Hard Floor Cleaners, Vacuums & Floor Care in Home & Appliances

An Efficient Vacuum Cleaner

• An efficient vacuum cleaner should be your number one priority because the vacuum presents the easiest way to remove dirt and dust from carpets, hard floors and other surfaces. Your first decision is whether to buy an upright or canister cleaner. The floor cleaning head on an upright includes a brush-roll with beater bars, which makes it ideal if your home has a lot of carpet and rugs to vacuum. You can purchase a hard floor attachment to use with the suction hose and extension wands if you have small areas of hard flooring to clean. However, if most of the flooring in your home is wood or laminate, a canister cleaner with a good quality hard floor brush will be easier to work with as you can pull it along behind you.

Vacuum Cleaner Tools

• Whether you opt for an upright or canister vacuum, see that it comes with at least the basic attachments: upholstery nozzle, crevice nozzle and dusting brush. A canister should also feature a floor tool with an integral brush, which can be lowered when moving from carpets to hard flooring. In the case of an upright, look for a machine with a brush-bar that can be turned off when using tools for above floor cleaning or vacuuming areas of hard flooring.

Deep Cleaning Your Carpets

• The type of machine you require to deep clean your flooring depends on what type of flooring you have. An extractor-type cleaner washes carpets by spreading detergent solution on them, agitating it with brushes and vacuuming up the solution along with loosened dirt and grime. Many of these machines come with an attachment for cleaning upholstery and stair carpets.

Deep Cleaning Hard Flooring

• As of June 2011, you can purchase scrubbing and polishing machines with built-in vacuum functions, which means when the machine's brushes loosen dirt on your floor, it is immediately removed by suction. When the brushes are taken off and pads put on, these machines are used to buff floors to a shine. Alternatively, you can purchase a large mop with a built-in cleaning solution dispenser. The solution is applied to the floor by means of a spray mechanism. The floor is then wiped with a large microfiber pad attached to the floor cleaning head.

Chemical Free Cleaning

• Steam cleaners use water to produce a jet of hot dry steam that removes dirt and grime from floors and other surfaces. In the case of a steam mop, the steam passes from the boiler to a large microfiber cleaning pad. The heat of the steam loosens dirt and dissolves grease. These are absorbed by the microfiber. Many steam mops are supplied with a carpet glider, which is a frame into which the cleaning head fits, allowing the mop to be used to freshen and deodorize carpets and rugs. In the case of a canister steam cleaner, the floor cleaning tool is used on both carpets and hard floors, but the machine also features other tools used for above floor cleaning, such as kitchen and bathroom surfaces.

Quick Cleanups

• A rechargeable carpet sweeper will remove crumbs and other debris from both carpets and hard flooring. A handheld vacuum will quickly clean upholstery and suck debris off other surfaces. Look for one with a small brush and crevice nozzle as this will increase the number of cleaning tasks that you can carry out with it.