How to Fix a Hole in an Air Mattress. Air mattresses are great for house guests or for when you want to travel light. But what do you do when the air mattress is already “flat”?
Anything from a small pinpoint-sized hole to a large ripped-out seam can cause your mattress to go flat.
Finding the leak and performing an air mattress repair will help you salvage your mattress until the next time you need it.
How to Fix a Hole in an Air Mattress
All air mattresses suffer from loss of inflation over time. And, if you’ve noticed your inflatable bed isn’t staying inflated as much or that it’s losing too much air overall, this probably means you have a puncture.
Leaks in an inflatable mattress are often simple to repair but first, you need to locate the hole and clean the area.
Then, in order to let one of the many different DIY methods work well enough to regain your supportive sleeping surface, you need appropriate glues and patches which we’ll talk about.
To begin with, below are the materials used in some common personal air-mattress patching remedies; plus tips on how any holes should be restored using these items.
Identify The Hole
Inflate the mattress first and lay it flat on the ground. Inspect it visually once it has been inflated. Whenever you see scuffs or tears, place your hand over the area and feel for leaking air.
Check the seams and air intake areas as well, since these are common places where holes develop. Check to see if any air is escaping from the mattress by running your hand over the surface.
After that, place your ear against the surface of the mattress. Listen for any sounds of air escaping.
A quick and simple way to find leaks is by placing a piece of tissue or paper towel on your mattress. Start in one corner and begin gently pressing down.
You’ll notice that the air will start going through the tissue when it’s pressurized so if it blows upwards you know where exactly to fix the leak.
Surfaces Must be Cleaned
To ensure your patch sticks to the surface, it’s best to clean it. Using either a wet cloth or detergent, moisten the area around the leak.
Scrub at it gently with either a dishcloth or some detergent, then rinse off the cloth and use it to wipe away any excess soap from the mattress. Let the surface air-dry completely before applying the patch.
Put a Patch on the Hole
If you use valves or a patch kit to seal a leak, follow the advice given on how to repair the hole.
The first step is to remove all the air from the mattress by laying it flat on the ground with the hole in a prominent position and completely deflated.
Cut out a large enough piece of plastic material to cover half an inch of either side of the hole and make sure it has glue around its edges.
Smoothly press this over/around the hole making sure that no air can escape through this new patch (no extra holes).
Don’t be afraid if your patch sticks up out of your mattress once inflated again because you should be able to put more patches over top of this one until you get it covered.
Apply Pressure and Allow to Dry
It is important to keep the patch on your deflating mattress from slipping around.
Therefore, it is vital that you place it somewhere where it cannot be easily moved or dislodged (such as placing it in between the mattress and the bed frame) while leaving it overnight to fully dry out before sleep.
It is important not to place objects directly onto the patch because doing so may cause the adhesive to loosen and fall off prematurely.
However, waiting a full 24 hours will give enough time for the glue layer to properly dry before removing any excess with a scouring pad tool or similar device.
Testing Seal
To test that your patch seamed together properly, place yourself onto a fully inflated air mattress, and press on the patch with your hand.
The patch should stick up above the rest of your mattress by a little bit to provide added support.
Now give your mattress a few good kicks in order to ascertain whether there are any future problems with it or not.
This new seal test is simply meant to ensure that the first method worked.
Also take a close look at how well you patched it with some water you soaked into an old rag which can just happen to leak all over onto the top, again ensuring that things are all set for good now.
How to Fix a Hole in an Air Mattress
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