A clean house is not only comfortable to live in but also a necessity. It gives you peace of mind, reduces allergies, mold, pests and other health hazards, and motivates you to do other chores and generally improves your mental state. If you have laminate floors, you know they are prone to staining. A vacuum cleaner is preferred by many homeowners thanks to its effectiveness in removing dust and hair from floors. A good vacuum will require only a few minutes out of your busy schedule to get the job done.
With the rise in vacuum cleaner brands, it is becoming very hard to choose the best vacuum cleaner for hardwood floors. Luckily for you, we have figured it all out.
Check out the list of best vacuum cleaners you can buy in 2020 - 2021 below.
Best Vacuum For Hardwood Floors 2020 - 2021
| Image | Model | Bagged / Baggless | Weight (lbs) | Power Cord Length (feet) | Handheld Vacuum Convert | Filtration | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Shark Rocket DeluxePro (Editor’s Choice) | Baggless | 8.6 | 30 | Yes | Washable filters | Check Price |
 | Bissell Symphony 1132A | Baggless | 9.7 | 25 | No | Pleated circular and foam filters | Check Price |
 | Dirt Devil SD20000 | Baggless | 3.8 | 16 | Yes | Replaceable, Rinseable | Check Price |
 | Dyson V6 | Baggless | 4.5 | Cordless | Yes | Washable lifetime filter | Check Price |
 | Hoover Floormate Deluxe | Baggless | 13.8 | 25 | No | Pleated filter | Check Price |
 | Kenmore 31150 Elite | Bagged | 21 | 35 | No | HEPA filter | Check Price |
 | Miele Complete C2 | Bagged | 19.4 | 21 | No | AirClean filtration system | Check Price |
 | Sebo Airbelt K2 Kombi | Bagged | 12 | 25 | No | Hospital-grade Filtration | Check Price |
 | Sirena Vacuum S10NA | Baggless | 21 | 29 | No | HEPA filter | Check Price |
1. Shark Rocket DeluxePro Ultra-Light Upright – Best Vacuum For Pet Hair on Hardwood Floors
If you are shopping for a light vacuum cleaner, you might want to try the Shark Rocket DeluxePro. Weighing a meager 9 pounds, this ultra-light vacuum is versatile, but its efficiency in cleaning hardwood floors gives it an edge over others. It is designed to pick up dust from hard floors and comes fitted with one easy-to-wash microfiber pad. Designed to collect pet hair, large debris and fine dust particles from laminate floors and other surfaces, this vacuum cleaner comes with an upright design, making it easy to use.
It comes with bright LED lights that make it easy to spot debris on laminate flooring. This model is an improvement over the original Shark Rocket, and it features a dust cup that is twice as big for extended cleaning.
- Small movable head that can maneuver around parts
- Lightweight for ease of use
- Two speeds
- Small head makes you feel like you are working twice
- Cord can get entangled
2. Bissell Symphony 1132A – Best Steam Vacuum Cleaner To Get Rid of Germs
The Symphony 1132 is designed to mop and steam at the same time. Put simply, the vacuum cleaner gives you a clean and dry floor without using a mop or chemicals. The cleaner comes with touch digital buttons to control the cleaning; you can clean as you steam or clean first and steam later. The adjustable handle coupled with a Quick Release Mop Tray makes the cleaner easy to store.
Bissell Symphony is equipped with Dry Tank Technology that keeps its tank dry during steaming. You will only need to put water into the vacuum cleaner and, according to the manufacturer, you may eliminate up to 99.97 percent of bacteria and germs from your hardwood floor.
Offered with a powerful cyclonic action, this cleaner can suck both large debris and fine dust at the same time while scrubbing your floor. With the purchase of this product, you get one white pad, a set of vacuum filters and one scrubby pad.
- Lightweight and easy to use
- Two-in-one function makes cleaning fast
- Durable construction
- Water drawer too tight
- Cord gets tangled
3. Dirt Devil SD20000 All-in-One Stick – Best Budget Vacuum Cleaner
The Dirt Devil SD20000 is a budget hardwood floor vacuum cleaner. If you are looking for a second vacuum cleaner for cleaning small portions of your floor, this can be a good choice. At only 3.8 pounds, this vacuum cleaner can be used as a stick utility as well as a handheld vacuum cleaner. It comes with a crevice tool for edges, a powerful motor, which makes less noise, and a lightweight construction.
