Quick answer
Every used mattress has dust mites — they feed on the dead skin cells we shed while sleeping. Washing your sheets removes mites from the sheets, but the mites living deep inside the mattress stay. What actually kills them is sustained high heat. Professional steam cleaning reaches temperatures that kill dust mites and removes their allergens, dead skin, and waste from inside the mattress.
Know the symptoms
Signs You Have a Dust Mite Problem
- Waking up with a stuffy or runny nose that clears up during the day
- Sneezing fits in the morning or when you get into bed
- Itchy skin, eyes, or throat at night
- Allergy or asthma symptoms that are worse in the bedroom
- You can't see dust mites — they're microscopic. If you have the symptoms, assume they're there.
The catch
Why Washing Sheets Isn't Enough
Your sheets are just the surface. Dust mites live inside the mattress itself, where it's warm, dark, and full of their food — the skin cells that work through the fabric over years of sleeping.
A typical used mattress can hold hundreds of thousands of dust mites. Hot-washing your sheets weekly is good hygiene, but it never touches the population inside the mattress.
Save your money
What Doesn't Work
- Vacuuming with a regular vacuum: pulls up some surface debris, but mites cling to fibers deep inside
- Baking soda: absorbs some odor, kills nothing
- Sprays and "mattress refreshers": mask smells, leave the mites and their allergens in place
- Sunlight: helps a little on the surface, can't heat the inside of a mattress enough
The real fix
What Actually Kills Dust Mites
Heat. Dust mites die at sustained temperatures above 130°F (54°C). Professional hot-water extraction (steam cleaning) injects water at high temperature deep into the mattress and immediately extracts it — killing mites and pulling out the allergens, dead skin, sweat residue, and mite waste that trigger the symptoms.
It's the same reason hot-washing kills mites in sheets — we just do it inside the mattress, where the real population lives.
Watch us work
Cleaning reels from real jobs
Short videos from actual Stain Steamer appointments — carpet cleaning, couch cleaning and more across NJ & NY.
Want more? See our other cleaning results — real before & afters from actual jobs.
Maintenance
How Often Should a Mattress Be Cleaned?
- Every 6-12 months for most homes
- Every 6 months if anyone in the home has allergies or asthma, or if pets sleep on the bed
- Immediately after buying a used mattress or after any illness, sweat, or urine accident
Our process
Our Mattress Cleaning Process
- 1
Inspection and dry vacuuming of the surface
- 2
Pre-treatment to loosen embedded skin cells and residue
- 3
Hot-water extraction at mite-killing temperature, deep into the mattress
- 4
Fast extraction so the mattress dries the same day
Sleep on a Clean Mattress Tonight
Mattress steam cleaning is bookable online. We're insured, background-checked, and have 750+ five-star reviews across North Jersey. Most mattresses are dry and ready to sleep on the same day.