What Is The Best Vacuum? Part 2

In the first part of this series we learned that what kind of flooring you have matters, and that the carpeting you have in your home plays a big part in deciding which vacuum is best for your specific needs. Now it's time to touch on pet hairs, attachments, and cleaning your stairs.

Vacuums and pet hair

We all love our fur babies and the joy that they bring into our homes. Sometimes though, the hair that they leave behind can cause major damage to your vacuum. The fact is that pet and human hair will get wrapped around your brush roller regardless of what kind of vacuum you have. There are some companies that will even claim to have vacuums with self cleaning brush rolls. Those kinds of vacuums are designed more for their marketability rather than their durability and will not keep the hair from getting into the ends of the roller causing it to seize. 

We have come to find that the best vacuums for pet hair are built to last and have easy access to the brush roller for cleaning. When you can easily remove the brush roll for cleaning and perform routine maintenance you will reduce the need for costly repairs. Doing the routine maintenance will also prevent down time with your vacuum. Visit our Pet Vacuums Section to find our recommended best vacuums for pet hair.

Vacuums can clean more than just floors & carpet

Did you know that when properly equipped and used a vacuum cleaner can do almost all of your cleaning except for scrubbing toilets and mopping floors? Now that we have the carpet and flooring out of the way it's time to turn our attention to attachment cleaning. Most upright and canister vacuums will come equipped with a standard set of attachments like a crevice tool, dusting brush, and an upholstery tool while canister vacuums will all have a floor brush standard too. Most of these tools can be used for a multitude of cleaning functions:

• The Dusting Brush will enable you to clean dressers, lampshades, curtains, ceiling fans, blinds, and drapes
• The Upholstery Tool will help you to clean couches, sofas, beds, stairs, and of course upholstery
• The Crevice Tool gets into tight areas like between couch cushions, carpet and wall edges, the corner where the stair and riser meet
• The Floor Brush cleans all hard floor surfaces like Spanish tile, hardwood flooring, ceramic, linoleum, and can even be used to clean walls and ceilings (they were originally designed and marketed as wall brushes)

There are even specialty cleaning tools that are designed for pet grooming, cleaning under appliances, in dryer vents, cleaning ceiling fans, shutter blinds, electronics and miniatures, and even a microfiber dust mop. Armed with the proper knowledge you can get your home clean like never before.

But how do I vacuum my stairs?

Stairs are probably the single most difficult thing in the home to clean. The best solutions to stair cleaning we have found are to use a canister vacuum or an upright vacuum that can be equipped with an extra long hose.

Canister vacuums excel at stair cleaning for two major reasons:

• The hose is always at a fixed length. An upright vacuum will have a stretchable hose which will want to go back to its resting length when the airflow is restricted. This causes the vacuum to tip over often when being used on stairs and upholstery. Unless you want to live in an infomercial and fight with your vacuum we suggest a canister vacuum for stair cleaning.
• Better quality canister vacuums are designed to sit on a stair without toppling. Couple this with their generous fixed length hoses and you can clean your stairs like a pro in no time. I have a landing on my stairs at home and only have to move the vacuum twice when cleaning them.

The standard hoses on upright vacuums make stair cleaning quite a hassle. Unless you want to live that infomercial life we suggest buying an upright vacuum cleaner that can support an extra long hose. These hoses can be attached to the existing hose of the vacuum or inserted into a port specifically designed for a tool kit.

 Visit the thrilling conclusion of our three part article to see how things like asthma and arthritis play into your vacuum cleaner purchasing decision.