6 Best Vacuums For Laminate Floors That Will Be Tough On Mess But Gentle On Floors

No doubt, laminate floors are now preferred more than ever before, as they offer hardwood elegance at a much lower cost.

Also, laminate floors are easy to clean, scratch-resistant, and durable. As a result, many homeowners install them as primary flooring.

But, without proper tools, cleaning laminate floors can be a nightmare.

If you’re wondering, can you vacuum laminate floors?

Yes, you can vacuum laminate floors.

As per cleaning expert Melissa Maker –

“Caring for your laminate floors should start with a scheduled vacuuming routine.”

Debris left on the floor can get caught underfoot or dragged around by mop and cause scratches on the floor. Therefore, regular vacuuming is a must.

But, not every vacuum cleaner is equal when cleaning laminate floors.

A wrong vacuum can spoil your floor’s look by leaving scratches.

Moreover, an incorrect vacuum will scatter particles instead of sucking, thus increasing the cleaning time.

So, to cut your cleaning time and efforts, a good laminate floor vacuum cleaner is most important.

Now, if you’re wondering which is the best vacuum cleaner for laminate floors?

Well, you’re in the right place.

This post will show the six best laminate floor vacuums to ease your cleaning efforts without ruining the floor’s look.

6 Best Vacuum Cleaners For Laminate Floors in 2022

1. Shark Rotator TruePet Upright Vacuum NV752 – Best Overall
2. Miele Complete C2 – Upgrade Pick, Best Canister Vacuum for Laminate Floors
3. Shark Navigator Upright Vacuum NV352 – Best Budget Laminate Floor Vacuum
4. Dyson Cyclone V10 Absolute – Best Cordless Vacuum for Laminate Floors
5. BISSELL Crosswave Pet Pro 2306A – Best Wet Dry Vacuum for Laminate Floors
6. Shark VM252 VACMOP Pro – Best Vacuum Mop for Laminate Floors

Are you looking for more? Here you go.

As Powerful As Premium Vacuums

The NV752 is very powerful. Speaking of the numbers.

This vacuum has a suction of 95 inches of water lift. Moreover, the airflow is 99cfm at the hose and 58 cfm at the head.

With this raw power, the NV752 beats premium brand models like the Miele U1 Dynamic and Dyson Ball Animal 2. 

It’s phenomenal with the sheer suction power, the powered lift-away feature, and a few nifty tools. It is the only vacuum you’ll need to tackle every corner of your house.

Effective On Both Hard Floors & Carpets

With so much suction and airflow, it’s very efficient in deep cleaning carpets and bare floors.

It picks up fine dust, pet hair, and small debris with ease on hard floors. Also, there’s no debris scattering with the brushroll turned off in hard floor mode.

It’s excellent in deep cleaning low-to-mid pile carpets by picking up sand, pet hair, and small to midsize debris. 

The stiff bristles agitate and lift the carpet fibers, making them fluffier and cleaner. 

It fails to pick larger-size debris such as fruit loops due to the main floor nozzle’s limited height. Yet, the removable wand makes it easy to pick up the large chunks without bending over.

Another limitation is the lack of height adjustment, so if you have a long pile or shag carpets, it won’t work.

Versatility For All Your Cleaning Needs – A 3 In 1 Vacuum Cleaner

When speaking of versatility, the Shark’s powered lift-away models are unmatched.

With the powered lift-away feature, you can use the motorized tools in any of the three settings;

1. As an upright vacuum for deep cleaning carpets or bare floors.
2. As a canister vacuum to reach under furniture and beds without the hassle of moving them.
3. As a handheld to clean upstairs, upholstery, and above-floor surfaces.

Moreover, the Shark Rotator TruePet comes with a mini motorized pet brush – a cherry on the top.

This mini motorized brush is a perfect tool to tackle pet hairs on the couch, pet beds, and stairs! 

A quick tip:- to deep clean carpeted stairs attach the mini pet brush straight to the handle. Give it a try; you’ll thank me later 😉

Apart from these features, it’s a complete seal vacuum with HEPA filtration that’s a steal at its price.

The Not So Good

Though it’s an excellent vacuum, it’s not perfect. There are a few caveats worth highlighting.

The cleaning path is 10 inches wide, which is okay for cleaning tight areas. But, it takes too much time to clean larger spaces.

Deep cleaning carpets in canister mode is very challenging. The powerful suction and brush roll pull you forward as a self-propelled lawnmower due to lack of weight, taxing the wrist and arms.

Long human and pet hair get caught up in the brushroll that needs regular care. However, it is relatively easy to clean the brushroll without dismantling the floor nozzle.

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Specialized Hard Floor Nozzle for Gentle Cleaning

It comes with two specialized hard floor nozzles.