Controlling this vacuum cleaner is as easy as clicking the on/off switch. Its easy-roll wheel and effective cord wrap make it easy to use.
- Great for cleaning corners, crevices and tight places
- Offered with attachment brushes for more scrubbing of laminate floors
- Easy to use
- Not good for picking up pet hair
- Only suitable for a small area
4. Dyson V6 – Best Cordless Stick Vacuum for Laminate
If you need a cordless vacuum cleaner for your laminate floor, you might want to consider the Dyson V6. This vacuum cleaner comes with a simple design that makes it easy to use. It features a motorized head powered by Dyson motor to create a powerful cordless vacuum cleaner. Fitted with 15 cyclones arranged in two rows, the vacuum cleaner is able to suck up large debris and fine dust as well as scrub floors equally effectively.
You can regulate the power when higher suction is required and, even better, release dirt at the touch of a button.
Dyson V6 is recommended for you if you need an easy-to-use cleaner.
- Reasonable price for its quality
- Lightweight; only 4.5 pounds
- Cleans corners and crevices with ease
- Battery not replaceable
5. Fuller Spiffy Maid – High Suction Vacuum
The Fuller Spiffy Maid is offered with HEPA filtration, ensuring removal of 99.9 percent dust and allergens; simply, it collects anything more than 0.3 microns. The 9-amp delivers a high amount of suction to clean hardwood floors, and with an on-board suction tool, it cleans tight spaces and corners.
This being a corded design, the manufacturer has fitted a 30-foot cord that lets you clean without stopping to plug or unplug. Better still, the wand of this vacuum cleaner is adjustable to meet the user’s needs.
Spiffy Maid is recommended for those who need a good hardwood floor cleaner that can be used for other cleaning tasks.
- High-capacity suction with an easy-to-empty dust cup
- Telescopic handle is comfortable and retractable for easy storage
- Non-marking rubber wheels leave no trail
- Crevice tool not flexible
- Not effective on edges
6. Hoover Floormate Deluxe FH40160PC – Best For Stained Floors
The Hoover Floormate Deluxe was designed for hard floors, a fact that makes it suitable for floors. It is equipped with SpinScrub Technology, special brushes for scrubbing laminate floors and a dual tank system.
SpinScrub technology features counter-rotating brushes that scrub, wash and dry floors from all angles while the dual tank system separates dirty from clean water. You can easily change the mode – wash or dry – at the touch of a button.
- Great price for the product’s quality
- Fast dirt, dust and fur collection
- Fast drying time
- Long cord for easy maneuver
- Plastic construction is flimsy
- Does not heat water
7. Kenmore 31150 Elite – Good For Allergens and Pet Hair
The Kenmore 31150 Elite VAC was designed to suck pet hair, allergens and dust with one single blow. It is an upright, corded, 12-amp vacuum cleaner equipped with a 3-D inducer motor that produces 20 percent more air than its predecessor, Kenmore Vacuum, for increased suction and scrubbing. The adjustable aluminum telescoping wand makes it easy to reach tight spots.
- Powerful motor for increased suction
- Long cord for easy maneuvering
- Attachment brushes for scrubbing stains from hardwood floors
- Relatively heavier
- Noisy motor
8. Miele Complete C2 – Fastest Vacuum for Less Soiled Hardwood Floors
With a 1200-watt low-noise motor that offers adjustable suction and up to six settings, this lightweight vacuum cleaner comes with a skeleton build and an easy-to-use platform. It is fitted with an AirClean filter mechanism and a filter bag indicator.
Miele Complete C2 also features a telescopic wand made of stainless steel, a handle and a floor head locking mechanism, Turbo Comfort brush and a combination of hardwood floor cleaning brush.
Miele C2 is recommended for everyone who needs an easy-to-use vacuum cleaner that cleans laminate floors effectively.
- Lightweight and with adjustable height for easy use
- Furniture protection strip and metal strip protects furniture and user
- 33-foot cleaning radius suitable for large rooms
- HEPA filter is optional
- Manual suction adjustment
9. Sebo Airbelt K2 Kombi – Best Mid-Size Vacuum
Sebo Airbelt K2 is a medium-sized, lightweight and corded vacuum cleaner designed to offer ease of use, easy storage and maneuverability. It offers straight suction performance with a suction control switch, comes with a convenient cord re-winder, a low-profile operation head, on-board tools with on-board tool storage and LED clog indicator lights.
