My name is Jon Bristol,
and I'm from Trinidad and Tobago.
I'm the director of Super Fresh,
and today I'm going to show you
how we clean very dirty mattresses
as well as the average dirty ones.
So, a typical process of cleaning a mattress is
we spray on an enzyme-based cleaner,
and that will break down the dirt
and the body oils
and, you know, the incidents.
And we give that chemical some time to work.
After that, there's some agitation,
also known as scrubbing,
and in the final stage of the process,
we use the extractor,
and that would spray on a solution of clean water,
fabric shampoo, and deodorizer
and vacuum at the same time.
So it rinses away everything,
so there isn't any harsh chemicals left
to interfere with anyone's skin
or anything afterwards.
There's going to be a lot of dust buildup over time.
There's going to be hair.
If there are a lot of kids in your home,
you're going to find urine,
even if the client doesn't know.
Sometimes, you know,
some people eat on their beds and stuff,
so you find crumbs from various foodstuff.
All right. So, I actually had no idea
what to expect when coming to do this job.
And I'm still not entirely sure what caused it.
It may have been some flooding in the area,
but I'm not sure.
So that was probably more than five years for sure.
So, right here, I am spraying on
the enzyme-based cleaner onto the mattress,
and I'm looking to see the areas
where I may have to apply another coat as we go along.
What I use right now, it's a synthetic enzyme.
I could use it for everything,
but there are some stains
that would require additional chemicals
if you really want to get them removed visually.
But the most important thing for most clients
is getting the actual thing
that caused the stain out.
So we say there may not be
a visual improvement, but you can be sure
that you're getting all the nasties out.
They're usually just regular buildup,
so just regular dust and dirt
that accumulate over the years.
Some clients don't use
a full three-piece sheet set.
A lot of clients don't have
mattress protectors either.
Using heat is beneficial because
heat acts almost like a universal catalyst.
So heat would help your chemicals to work faster,
so it would help the enzyme cleaner
to break down the stuff faster,
and it will also help the fabric shampoo
to latch onto the dirt particles faster.
So it helps make the cleaning process more efficient.
Unfortunately, there's no way to know for sure
that you get 100% of it,
but you want to know that you're picking up
as much as possible.
This mattress was especially dirty,
so it's either, like, a lot of years,
probably more than seven or so,
or a lot of use.
But I don't think it's any one thing,
but just a combination of factors
that leaves it to be that condition.
I found that you could use a variable-speed polisher
and a scrubbing-brush attachment.
The brush is rotating at about 600 rpm.
We use the softest brush available,
because some fabrics are really delicate.
And we use that to help break down
the larger debris and stuff
on the surface of the fabric.
So it helps break down the larger pieces of debris,
'cause sometimes they have buildup
that is really, really bad,
and it's actually, like, caked up.
The general process for removing stains
is just to isolate where the stain is,
and I may double-apply the enzyme-based cleaner to it
or I may spend a little longer scrubbing it.
[water gushing]
[cleaner buzzing]
I believe for this one the client told us
it was probably about two years,
and it wasn't too bad.
It was just, like, a cream-ish color,
but we know the original color was white,
and so we sprayed it one time
and we did the scrubbing.
I mean, you'll always have the extreme.
Some would be much, much darker brown.
Some would be much more spotty.
But the average person is just a little cream,
just a little off-white from where it should be.
For mattresses, you're usually going to get
those kind of colors,
because even below the surface,
you still have a lot of debris.
Your dead skin cells,
your dirt, and your dust building up.
So even if the top surface
doesn't accurately represent what is hidden
inside there, you're going to find it
once we do the extraction.
[water gushing]
After a certain amount of years,
your mattress significantly increases in weight
simply due to the dust
and dead skin cells that collect.
So, one, it's going to be more uncomfortable.
Two, if you're using it regularly,
some of that is going to be entering the air.
So you're going to have a lower-quality air
inside the home. It may attract mites
if there's a lot of moisture around.
Just overall it's not going to be
the best way of well-being.
For people that are asthmatic,
the buildup of dust could be a problem.
For people with sensitive skin,
any buildup on your mattress over time
could pose a threat in the future
in terms of having flare-ups.
If you're taking only preventative measures,
I don't think you should need to service
more than, like, once a year.
Get it cleaned and then get a mattress protector,
because you can always wash that
every fortnight or every month,
and you're in a much better position
than paying me. And I don't mind,
but you're in a much better position
for your own well-being.