How To Repair The Flocked Side Of An Air Mattress

How to Prepare an Air Mattress

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Read 9 min Terminal updated on August 5, 2021

Airbeds are an affordable and space-saving alternative to a regular bed. Still, even the best air mattress isn't immune to accidental tears and leaks.

The proficient thing is, you tin hands gear up these bug, and you may not fifty-fifty demand the patch kit your airbed comes with.

In fact, you tin fix an air mattress with duct record, superglue, or even nail smooth!

Want to acquire more? Read on!

Preparations to Make

Whichever way of fixing a hole in an air mattress you lot'll choose, you need to set the mattress itself. And here are the steps you lot should have:

Locate the leak. Inflate the mattress to its full capacity and seal the valve as you'd ordinarily do. Then try to hear the sound of the air coming out of your airbed. Alternatively, you lot can brand a mixture of dish lather and water and spray it generously onto the mattress. The leaking air will form foam or bubbling, allowing you to easily locate the hole. Once y'all accept found it, marking it with a tailor's pencil or a marker and allow the airbed to dry out before proceeding to the next step.
Deflate the mattress completely. Whatever air left inside might prevent the patch or glue from forming a tight seal, and you lot'll have to repair the pigsty again.
Scrub it. If the puncture is on the flocked top of the airbed, y'all need to scrub the spot so that the patch can adhere properly. Employ soft sandpaper and do not rub too vigorously to avoid damaging the mattress.

Now, your airbed is fix to be fixed!

And here are v all-time ways to do it.

#1 Brand DIY Patch Kit

The easiest way to gear up an air mattress is to mucilage a patch to the leaking area. Some airbeds come with an included patch kit, but what if you don't have one by your side?

Don't worry!

You lot can employ any thin plastic or prophylactic material for making a patch, for example:

a piece of shower curtain;
a pool liner;
a piece of inner bike tire (the i that'southward made of soft rubber).

And here's what you lot need to practice to patch your airbed:

Cut the needed amount of fabric. Ideally, your patch should cover the leak entirely and spread at least an inch to each side to ensure a good seal.
Degrease the surfaces. You lot can employ rubbing alcohol or nail polish remover. Degreasing removes lipid rest that may prevent the patch from adhering to the mattress.
Apply glue according to instructions. Some adhesives demand to exist applied on both contacting surfaces, whereas the others tin be practical either to the mattress or to the patch. Use the generous corporeality of glue to ensure that the seal will be tight.
Printing it downward. Afterwards y'all have applied the glue and positioned the patch, press it with your hand or something heavy and hold like that at to the lowest degree for a couple of minutes. You may also leave the mattress to dry overnight, just to be on the safe side.

One time the glue dries, inflate the airbed and check the results of your chore.

#two Use Superglue

Superglue might exist helpful for patching an airbed that has a small and thin puncture with two edges that need to adhere together , e.g. small scissors cutting or a knife puncture.

You tin gear up the hole in the airbed with superglue in 2 ways:

Either use it as an agglutinative for a previous DIY-patch method or just squeeze the glue above the puncture without whatever patches. You can utilise stitch-like motions and use the glue to the puncture. In one case the get-go layer is dry, repeat the awarding until the whole puncture and at least 0.five" around information technology is covered.

And then, inflate the mattress and check the leak.

Superglue is a proficient method for patching a mattress in camping ground conditions when you do not have a patch kit by your side.

#three Gel Boom Smooth

This method requires certain preparations — you need to accept a UV low-cal source to trigger the polymerization reaction in the nail polish — but it's pretty effective. It also works for whatsoever hole size, which is groovy.

Here'due south how to patch your air mattress using gel shine, if you lot take a small hole.

Sand the area around the hole , regardless if it has flocking on it or not.
Degrease the area using rubbing booze or nail polish remover and let it dry out.
Apply a driblet of nail polish to a higher place the hole .
Turn on the UV low-cal and set it to a higher place the nail smooth driblet for 10-15 seconds to cure it.
Repeat if needed.

If the mattress has a large puncture that requires placing a patch over it, here's how you can use this method:

Sand and degrease the surface area .
Cut the piece of articulate shower curtain to embrace the pigsty. The use of clear materials is recommended because they can let the UV light through.
Cover the cutting piece with a thick layer of nail smoothen and place it above the hole.
Plow the UV lite on and set it above the patched area for 15-xx seconds .
Check if the patch is secured by rubbing on it.

Note that, although gel nail smooth creates a tight seal, information technology's still a temporary method, so you should get yourself a proper mattress patch kit.

#iv Marine Broth Gum

Marine Goop (likewise known nether the name Amazing Goop) is one of the strongest adhesives you tin can find today. Marine Goop is waterproof and UV-resistant and can be used as a sealant, which makes it a good choice for patching a leaky airbed if you programme to use it outdoors.

So, the method has the following steps:

Sand the surface and degrease it. Goop creates a meliorate seal on a slightly crude surface. Just don't go wild so that yous rub through the airbed.
Apply a thin layer of Goop above the leak. Create an even seal above the puncture making certain you cover almost one-half of an inch around it. Employ an old toothbrush or art brush for that, and put the safety gloves on to protect your easily.
Allow the sealant to cure. The manufacturer recommends letting the sealant dry for 24 hours minimum, but that may vary depending on the climate or temperature in your abode.

#5 Use Hot Glue Gun

This might sound a scrap controversial, but a hot mucilage gun can assistance you lot out in patching your mattress, although this seal will just last for about a week. So if y'all don't have a repair kit by your side, you lot can try this method:

Locate the hole on your mattress and mark it.
Place the glue stick into the gum gun and turn information technology on, allowing information technology to rut upwardly.
Squeeze the trigger of a glue gun and dab a small blob of the hot glue over the pigsty, sealing it completely.
Allow the gum to absurd down and check the quality of the seal past inflating your mattress.

This method works amend with small holes that don't require patching . Too, be conscientious when using hot glue on the mattress, and don't accidentally create another hole.

#6 Patch a Hole With Duct Tape

Finally, if you need to fix a hole in an air mattress without a patch kit and you don't have any adhesive past your side, use duct record.

Cut a piece large enough to cover the puncture and some space around it and apply it to the degreased surface.

Note, though, that the glue on the duct tape tends to lose its grip over time , so if you program to use this fix, you might end up having to repatch the pigsty regularly. However, information technology may work as a temporary solution until you get a patch kit or a strong adhesive to ready the hole permanently.

And so, have you lot tried any of these methods? You're welcome to share your experience below.