1. Miele SBD 285-3 Combination Rug and Floor Tool
2. Miele SBB 400-3 XL Parquet Twister Floor Brush

Miele SBD285-3 Combination Rug and Floor Tool

The combination tool is a dual-function cleaning head, which cleans bare floors, low-pile carpets, and rugs. 

You can transition between hard floors and carpets by tapping the switch on its head.

The bottom is very smooth and glides on bare floors and rugs. It has rubber wheels that provide a solid grip on hard floors without damaging them.

On the hard floor setting, the brush pops up. The brushroll has soft nylon bristles that don’t scratch laminate or other hard floors.

The combination floor head is a great multi-purpose tool if you have multi-surface floors in your home.

Miele SBB 400-3 Parquet Twister XL Floor Brush

The Parquet Twister XL floor brush is a perfect tool if you only have laminate floors. This straight suction nozzle has a lining of soft brushes made of natural hair.

Also, the 16″ broader head makes cleaning faster than the combination tool.

So, it’s another great feature if you have laminate as the dominant floor in your home.

Both floor heads have good airflow that picks up pet hair, dirt, and debris from hard floors and area rugs.

6 Level Suction Control

The Miele C2 offers six different suction settings for cleaning various surfaces. These include bare floors, low pile carpet, rugs, delicate fabrics, etc.

You only need to dial into one of the preset suction settings and Voila! No more guesswork. 

However, if bending over to reach the rotary dial is cumbersome for you, no worries. There’s a suction slider on the handle you’ll find much more convenient.

Wider Coverage Area

You’ll love the 33 feet cleaning radius that makes cleaning larger areas a breeze.

The telescopic stainless steel wand is remarkable; it’s adjustable and provides extra access to clean ceilings and cobwebs.

Moreover, you can attach the floor heads or any tool to the handle, making it easy to deep clean carpeted stairs, upholstery, or furniture.

Not least of all, it’s a completely sealed system like any other Miele vacuum. Out of the box, you’ll get a base-level Airclean filtration. However, it’s upgradable to charcoal or HEPA filtration when needed.

As with any bagged model, the suction will decrease as the bag starts filling over time. You’ll also notice foul vacuum odors due to all the nasty stuff trapped inside the vacuum bag. If you’re not a fan of bagged vacuums, this is something to think about before investing in it. 

Long human or pet hairs get trapped in the bristles instead of getting sucked into the canister. You’ll have to pull out the hair strands with your hand and point the nozzle to suck. If you have long-haired pets or humans, you need to do this often.

The power button is on the vacuum body instead of the handle, which can be inconvenient for people accustomed to having the power control on the handle.

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Let’s dive deep into the features.

Nearly As Powerful As NV752

The Navigator NV352 has a 1200 Watts motor. If that doesn’t fascinate you, the suction and airflow will do.

It generates a tremendous suction of 89 inches of water lift at the hose and an airflow of 61 cfm at the floor head.

Both these numbers are pretty close to that of the Rotator NV752. So, the NV352 is almost as powerful as the NV752.

Outstanding Performance On Carpet & Bare Floors

This great suction shows up in the carpet deep-clean test. 

It scores 100% in removing embedded dirt and sand from medium pile carpets. And the credit goes to the suction power and well-designed stiff bristles on the roller.

It also does a great job of picking up fine debris on hard floors and carpets.

The brushroll shutoff feature cleans the laminate floors without scattering debris. 

It’s not very efficient on larger-sized debris which snowplows in front of the head. But, with the easy-to-release wand, getting them is a breeze.

2 In 1 Versatility – Transforms To A Canister

The NV752 has the edge over NV352 with its “Powered Lift-Away” feature for versatility.

Still, the NV352 offers some flexibility to its owners with the Lift-Away mode.

If you’re thinking, what’s the difference between “Powered Lift-Away vs. Lift-Away”?

Let me explain,

With Powered Lift-Away, you can use electric-driven nozzles or tools in the lift-away mode. In contrast, only suction-driven or turbo tools work in Lift-Away models.

In the NV352, you can detach the pod from the body and carry the lightweight canister to vacuum above floors and hard-to-reach spaces. The lift-away mode is ideal for cleaning stairs, upholstery, blinds, cobwebs, etc.

It comes with a small set of attachments which include;

1. Two crevice tools, 
2. A dusting brush, 
3. A wide upholstery tool. 

However, you can buy extra tools if needed.

Things You Need To Be Aware Of

Some design flaws have the most negative reviews.

The power cord ends towards the unit’s base, making it prone to run over while vacuuming or getting caught up in the feet.

The power switch and suction controls are on the body that needs bending over; this can be inconvenient for some folks.