- Quiet motor
- Great for picking up pet hair
- Powerful and adjustable suction
- Dirtbag relatively smaller
10. Sirena Vacuum S10NA – Best Vacuum with Water Filtration
Sirena Water Vacuum features a 1200-watt two-speed motor, a water filtration system and a HEPA filter coupled with a fragrance pack and an ocean breeze deodorizer to purify the air around your home. The fragrance and deodorizer pack are optional and need to be bought separately.
With the purchase of this vacuum cleaner, you will get integrated tools for better laminate floor scrubbing, including a dusting brush, crevice tool, turbo brush, a floor brush and an inflation tool.
- Integrated tools enhance thorough scrubbing of floors
- Fast and powerful suction
- Only one brush is motorized
- Plastic build is flimsy
Vacuum for Hardwood Floors Buyer’s Guide
Understanding Types of Vacuum Cleaners
Vacuum cleaners come in a host of colors, shapes, sizes, functionalities and prices. To buy the best vacuum cleaner, you need to understand your needs first. There are essentially five types of vacuum cleaners to choose from, each of which can be a good fit for your hardwood floor. They include:
Handheld Vacuum Cleaners
True to its name, this vacuum cleaner is a compact design that can be held with one hand during use. It was originally designed to vacuum cars and has since been widely used to vacuum tight places in a home. It is a budget vacuum cleaner. However, most buyers prefer this as a second vacuum cleaner, as cleaning the whole house with it takes a lot of time.
Canister Vacuum Cleaners
These have a canister attached to a long wand. They are the bridge between conventional upright vacuum cleaners and stick vacs. You will find them lighter than upright vacuum cleaners but with more suction power than stick vacuum cleaners. They vacuum carpets effectively but also work well on laminate floors. These are pricier than other types of vacuum cleaners.
- Read also – Best portable carpet cleaners
Stick Vacuum Cleaners
These cleaners derive their name from the appearance of their handle, which is long and slender. They are designed for lighter suction and low-pile floor cleaning. They are widely used to clean bare floors, but they do not function well in carpeted areas, making them a good fit for hardwood floors. In terms of price, they are mid-range. However, each brand comes with a different price, and it is thus imperative to make a comparison.
Upright Vacuum Cleaners
These are among the most popular and most widely used vacuum cleaners thanks to their versatility, their varied designs and their wide range of features. Upright vacuum cleaners are offered with a high cleaning power and are great on laminate floors as well as other types of floors. If you decide to buy an upright vacuum, you will have a wide range of brands to choose from. They are fast and sold at a relatively average price.
Robotic Vacuum Cleaners
These, true to their name, require less energy from you. They are the latest technology in the arena of vacuum cleaners and are swiftly gaining popularity. You can program them to clean your house; they have sensors to avoid obstacles and stairs. The robot vacuums able to vibrate and roam around your house as they suck debris and fine dust particles. Robotic cleaners able to reach under the couch while saving you time and energy. The price for these vacuums is, however, steeper.
What Factors to Consider when Buying a Vacuum Cleaner for your Hardwood Floor?
Choosing a vacuum cleaner among the five types of vacuum cleaner is easy; consider your house size, floor surface and your lifestyle. There are, however, a couple of factors to consider when choosing between different vacuums in one category. These include:
Bagged or Bagless?
Most of Dyson vacuum cleaners are bagless; this does not mean they are the best, as there are advantages and disadvantages to each. Bagless vacuum cleaners do not lose any suction or the reduction in suction is negligible. Nonetheless, performance will differ between one brand to the next. One downside with bagless vacuums is that they can get back dust on your floor during emptying.
- Bagged vacuum cleaners keep the dust away and make emptying easy. The self-sealing bagged vacuums are particularly great for those who suffer from allergies.
- Bagless vacuums do not require you to buy bags, saving you money, but they may need you to clean their filters often.
Dyson has produced some models without filters making maintenance even easier.
