Using a vacuum cleaner on your hardwood floors is one of the easiest ways of cleaning them in a fast and efficient way. So, yes, it’s okay to vacuum hardwood floors! In fact, it’s what you should be doing!
However, it’s not okay to do so with every type of vacuum cleaner, so you have to be aware of which ones are okay to be used.
Not that the others won’t be effective at cleaning up the floor, but they might cause damage to the hardwood, and are therefore less than ideal.
Hardwood floors have one weakness: getting scratched. So it’s important that the vacuum you’re using doesn’t cause any damage in that way.
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This means avoiding vacuum cleaners with plastic wheels, as they can damage the hardwood as they roll over the surface, and avoiding vacuum cleaners with thick bristles, as they can be too harsh on the hardwood and scratch it.
Instead, choose vacuum cleaners with rubber wheels that are padded, and look out for softer bristles that will be gentle on the flooring so that no damage comes to it.
You should also look out for lightweight options, as they won’t drag over the floor as much and will put less pressure on the hardwood.
Quite often, you can find vacuum cleaners that are specifically designed for hardwood floors, or you can get a hybrid that can switch from carpet mode to hardwood mode.
Is it better to sweep or vacuum hardwood floors?
When it comes to cleaning your hardwood floors, the main thing you need to watch out for is the risk of scratching the hardwood, which then causes permanent damage.
The two main ways of cleaning hardwood floors are sweeping and vacuuming, and it’s often debated whether one or the other is the best option. Let’s break it down!
Sweeping your hardwood floors is easy and efficient, and is one of the most common ways of cleaning up any dirt or dust.
It’s a great way of cleaning the hardwood without the risk of causing any scratches or damage, which is why it’s so popular.
However, when you sweep the dirt up a lot of the dust is being thrown into the air, and then it settles back down on the very same floor. So although you’ll get rid of most of the visible dirt, you won’t have 100% cleaned the flooring.
Vacuuming hardwood floors, on the other hand, 100% gets rid of all the dirt, dust, and debris, as the vacuum will be suctioning everything in, and nothing gets the chance to escape into the air and fall back down again.
However, the risk with vacuuming, is that if you’re using the wrong type of vacuum you might end up scratching and damaging the floor, which is less than ideal.
So which is best? As long as you’re using the right type of vacuum cleaner, vacuuming is by far the most effective and superior method of cleaning hardwood floors.
But if you don’t want to risk any scratches, and you’re unsure about the vacuum cleaner type, stick to sweeping!
Which vacuum cleaner is best for wooden floors?
The best vacuum cleaners for wooden floors are those with soft bristles or no bristles at all, rubber wheels that are preferably padded, and that are designed to be lightweight and gentle on the floor.
This is so that they avoid scratching the wooden floor, and therefore damaging it.
There are many amazing vacuum cleaner options available for wooden floors, but one of the best vacuum cleaners that we recommend is the Shark Rocket DeluxePro Ultra-Light Vacuum.
Shark Rocket DeluxePro Ultra-Light Vacuum
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The Shark Rocket vacuum cleaner is a 2 in 1, able to perfectly clean wooden floors, as well as being suitable for carpets, as it has different modes and accessories to adapt to the flooring type.
For wooden floors, the brushrolls of the vacuum will spin slowly, to avoid causing any damage or scratching the floor. It has an upright and lightweight design, with powerful suction and 25 feet of cord length.
Overall, it’s ideal for cleaning up every last bit of dirt, dust, and debris, and does an excellent job at leaving your wooden floors like new.
Do dysons scratch hardwood floors?
Dyson is a highly competitive brand of vacuum cleaners, and it offers different designs and types to suit different needs and preferences.
With that said, some dysons will indeed scratch your hardwood floors, and therefore should not be used on them.
To ensure that your Dyson doesn’t scratch your hardwood floor, make sure it is suitable for the flooring.
You should also make sure you’re using the right accessories, and that the vacuum cleaner is set to the appropriate mode of use, as many will be able to switch between carpet and hardwood floor mode.
If you’re looking for a Dyson that has been specifically designed to be suitable with hardwood floors, and that will 100% not scratch the flooring, you can go for the Dyson soft roller head, also known as the fluffy.
It comes with all the right accessories and completely caters to hardwood flooring.
Other Dyson vacuum cleaners can be equally as suitable, such as the Dyson V11 Torque Drive, which can automatically sense the type of flooring and adapt to ensure it is using the optimal mode for it.
If in doubt, always check the product description for each individual Dyson vacuum cleaner, as well as checking the accessories and modes it comes with, and whether they are suitable for hardwood flooring.
Do robot vacuums scratch wood floors?
Robot vacuums are usually designed so that they can clean wooden floors without scratching them or causing any damage. By design, they won’t have any elements that risk scratching hardwood flooring and similar.
However, there is always a small risk of robot vacuums scratching your hardwood floor. This is because they move across the room by themselves.
It could happen that a piece of bigger dirt, a bit of plastic, or grains of sand get caught on the wheels of the robot vacuum, and are therefore then dragged around the room as it moves.
This could scratch and damage the flooring in the process.
To avoid this, make sure any bigger pieces of dirt are cleaned up before you set the robot vacuum to work.
Alternatively, you could sit and supervise the robot vacuum as it goes about its job so that you have the chance to interfere the moment something gets stuck in the wheels that might scratch the floor.
But this option is less than ideal, so best to just sweep up a bit before vacuuming!