Due to its strong suction, stiff brush, and seal, pushing it on the carpet can feel somewhat heavier than bare floors.

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A Power Horse Without Cord

This cordless stick comes with a 2600 mAh Lithium-Ion battery that provides 60 mins of runtime. Now, that runtime figure provided by Dyson is pretty vague and needs some explanation.

But let’s first go through the three power modes and suction to understand the operating times better.

UNLIKE ITS PREDECESSORS, the V10 has three power settings – Max, Medium, and Low.

On Max power, it generates a suction of 151 Air watts, 33.87 Air watts on Medium, and 15.8 Air watts on Low.

Now, the promised 60 mins runtime is only possible on Low settings without any motorized tool. However, you’re free to use any suction-driven tool.

With the motorized floor head, you get a battery life of 35 mins on low power.

20 mins on Medium with the motorized tool attached.

Whereas on Max, the runtime significantly drops to 6.5 mins. This might sound shocking, but the suction at Max is overkill, and you’ll barely need it for everyday usage.

For instance, the floor head seals to the carpet in max mode, making it impossible to push.

The low power mode is more than adequate for hard floors and low-pile carpet and rugs.

And medium for spot cleaning and mid to high pile carpets.

Unparalleled Cleaning Performance

The cleaning ability of the V10 is phenomenal due to its suction and unique floorhead design.

It is flawless in picking up any size of debris across any floor, whether it’s fine debris like sand or a larger one like cheerios and fruit loops.

The Torque Drive head with stiff nylon bristles is excellent at deep cleaning carpet. A suction slider on the front lets you choose between full suction or taller front gates.

The soft roller brush is effective at picking up large-size debris on bare floors without making a mess.

This fluffy roller cleans laminate floors while buffing them for a polished look.

Adaptable For Any Cleaning Task

The lightweight body, low-profile floor heads, and a wide range of attachments make it far better than upright vacuums. 

With the 2-in-1 design, you’ll love how easy and flexible it is for any cleaning job. Whether you need a stick vacuum for floors, a handheld for doing stairs, or any hard-to-reach space, you have it.

Its versatility cuts the need for owning different vacs for specific tasks, saving you money. Also, the time and effort needed to swap between different machines.

What People Dislike About It

The Dyson V10 Absolute is impressive, but there are a few aspects that some people dislike, and they are from a convenience perspective and not a dealbreaker. 

The non-removable battery can be a big deal if you have a large house. But, with a well-thought daily vacuuming routine, this won’t be an issue. 

Another is the need to hold the trigger to keep it operating instead of an on/off switch. Holding the trigger can be awkward, but it optimizes the runtime by eliminating unwanted wastage.

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Here’s what it has to offer.

Vacuum & Mop At The Same Time

The Bissell Crosswave is very versatile. 

You can use it as a regular upright vacuum on bare floors, carpets, and area rugs. 

The pickup is as good as other upright vacuums. It picks up larger-size debris fruit loops – even pens!! – with ease. (More on this in the later section)

It’s also an electric mop for wet/dry mopping and scrubbing. 

As it’s motor-driven and heavy, you don’t need to put any added effort into getting those dried and caked-on messes. It does all the vigorous scrubbing for you.

Refresh The Area Rugs

The Crosswave Pet Pro can also do surface-level cleaning of area rugs. However, it won’t deep clean them.

It will remove dust, debris, and pet hair from the surface and brighten them as new.

A word of caution is if there’s soil or dried mud, it’s better to vacuum them first before washing.

Impressive Performance On Both Bare Floors & Carpets

This vacuum has excellent suction on both hard floors and low pile carpets. 

Due to the soft microfiber rollers, the pickup is exceptional on bare floors. It sucks up everything from heavy fine sand to fruit loops and cereals under the dining table.

The roller also has stiff nylon bristles to deep clean carpets.

The Crosswave has two different types of rollers –  

1. Soft fluffy roller for bare floors.
2. A multi-surface roller with nylon bristles.

Speaking of the mopping feature.

It’s very effective at cleaning fresh wet spills and gets the job done with a few passes without any residue.

However, it takes more passes on thick spills like eggs, sauces, yogurt, etc., for a squeaky clean finish.

The number of passes will depend on the spill volume in case of dried stains and caked-on messes. For such spillover, the area rug setting is more effective, which releases more solutions for faster cleaning.

Two Separate Water Tanks For Better Sanitation

Two tanks keep the cleaning solution and dirty water separated. More hygienic than a mop and bucket system.

Filling the solution tank is easy, with clear indications for small and large areas.

The dirt tank has a solid debris strainer to separate pet hair and discard the dirty water down the drain.

