Regular vacuuming is essential to keeping any home clean and free of excess dust and allergens. It’s common to only consider a vacuum to be a tool for cleaning carpets, but vacuums can also be very effective for cleaning hard surface like laminate — if you have the right kind of vacuum. Sweeping debris from your laminate floor into a dustpan just doesn’t give you the same kind of clean that the power suction of a vacuum does, and it takes much more time.
If you want to make your life easier, investing in a vacuum that can clean both floors and carpeting will save you so much time and energy. So, we’ve put together this comprehensive guide to help you learn more about your options and find the best vacuum for laminate floors.
Product Reviews
Bissell Hard Floor Expert 1547: High power vacuum designed specifically for hard surface flooring. Unique turbine brush foot is gentle yet effective at picking up debris.
Shark Rotator Professional: This powerful vacuum is great for multi-surface cleaning. Easily converts to a handheld vacuum for vacuuming hard to each spots like stairs.
Eureka NEU562A: Power multi-surface vacuum with an ergonomic handle swivel steering. Extra large wheels allow you to seamlessly transition between different floor surfaces.
Dyson Cyclone V10 Absolute: Cordless vacuum that quickly converts from upright to handheld. Soft woven nylon brush makes it gentle on hard floor surfaces.
Tineco A10 Hero: Impressively quiet vacuum with up to 350W of power. Options to run continuously or powered by trigger.
Best Vacuum Cleaners For Laminate Floors: My Reviews
Bissell Hard Floor Expert 1547
Bissell is well-known for their quality and innovative products. This lightweight vacuum specifically designed for effectively cleaning hard surfaces like laminate, hardwood and more. It features a turbine foot attachment with a unique brush that’s both thorough and gentle on all kinds of hard surface laminate floor.
The canister is very portable and easy to maneuver to help you get to even the harder spots in your home. It houses a powerful multi-cyclonic motor that quickly picks up debris like dirt, dust, hair and more. When you’re ready to empty the dust tank, you simply open the bottom and dump it, so you have very little contact with the debris.
Pros:
- Cord automatically winds at the touch of a button
- Easy-to-empty dirt tank
- 9.2 amps power rating
Cons:
- Not ideal for carpeted areas
- Best Portable Carpet Cleaners
- Bissell Crosswave vs Symphony (see our comparison)
Shark Rotator Professional
This upright vacuum is great for cleaning multiple laminte floor surfaces in your home. Advanced swivel steering makes it super easy to get around and vacuum hard to reach areas and LED headlights let your see where you might have missed a spot. For really hard to reach spots, you can press a button to release the canister and use it as a handheld vacuum. This is great for vacuuming areas like stairs or furniture.
The dust cup holds up to 1.3 quarts of debris, so you’ll be able to easily vacuum your entire home without having to stop to empty it. It also features and Anti-Allergen Complete Seal as well as a HEPA filter making it an excellent choice if you or anyone in your family suffer from allergies.
Pros:
- Extra-large capacity dust cup
- Very quiet motor
- Includes Ergo cleaning accessories and premium pet tools
Cons:
- Does not include extra filters for replacement
Dyson Cyclone V10 Absolute
With the smallest, lightest motor that Dyson has ever made, this versatile vacuum super convenient and easily reaches every corner in your home. It’s cordless with up to 60 minutes of runtime and can be stored and recharged on it’s compact wall mount. You can choose from one of the three power modes to set the appropriate suction for all the different kinds of surfaces in your home. It can even be quickly transformed into a handheld vacuum with just a quick click
While some vacuums can be very harsh and even scratch your floors, this one is very gentle on hard laminate floor surfaces but is still very effective at cleaning. The roller is covered in a soft nylon material to trap larger debris, while fine particles are trapped by carbon fiber filaments.
Pros:
- Dust cup holds .54 liters
- Instant release trigger only uses power when you want it
- Great for vacuuming cars
Cons:
- Runtime varies depending which mode you’re using
Eureka NEU562A
This is a great vacuum if you’re looking for something that can easily go from hard floors to carpeting instantly. It features a multi-stage cyclone system that quickly sorts small and large particles into appropriate sized areas so that you don’t have any loss of suction power. Swivel steering and an ergonomic handle make it comfortable and easy to maneuver throughout your entire home.
You’ll be happy to not have to buy or replace filters because it has washable filters that are quick and easy to remove. It also includes a Pet Turbo Brush that helps to lift pet hair and dander with self-adjusting blades. See Roomba pet series
Pros:
- Extra large wheels make for easy transitions on different surfaces
- Easy-to-empty dust cup
- Suction release valve for easy maneuvering
Cons:
- Canister can tip over easily while vacuuming
Tineco A10 Hero
This cordless vacuum is ultra quiet due to its brushless motor, making it perfect if you have a baby or pets, live in an apartment or just prefer cleaning at night. But don’t let it fool you — it might be quiet but it’s also very powerful. On Max Mode, it has up to 110W of suction power combined with a four stage filtration system to capture 99.99% of particles with zero leakage. You can choose between Continuous or Trigger Power Modes, depending on your preferences and how much area you need to clean.
