That Friday I was working in an industrial lot at Manifold Heights, just finishing up on a carpet cleaning job, which had taken the better part of my day on account of the impossible carpet stains. The time was 6.37 pm, and I was glad to be finally done with this job. All I could think about was getting home to a warm shower and some grub. As I put my gear together, I got an urgent callout that was unusual for this time of day, and I decided to take it because it was located at North Geelong; on my way home.
The call came from a family who wanted mattress cleaning in North Geelong just 9 miles north of my location. I arrived at the stone house and was ushered in by a friendly looking woman who took me straight to the bedroom and pointed out the damage. One of her kids had vomited on the mattress in the room, and there was also an old urine stain on both sides of the mattress, it had apparently been turned over several times.
The smell was fetid and somehow managed to make the room dark and gloomy. Urine stains on a mattress or any other indoor furniture can cause so many health risks to the residents of that home. It is essential to sanitize the mattress and get the urine stains and smells off. Urine can leave behind an offensive smell and carries bacteria that causes fungus and mold if not removed. Home treatments will most often do the job, but most people will rather hire an upholstery cleaner with more experience.
So I took the mattress out to the yard. The first thing I had to do was dry hose the dried vomit off the mattress. Most people would shy away from this job, but not me because I love what I do. The ability to bring some semblance to people’s homes and furniture gives me a lot of joy and right now the ability to revive an otherwise dead mattress seemed to me like a challenge I couldn’t pass up.
I looked closer at the damaged mattress to make sure there was nothing more that needed my attention. I identified all spots, stains, rips and inconsistencies in the mattress. I wanted to make sure the work to be done would improve and not utterly destroy the mattress. From my inspection, I realized that the heavy urine stains would require a special stain removal solution and a generous application of pre-spray to treat the area on the vomit.
After the inspection, I used a dry vacuum to give the mattress an extensive vacuuming. The dry vacuum helped removed some dried bits of vomit so that during the pre-spray there will not be any congealed or thickened solids. I pre-sprayed the mattress next with a mild solution that I knew would not be a safety hazard to people’s skin. The pre-spray solution and some hot water from my truck heater help break down the vomit and other stains nicely.
I thoroughly brushed the solutions deep into the mattress. Brushing is the most time-consuming part of this job because I had to make sure that the solution reaches every part of the mattress so that all tiny bugs and bacteria were destroyed.
By 9.00pm, I was done with cleaning and pre-drying the mattress, and it smelt and looked like it was brand new. I switched on my airflow fans on the mattress to get it as dry as possible before I packed up my jetless upholstery spray and the rest of my gear. I advised the woman to leave the mattress to dry out for a minimum of 6 hours, and she was excited with the results.
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