ideas for affordable non-toxic mattress covers? mattress stored in smokers house :(

[kaybee]

I stored my good, queen size mattress at an acquaintance's house while I was away studying for 9 months. It didnt occur to me that my mattress would be ruined when I came back, since the woman is a heavy heavy smoker :( i just didnt even think about it :( I tried various things this summer to get the smoke smell out--fresh air and sun, coffee grounds, baking soda, several bottles of enzyme based cleaner, etc. I tried sleeping on it one night shortly after getting it back and the sheets ended up smelling like smoke and I woke up with a headache and stuffy nose. So, Ive had it sitting in the spare room for several months. the smell has diminshed, but it still smells stale. I need to use the mattress at this point because the one Ive been using temporarily is old, junky, too small, and not warm enough for the winter. o

So, at this point I feel like I need to encase my "good" mattress in something to prevent the smoke/stale smell from emnating. BUT, i dont want to be sleeping on a mattress cover thats offgassing either :(

Any ideas/sources for cheap mattress covers that are safe, non-toxic, not sprayed with flame retardants, and dont offgas? And which will prevent the smoke smell from coming through, so need to have some kind of barrier layer... I'd prefer something to totally zip the mattress inside, but have come up empty handed...also, it needs to be reasonably priced...I cant afford several hundred dollars :/

Other suggestions for removing smoke smell from mattress also welcome... The only other idea I have about somethign that might work is a mattress cleaning service that uses Ozone and some other things, and the company says it will take the smoke smell out...but I would have to drive the mattress 5 hours to get there...not really an option right now.

I don't want to ditch this mattress because I cannot afford another one, and I also prefer this old mattress to a new one becuse it probably off-gasses less than a brand new one would.


Thanks :/

kaybee

[Aleesha Sattva]

i have no idea. i would get it cleaned myself.... perhaps even check out a carpet cleaning company and see if they can do it in-house?

[Mary Kay]

IDK about a carpet-cleaning business unless they were green cuz they'd prob use chemicals.

But I have sev'l ideas. One is to use Thieves Cleaner from Young Living. A friend of mine sells used furniture in a shop and she says it works wonders for cig smell.

Another thing is that you can use a wool blanket that you shrink and kind of "felt." This can be made waterproof and hopefully act as a barrier by wetting, putting in a dryer. You could also use lanolin in the wash, however lanolin is not a vegan thing, but this is what makes it waterproof. You could no doubt google this as I've read about it starting oh, maybe six or seven yrs ago.

Mary Kay