squeeze as much of the water out as possible.

    I am NOT kidding...


    Um yeah. I think we will do that because that water is sealed into that mattress.
    :S

    My steam cleaner had a VERY hard time rolling across the foam, so that wasn't very successful. We had them sitting out in the sun for hours and they are still wet. Oh well. I wanted to give this a try before replacing them. They at least smell good for the time being! Hopefully we can get them dry before they begin to stink again.

    I'm going out right now and am going to use the gas powered leaf blower on them.
  • Francesca_Knowl's avatar
    Francesca_Knowl
    Explorer
    Jul 06, 2013
    I washed my 4 inch thick cushions in the bathtub once, and they took FOREVER to dry. (In August) In fact, almost a month later I was sitting in the trailer on one cushion that hadn't been sat on since washed. I suddenly had a sort of "creeping wetness" sensation...guess what? That puppy was STILL wet!

    If you do this, I recommend that you put the wet cushion down on the ground with a board over it and run over it with your car to squeeze as much of the water out as possible.

    I am NOT kidding...
  • sillynikki's avatar
    sillynikki
    Explorer
    Jul 06, 2013
    Thanks y'all! I'm going to give it a try cleaning them. It sure can't hurt anything because I am NOT sleeping on them the way they smell. I'll let you know how they turn out.
  • YC_1's avatar
    YC_1
    Nomad
    Jul 06, 2013
    I rebuilt one and put the foam on the driveway and poured detergent mixed with water. Walking in bare feet I gave them a good cleaning and they came out great.
  • DougE's avatar
    DougE
    Explorer
    Jul 06, 2013
    My dog lay on a couch for several years. I finally took the foam cushions off one at a time and put them in the tub with laundry detergent. I walked around on them for a while until the color of the water in the tub seemed to stabilize. I squeezed the water out and did the procedure several times until the water no longer got very dirty. So it was wash & rinse, wash & rinse, etc. This saved my cushions but if I had a way to get new cushions the proper size that would have been the way to go.
  • mark5w's avatar
    mark5w
    Explorer
    Jul 06, 2013
    No bleach. Try the steam cleaner, let dry and spray with Fabreze. Good luck.

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