As you welcome a new pet to your household, you should take a few steps to keep the place looking and smelling clean. One of them is buying a good pet vacuum cleaner to get rid of the shed hair, fur, and feathers that naturally fall off your little friend’s body.
Having a best friend, you’re guaranteed two things that come along as a package; an unbreakable bond, and a whole lot of annoyance that you wouldn’t trade for the world!
A pet gives you exactly this, with endless love and heaps of hair! You know how it is, turning every corner and somehow finding fur waiting to greet you.
Kicking back on the couch? Hair is coating that thing.
Snuggling into bed? It’s right there with you.
Putting on your favorite shirt? Yea, the struggle is real with this one.
And of course, your precious hardwood floor won’t escape the madness. Shedd would probably be all over the place to the point that you wonder how your pet isn’t bald yet!
How do you get the shedding situation under control, you wonder? Well, ask any pet owner, and they’ll tell you that one of the most crucial things you should have is a vacuum. More specifically, a vacuum that can work its way around hardwood floors.
Know your pet’s peeves!
Owning a pet, you surely experienced the shedding tragedy and maybe even thought about just giving up the fight. One thing you have to consider, though is the type of hair you’re dealing with. Differences in length, thickness, and frequency of shedding all count in how hard it’s to remove. But it’s not just hair that our pets grace us with, far from it.
If you got a pet that loves playing outside, it’d most definitely come running inside with all the dirt and mud before you can realize it. While carpets get the worse end here as mud really gets locked in, hardwood floors deal with a risk of stain or hardened dirt that could be tough to break down, which isn’t a picnic either.
Another red zone is the litter box or food bowl area. These places are basically accidents waiting to happen. Your pet often gets too excited about eating or drinking that they spill all around, or even tip the whole thing over. You could also find remnants of litter surrounding the litter box trailed down by those cute, dirty paws.
Consider buying a special placemat for those areas, or even DIY your own.
What’s the challenge with hardwood floors?
Essentially, the predicament with hardwood floors is balancing out power and softness. You want a vacuum with a fierce grip and suction ability to pick up pet hair and dirt from the surface as well as between cracks and creaks.
The thing with hardwood floors is how sensitive and delicate they’re. Almost all regular vacuums use brushes with hard bristles to aggravate debris and dust out of carpets by literally beating at them. Imagine what damage this agitation would do to hardwood. Scratches, scrapes, and marks would be left behind after such harsh treatment.
The wheels as well can cause damage to hardwood floors, if they’re metal or plastic, from all the friction with the floor. So, make sure your vacuum wheels are padded enough so that they’re gentle on the hardwood.
Another inconvenience with hardwood floors is that they’re too smooth. Pet hair can simply fly everywhere if you use a rotating brush because hardwood floors allow gliding like no other, causing an even bigger mess than you originally had.
What type of Vacuum will serve you best?
Lots of features carry lots of confusion, but no worries, we’ll be walking you through all sorts of specs so you can rest assured that you picked yourself the ideal vacuum cleaner.
Type of Vacuums
Let’s start with the basics; a vacuum can be either upright, canister, stick, or wet/dry.
Upright models are the largest, so they’re great if you have a wide space to cover. They’re also quite durable with high suction power which is suitable for heavy-duty cleaning if your pet is big on the shedding.
However, they’re difficult to maneuver and are the most damaging to hardwood floors due to their rough brushes. Even the drag alone is enough to scratch around the hardwood. So they’re not the best choice this time.
Canister vacuums are smaller, lighter, and cheaper than upright ones. They don’t have rotating brushes and are easier to work around corners. But still, they can be a bit challenging to use on the regular, especially if you’re carrying it for long times.
Stick vacuums are the lightest version with lots of flexibility to get those stairs and swiftly reach under furniture and sharp turns. Think of a broom, but automatic!
They’re ideal for hardwood floors because they don’t use stiff-bristle brushes. They’re also powerful and super convenient. Pushing them takes almost no effort, and you can always have them on standby and ready for action.
Tweak your vacuum!
Who doesn’t love good customization? Adding convenience can make all the difference to your cleaning experience, making it more fun and hassle-free.
That’s exactly what you should be looking for when you’re dealing with hardwood floors. Here, vacuums are designed as not to damage such floors with certain features and settings that ensure safe but reliable performance.
For one, whatever type of vacuum you own, or decide to purchase, make sure there is an off button for the hard-bristle brush. That’s the least you can do if you don’t have a soft brush option.
Next up, you should keep in mind the material the wheels are made from. Always go with rubber wheels as opposed to metal or plastic ones. You don’t want to finish cleaning only to find a permanent scrap or mark left behind.
A cordless option is also a huge plus. Some vacuums offer such a choice where you can simply remove its cord and switching it to run on a battery. Surely, they wouldn’t last too long, but the fact that you’ll be able to handle stairs, awkward angles, and areas that lack a power outlet or rooms too far for a cord, makes it absolutely worth it.
Another feature you should think about is: Bag or no Bag?
While disposable bags are definitely easier to handle, because you just throw them away, their vacuuming efficiency decreases the more they’re filled.
This is not the case with a canister, where the suction efficiency of the vacuums isn’t affected at all. It’ll only stop working when it’s full. There’s no question about whether or not you’d want to run over the same patch again and again. Moreover, canisters will save you money and are more eco-friendly.
Finally, think about the height adjustment feature. You wouldn’t want to get on your knees to reach a particular space, which is where such control comes in handy.
Conclusion
There’s no feeling more heartwarming than having a pet. Watching them grow alongside yourself, all the good and bad times makes them practically family. The hours you spend playing, cuddling and even talking are what happiness is made off.
We can all agree that the responsibility of constantly cleaning up after them is a small fee to pay in exchange for the pure joy of their companionship.
Even if you’ve got the most expensive sensitive floors, it’s now easier than ever. With all the tips and features we got going on, you can undoubtedly choose an awesome vacuum for hardwood floors to get rid of all the fur, pet hair and dirt while avoiding the slightest scratch.