Allergies
If you have allergies, it is good to consider a vacuum cleaner that is HEPA certified. Ensure that you check your filter and clean it or change after every six or less months. To save money, check that you buy a vacuum with a washable filter.
Noise
If you live in a neighborhood where noise can be an issue, or you dislike noise yourself, you might want to consider a low-noise vacuum. You can tell the noise level of a vacuum by checking its specifications or asking the seller or the manufacturer. A vacuum rated between 60 and 65 decibels will vacuum quietly but still offer enough power to remove all the dirt, dust and other particles. A vacuum producing 70 or more decibels will be noisy.
Weight
Full-size upright vacuum cleaners may weigh more than 20 pounds; these are not movable, especially if you stay in a multi-level house and you need to carry the vacuum up and down the stairs. Stick vacuums, on the other hand, may weigh less than 10 pounds and are easy to carry around and to store. Though you can have upright vacuums that are both powerful and light, they will have fewer attachments and fewer features.
Pets
Some vacuums are specifically designed to pick pet hair off your floor; these will have special brushes and special attachments, high power and designs that reduce clogging. You can always tell whether a vacuum is fit for picking up pet hair by checking its specifications.
Power
Vacuum cleaners’ power/suction is indicated in airwatts.
- For high-pile cleaning tasks, you need a vacuum cleaner with at least 200 airwatts.
- For light house cleaning tasks, choose a vacuum with 150 airwatts or less.
- Higher power may be needed for pet messes, stains on hardwood floors and large debris.
If you are looking for a vacuum cleaning unit that cleans laminate floors and eliminates pet hair without scratching, marking or scuffing the smooth surface of the floor, choose a unit that:
- has a roller brush coupled with an ON/OFF switch to prevent it from spinning on the hardwood floor and scattering dirt, dust and debris.
- has a switch to control the suction of the vacuum. This comes handy when you only have a small laminate floor surface to clean or when you need light suction to pick up dust.
- is offered with settings for bare floors and has adjustments for height to ensure that the power head is lowered when hovering. Some vacuums automatically adjust to changes in height – these are the best for hardwood floors.
- comes with a feature that cleans edges. In most cases, a soft bristled brush or a crevice tool are offered. These easily clean areas of the floor where the vacuum cleaner head does not reach.
Latest Vacuum Cleaners’ Technology
With the rise of vacuum cleaner manufacturers’ number, an increase in vacuum cleaner innovations has been witnessed. These include:
Retractable Cord
Though this is just a small innovation, it comes handy for those who have had issues trying to control a cord during storage. Simply, the cord retracts into your vacuum leaving a small tug. You will mostly see this feature on canister vacuums and a number of upright vacuums.
HEPA Filtration
HEPA is an abbreviation for High-Efficiency Particulate Air and they are equipped to trap up to 99.97 percent of particles on your floor that are more than 0.3 microns in size. Though most vacuum cleaners claim to have HEPA-certified filters, it is imperative that you check with independent testing labs to know which vacuum comes with a HEPA filter.
Cyclonic Technology
This is a replacement for the bagged models. Basically, the vacuum uses a whirlwind mechanism to place dirt in a holding tray that will later be emptied. This technology was invented by Dyson. This is due to the popularity of their bagless vacuum cleaners without filters.
Cordless Vacuum Cleaners
A high number of brands are coming up with cordless vacuums. This makes maneuverability easy. The vacuums run on battery power, about 20 minutes of continuous vacuuming, and are lighter than conventional vacuums, making them easy to move to any part of your home. You can buy upright, handheld or stick cordless vacuums. They come handy for cleaning small messes around the house, such as stains on floors. Most of them are bagless. To buy the best cordless vacuum, you need to consider battery run time (how long it can vacuum before going off) and charge time (how long it takes to charge). Make sure you choose a vacuum with a replaceable battery.
Conclusion
Vacuum cleaner manufacturers are working toward developing sleeker, lighter, durable, more efficient and faster vacuum cleaners. In the future, we can expect more compact vacuums with fewer attachments. This may or may not affect the price of vacuum cleaners. Though you can follow this guide to choose a vacuum cleaner, the best vacuum cleaner for you should feel comfortable on your hands and meet your cleaning needs. The vacuums on this list are among the best, but you can still make a comparison online to be sure that you end up with the very best.
