Hissss!!! What can be more annoying than this sound from an air mattress? It gets even worse when you don’t have the patch kit. No need to get irritated yet if you have nail polish at home. Be creative with us but how to fix a hole in an air mattress with nail polish?
Like all other methods, prepare your bed to be fixed. Once preparation is done, apply nail polish repeatedly which will create a film on the leak and seal it. In this article, we instructed step by step to fix a hole in an air mattress with nail polish.
How to Fix a Hole in an Air Mattress With Nail Polish
Step 1- How To Find A Hole In An Air Mattress?
The universal step of fixing a problem is locating the problem. The question is, how do you locate the hole in an air mattress? Well, there are lots of ways to locate a hole and we are going to explore a few handy ways. But first, inflate the mattress properly.
Check Valves
Chances are, valves are the source of leaks. It’d be wise to check valves before searching the whole mattress. Be sure that valves are inserted properly. If you find valves defective, contact the manufacturer immediately for replacement, or else, you might need to buy another air mattress.
Note that, if valves come out from the stem, you can use plastic or other material to keep it inserted. Once valves are checked, you need to move on to other steps.
Using Soapy Water
Using soapy water to find holes is one of the easiest ways. However, in two ways you can apply this method.
- Grab a bottle of warm water. Mix the warm water and dish soap liquid or powder properly. Find a spray bottle and pour it with the mixture. Keep spraying the whole mattress and observe carefully. If there’s a leak, you will notice bubbles on it.
- What to do when you don’t have a spray bottle? Well, that’s not a problem, grab a foam and dip it into the mixture of water and dish soap. Slide the foam throughout the whole mattress. Like before, if there’s a leak, you will notice bubbles on it.
Inspecting With Hand And Ear
There’s a big chance that your air mattress got leaked in a camp or tour. What do you do then without soap and water mixture? Well, it is still possible to find out the leak, maybe you will sacrifice some time and sweat.
Inflate it fully and keep your ears clear, listen for hiss and try to follow. If the hole is relatively bigger, this method will work for sure.
When your air mattress has a pinhole, you are unlikely to hear hiss. In this case, you will need to inspect the mattress with your hands. Simply move your palm slowly over the surface of the mattress until you find the hole.
Step 2- Mark And Deflate The Air Mattress
Let’s assume you have located the leak. Now you need to deflate the mattress in order to fix the hole. But, you will lose the location when it is deflated unless you mark it before. So, right after locating the leak, mark it with a permanent marker.
If you use soap water to find the leak, let the mattress dry for 1-2 hours, and with a towel dry the located area quickly to mark. Now you’re all set to fix a hole in an air mattress.
Step 3- Scrub The Spot 
If the leak is found on the upper side of the mattress, you’ll need to scrub the area until you find the plastic body. Scrub gently with sandpaper or material like this. The air mattresses have an extra coating over the main plastic body, which is called a flocking surface, where nothing adhesive works.
You can skip step 3 when you get leakage on the other side. Now you’re all set to fix a hole in an air mattress. However, don’t add insult to injury by rubbing vigorously which may void your warranty, also may damage your air mattress.
Step 4- Fix A Hole In An Air Mattress With Nail Polish
It’s time to be a DIY expert. Grab a nail polish and wait until the punctured area is dry. Apply a thin layer of nail polish on the hole slowly. The nail polish will seal the leak. We recommend you to apply repeatedly until it gets thicker- maybe 7-8 times. The thicker the better.
The coating will seal properly, however, keep that in mind, it’s a temporary solution since nail polish loses its viscosity after continuous inflation and deflations.
Caution: don’t move the mattress until the nail polish is dried properly so that it seals properly.FAQ
- Will Nail Polish Fix A Hole In An Air Mattress?
Apparently, it doesn’t seem to be a perfect solution but it is. The nail polish creates a film that seals the leak and thus you fix a hole in an air mattress. Nevertheless, it’s not a long-term solution since nail polish loses its viscosity gradually.
Conclusion
I hope now you know how to fix a hole in an air mattress with nail polish. Follow these handy steps carefully and you will be a DIY expert for today.
If everything goes wrong, and the warranty is not available, or if you are looking for a long-term solution, feel free to visit another article where we talk about the best air mattress for car camping.
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