It’s incredibly lightweight and easily converts to a handheld vacuum to easily clean other areas besides the floor. When you’re ready to empty the dust bin, simply hold it over a trash can and push the release button.
Pros:
- Weights just 2.87lbs
- Detachable battery
- High Torque power brush
Cons:
- Runtime is only 25 minutes
How to Use a Vacuum on Laminate Floors
When it comes to vacuuming your laminate floors, you need to be careful to avoid damaging your delicate flooring. While you may not see vacuuming as potentially harmful, it has the potential to scratch and remove the finish from your flooring, leaving it dull and prone to trapping excess dirt.
Using a vacuum is a very effective way of cleaning your laminate floors, however – it’s simply a matter of taking care when doing so. To properly vacuum your laminate, you need to first choose the appropriate vacuum. The right type of vacuum for this type of floor is one that has a hardwood vacuum head attachment. This attachment could be built right into the vacuum body, or it may be a detachable head that can be switched out with others. Either way, using a hardwood attachment is the first step. You’ll also want to make sure that if your vacuum has wheels, you don’t drag it sideways across your floor during the cleaning process, as this can cause miniscule scratches.
Some vacuums will have dedicated settings for hard floors. Check your vacuum for any such setting and be sure to use it if you vacuum your laminate floors. It will be easier on both your vacuum and your floors.
The second step is the job itself – removing the dirt and debris from your laminate. Doing this is the easiest part of the process; once you have your chosen attachment on and your settings set to the right places, you can simply vacuum the way you would a carpet or any other soft floor.
Pros of Using a Vacuum on Laminate Floors
Removes allergens from the home
Vacuuming is one of the best ways to rid the home of dirt, dust, pet hair, and other allergens. If you have someone in your household who has allergies or is sensitive to dust, vacuuming is a good way to ensure that a large amount of the allergen is removed.
Regularly vacuuming cuts down on allergen buildup and makes it easier to do thorough, whole-house cleans. It also prevents many of the more serious allergy-related symptoms.
Quick and easy cleaning
Using a vacuum instead of a mop or cloth is a quick and easy cleaning solution for laminate floors. Getting the job done thoroughly and adequately is as easy as plugging in the vacuum if it is a corded model, adjusting the settings, and changing the vacuum attachment should your vacuum come with a separate hard floor attachment.
Not only is the process easy, but it is time-efficient, as well. It takes half the time to vacuum the entire house than it does to scrub the floors on your hands and knees. Since vacuums use a high amount of suction power to clean an area, dirt is sucked up and whisked away instead of moved around as it might be by the broom or mop. (Best mop for tile floors)
Less chance of damage
Although there is still a small chance that you could damage your floors with the vacuum, the chance of doing so is slimmer than if you opted to use cleaning solutions or mops. This is especially true when you use the specialized vacuum heads and settings that many hard floor-friendly devices offer.
Specialized vacuums available
One major bonus about opting to vacuum your hard floors, is that, for such tasks, there are a variety of specialized devices available. These vacuums will be light weight, durable, and come with all of the necessary equipment to get your laminate clean and dust-free.
No back pain
Most of these vacuums are classified as an “upright” vacuum. This means that when being used, the stand up straight instead of laying on their sides, as certain other types of vacuums do. Thanks to this, they are easy to reach when it comes time to change settings and empty the dust canister. They also mean less bending, which is something that anyone with a bad back or other aches and pains can appreciate.
No need to use chemicals
Something else that laminate floor owners all around the world love about using vacuums to clean their floors is that using a vacuum minimizes the need to use harsh chemicals. Using a vacuum instead of a mop and bucket or a floor cleaning product means that your floor is safe from the potential harm that using chemicals, cleaners, and other liquids on your floor can come with.
In addition, this also means that your floors are safe for pets and small children to walk across immediately after cleaning, as there is no residue leftover.
Streak-free
When washing your floor using any kind of liquid, it is critical that you wash in one direction, with each of your mop strokes going the same way. If your strokes go different directions, you can end up with streaks on your clean floor. You may also end up with footprints, should you have to step on any area that has not dried yet.
Using a vacuum, this problem is eliminated entirely. Vacuums don’t require any liquids to get the job done, and, as a result, provide a streak-free clean every time.
Vacuuming laminate is quick, easy, and a great way to guarantee that your floor gets a thorough clean. Not only does vacuuming remove allergens, it also ensure that you have no streaks. It’s great at reducing the damage that your floor obtains. The best vacuum for laminate floors also reduces the chance that you’ll end up with a sore lower back from bending too far down. At the end of the day, there are many more pros than there are cons. Vacuuming laminate is generally a pretty good idea.
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