The Best Vacuum for Hardwood Floors and Carpet

The Carpet to Hardwood Ratio

Both carpet and hardwood can be used in any area inside your home, although they are not ideal for every room. Moisture can be a serious issue with either type of flooring, but it’s not uncommon to see a home with hardwood in every room. Carpet, on the other hand, is something you won’t find in a kitchen.

Carpet also requires more suction and needs a system with a good brush roll. If your home is 50% carpeted, you may want to focus on a vacuum built for it. Hardwood and similar surfaces still need a system with excellent suction, but there are a lot of carpet-centric features you can do without if you only have carpet in a few rooms. 

What’s your style?

If you’ve used a heavy upright with a 30-foot cord for the past decade and dreamed of a stick vacuum, you are in luck. Almost any style of vacuum cleaner will work on hardwood and carpet. That means you can choose from a variety of styles but may have to pay a premium for specific ones.

Robot Vacuums

Robotic vacuum cleaners are an excellent choice when you hate cleaning or don’t have time to run the vacuum every few days. They can handle your flooring without much intervention aside from dumping the bin and robot-proofing your home if you buy a budget-friendly bot.

These vacuums have side sweeping brushes that work well on hardwood, but even the best models can struggle with thick or high-pile carpeting. This style is also the most expensive on average, although you can find some cheap robot vacuums for less than a solid upright.

Stick Vacuums

When you need something lightweight or convertible, a stick vacuum is your best choice. As it’s one of the most popular styles, there are also a wealth of options to choose from. Cordless models are more convenient, but a corded model is generally more powerful.

2-in-1 vacuums that convert to hand vacuums are also common in this class, and you can find systems with a wide range of attachments. The downside is pricing if you want a big battery and the fact there are a limited number of options that come with soft roller heads and brush rolls.

Upright Vacuums

While there’s a fine line that separates some stick vacuums from uprights, there’s no mistaking a traditional upright vacuum. They are usually corded and powerful enough to handle any style of carpet with ease.

You can find cheap options in this class that work with hardwood and carpet, but the best machines can be quite expensive. Weight is another concern with an upright, especially if you have thick carpet. The wrong combination of power and fiber can leave your machine stuck to the floor.

Canister Vacuums

Canister vacuums for residential use are typically compact and can incredibly powerful. They are usually your cheapest option if you want a bagged system as well. Attachments are plentiful with this style, although you won’t find many cordless canister vacuums.

You’ll need to pull this vacuum behind you as you clean, which can be a problem depending on the layout of your home. They are one of the best styles for hardwood and carpet, however, thanks to the way they are designed and the variety of floor heads available from manufacturers today. 

Corded vs. Cordless Vacuums

A robot vacuum cleaner doesn’t give you the option of a cord, but you’ll have to choose between corded or cordless with other styles. Some of the pros and cons are fairly obvious. Everyone knows cordless systems are limited by battery life, but did you ever consider the cost of a replacement power pack? Those can be expensive and difficult to obtain for some models.

Corded vacuum cleaners will never run out of power; you just need access to an outlet. Cord length can be an issue in larger homes, although it’s not hard to find solid systems with a range of 25 to 30’. The cord can also be a point of failure over time – vacuum cleaner repair shops are full of systems with cord issues.

Bin Systems 

Whether a vacuum is a 20 pound upright or a cordless 2-in-1, the dust and dirt have to go somewhere. Depending on your preference and the style of vacuum you choose, that will be a bin or bag. Dust bins or dust cups are found on every style of vacuum, but bagged systems are a bit rarer. They can also be more expensive upfront and cost more in the long run as you’ll need to replace those bags.  

Generally, you will only find a dust bag on a canister or upright vacuum cleaner. That limits the selection, but bags are worth your time if you have allergies or want a dust-free system. Vacuum cleaners with bins allow a measure of dust to escape back into the air, no matter how good the system is. Some are also notoriously difficult to dump, especially when there’s a filter in the way.

Capacity is another technical specification to keep an eye out for. It tells you how much dirt a bin or bag can hold before it’s full. On average, bagged systems tend to hold more debris, but there are a few canister-based uprights with high capacity bins as well.

Features

There are far too many features available on vacuum cleaners today for us to list them all. There are plenty of pointless bells & whistles as well, which makes it easy to become distracted by a feature you may not need or will never use. With that in mind, here are a few things to consider when you need the best vacuum for hardwood floors and carpet.