Alright, so what’s up with this? How can a vacuum actually scratch a hardwood or vinyl floor? Well, it’s simple really: The rotating brush on the bottom can be made of substances that don’t really work well with wood. Any of these brushes made out of plastic or vinyl will probably scratch the wood, so make sure before you do any vacuuming that you go ahead and take a feel first. If they feel rough to the touch, you may definitely consider getting a separate vacuum for your hardwood floor and keeping that one in the closet until it’s time to clean the carpets. You don’t want to take that risk on an expensive floor.

So, what should you look for in a vacuum that’s meant to be used on a hardwood floor? You should look for a couple things: First, you should look for a vacuum that has softer bristles. Sometimes you can find higher-end vacuum cleaners that will have brushes made out of a material that feels a little nicer to the touch. You can try using one of these on an unseen area of your hardwood floor (if you have such an area) before going ahead and using it on the rest of it. That’s probably the best “bandaid” fix to this. If you’re really serious about not causing your floor any damage, you should look for a vacuum cleaner that has a way to pull the brush roller up off the floor.

These are pretty common these days, and can be found in low- and high-end vacuums. If you’re going to use your vacuum cleaner on any sort of had surface such as wood or certain types of tile, you need to invest in one of these. We discussed the Eureka Boss vacuum in one of our last posts, if you remember. That vacuum does have that capability, so check it out if you want to save a lot of money on your repair costs. The Eureka costs $150, which is much less than what you’d spend on a new floor!

Hopefully this post has helped you decide whether or not your vacuum cleaner can be used on hardwood floors. If in doubt, consult the manual.

Shopping:

Neato XV-11 All Floor Robotic Vacuum System

Hardwood Floor Cleaner, 32 oz

Hoover FloorMate Spinscrub 800 Wet/Dry Vacuum Cleaner with Tools, H3060

iRobot 53501 Roomba 500 Series Vacuum Cleaning Robot with Self-Charging Home Base

Broan-NuTone CT157B Extra Wide Hardwood Floor Tool with Natural Brush

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