Inevitable Maintenance

All the convenience it offers comes with the cost of “cleaning it after each use.” And the time will depend on what mess you have cleaned using it.

It self-cleans the brush roll and bottom itself (Thanks, Bissell, for the self-cleaning tray!). Still, you have to throw away the dirty water and clean the tank.

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An Unexpectedly Powerful Cordless Vacuum

This vacuum mop combo has incredible airflow, and it’s very close to that of the Dyson V10. The airflow at the head is 46 cfm, while that of Dyson V10 is 49 cfm.

Due to this airflow, it sucks any size debris with ease, whether it’s grounded coffee, cereals, kitty litter, dog food, or pet hair.

It doesn’t lose the pickup ability even when you mop and vacuum simultaneously, which is surprising.

On a full charge, you get 12 mins of runtime for vacuuming.

An Effective Mop

It’s also an impressive spray mop.

Unlike a Swiffer wet jet, the Vacmop doesn’t push dust and debris across the clean surface, which is nice. Also, there’s no stickiness after the floor dries up.

It has a storage unit for cleaning solutions and a button to spray the cleaning fluid as a spray mop. Pressing the spray button at the handle releases a fine spray mist in front of the cleaning head. 

The Vacmop uses uniquely designed disposable mop pads, which serve two purposes. 

• First, as a bin to collect and trap the sucked-up dirt and mess.
• Second, as a pad for mopping the floors.

The pad has a small dirt chamber with one side valve where the picked-up debris gets collected over time. That’s why you have to dispose of the pads after they are overfull.

Shark has made it easy to attach the pads and dump them into the garbage without touching them.

You can use Shark’s own formulated solution for hard floors. 

You can also use your solution, though Shark doesn’t recommend using any other solution.

You might also like – Is vinegar safe for cleaning laminate floors?

Speaking of the mopping performance, it removes sticky dried-on stains with ease. Such as coffee, soda, kool-aid, etc. 

Zero Maintenance

Another positive is there’s no hassle of maintenance, and it doesn’t have any filters to clean, hoses, or a cleaner head to unclog.

Things To Keep In Mind

It has a few drawbacks that need attention.

The disposable pads are not ideal for cleaning large areas or heavily soiled floors; they are best for quick cleaning and maintenance jobs. A single pad costs 80 cents. 

If you want something environment-friendly, this is not for you. Do check out my best mop for cleaning laminate floors post.

These pads are not very effective in soaking large spills.

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Choosing The Best Vacuum For Laminate Floors – 5 Essential Features To Look For

1. Non-Rotating Brushroll

A rotating brush roll with stiff bristles is a Big NO for laminates.

Although laminate floors are scratch-resistant yet, a rotating beater brush will leave scratches and scuff marks over the long run, thus making the floor look dull.

Another nuisance of a brush roller is that it flings debris into the air that later resettles on the surface, wasting all your vacuuming efforts.

If you have only hard floors and no carpets, it’s better to go for a hard floor vacuum without a rotating brushroll. These suction-only machines are gentle at cleaning any hard floors.

2. Hard/Bare floor setting

But, if you have a mix of carpet and laminate floors, a hard floor vacuum is not the best option as they lack the agitating power of brushroll needed for cleaning carpets.

You need to choose a vacuum with a hard floor or bare floor setting in this case.

In bare floor mode, the brushroll stops spinning, and the floor head works on pure suction.

Having such a vacuum will save you money as you can use it for carpet and laminate floors.

3. Soft-brush Attachment

Premium vacuums have a dedicated soft-brush nozzle for bare floors. 

A soft-brush nozzle has a lining of natural bristles and operates on pure suction. 

The natural fibers dislodge stubborn dirt while the suction pulls them into the dust cup. No more annoying scatters.

4. Rubber/Protective Wheels

We often overlook the wheels when purchasing a vacuum. But, they have the potential to ruin your floor’s appearance.

So, ensure to check the wheels before finalizing the best vacuum for your laminate floors.

Rubber wheels are ideal as they are gentle on laminate and don’t mar the surface like synthetic plastic ones.

5. Full-Sized Vs. Stick Vacuum

Whether you’ll need a full-size or a stick vacuum will depend on;

• Type of cleaning job – deep clean or touch-ups
• Area of cleaning surface

Suppose you have small areas with laminate floors like the kitchen or dining room. A corded or cordless stick vacuum is all you need to maintain them.

Stick vacuums are also perfect for the daily maintenance of a larger surface.

However, a full-sized vac is a must for homes with laminate as the primary flooring.

Conclusion

This brings us to the end of the post.

I hope I’ve helped you choose the best vacuum for laminate floors for your needs.

If you still have any queries, kindly comment belowI’llll be glad to answer them for you.