Best Vacuum Cleaner for Hardwood Floors (Wooden Floors)

If you start vacuuming with the wrong suction nozzle, it is not only a matter of reduced suction power: damage can occur. Especially if you vacuum with the wrong suction brush on a vulnerable wooden floor. For example, scratches or streaks can occur with a brush that is not equipped with soft bristles. A brush with soft bristles is also called a parquet brush.

In all my reviews I always check how well a vacuum cleaner performs on wooden floors. I look at two factors: the degree of protection and the suction performance. A good combination of these can ensure that a vacuum cleaner can be labeled as the best vacuum cleaner for a wooden floor.

Index

Best vacuum cleaners for hardwood floors right now

At Vacuumtester.com I test all kinds of vacuum cleaners: from compact handheld vacuums to powerful vacuum cleaners on wheels. I also test the performance on wooden floors with each type of vacuum cleaner, so that I can list the best choice of each model. View the best choices for parquet right now.

Best canister vacuum for hardwood floors

The Miele Boost CX1 Parquet is the best (bagless) canister vacuum cleaner for a wooden floor at the moment. As the name of the vacuum cleaner suggests, this bagless vacuum cleaner has been specially developed for vulnerable parquet floors. It comes with a particularly flexible parquet brush: the Miele Parquet Twister.

Miele Boost CX1 Parquet

The parquet brush is very flexible and protects parquet and laminate optimally.

View at Amazon Read my review

🇺🇸 Available in the United States at Amazon.com and Ebay

The suction power of the Miele Boost CX1 Parquet on hard floors is very good: thanks to the large openings in the Miele Parquet Twister parquet brush, dirt is not pushed forward. The vacuum cleaner is equipped with TrackDrive technology, which makes the vacuum cleaner very manoeuvrable. This prevents streaks from wheels on laminate. The biggest pluses at a glance:

• The vacuum cleaner is very manoeuvrable
• It is easy to maintain
• Looks sleek

At 7.7 kilograms, the vacuum cleaner is a bit heavier than the average canister vacuum cleaner.

Best stick vacuum for hardwood floors

The Dyson Omni Glide is currently the best stick vacuum for wooden floors. This very flexible stick vacuum is equipped with two soft roller brushes and can be rotated 360 degrees.

Dyson Omni Glide

A unique 360 degree rotating floor brush with two soft rollers.

View at Amazon Read my review

🇺🇸 Available in the United States at Amazon.com and Dyson.com

The Dyson Omni Glide is the best Dyson for wood floors because of its two super soft roller brushes. Vacuuming is super easy and you can even easily vacuum along the baseboards. The Dyson Omni Glide also has the following advantages:

• It is incredibly light at 1.9 kilograms
• A super compact vacuum cleaner
• 360 degree rotatable floor brush

What you have to take into account is a short battery life and a small dust container, so you will have to empty it faster. On the other hand, it is nice and compact and flexible to use.

Best handheld vacuum cleaner for hardwood floors

Looking for a compact handheld vacuum cleaner for wooden floors or fragile furniture? Then it is best to choose the Philips FC6149 MiniVac. This hand vacuum cleaner is – as one of the few handheld vacuum cleaners – equipped with a soft brush. With this you can vacuum laminate or wooden furniture.

Philips FC6194 MiniVac

One of the few hand vacuum cleaners with an attachment for sensitive floors such as laminate or parquet.

View at Amazon Read my review

🇺🇸 Available in the United States at Amazon.com and Ebay

Because the Philips FC6149 comes with a soft brush, you can also use it as a car vacuum cleaner. The brush prevents scratches on your dashboard while vacuuming the car. In addition to the major advantages for wooden floors, you also enjoy the following benefits with this hand vacuum cleaner:

• Comes with lots of extras
• Equipped with a car charger, so you can always vacuum
• You get a storage bag to keep everything together

Keep in mind that this hand vacuum cleaner is slightly heavier than other hand vacuum cleaners. On the other hand, it is again a quiet choice (this hand-held vacuum cleaner also received a predicate in the survey for the best quiet vacuum cleaner).

Best Robot Vacuum for Hardwood Floors

No longer vacuuming yourself? Then you can also opt for a robot vacuum cleaner for wooden floors. At the moment, the Roomba J7+ is the best choice. This Roomba is suitable for vulnerable floors and has very good obstacle detection.

iRobot Roomba j7+

The best robot vacuum cleaner for parquet and laminate at the moment.

View at Amazon Read my review

🇺🇸 Available in the United States at Amazon.com and Walmart

The Roomba j7+ is equipped with the latest software from iRobot. This provides an extremely good obstacle detection, which minimizes the risk of scratches due to compelling objects on the floor. Does the Roomba run into a carpet? Then it automatically increases the suction power.

In addition to this great advantage, you also enjoy the following advantages with this vacuum cleaner:

• In addition to wooden floors, also suitable for carpet
• Very easy to operate (simple app)
• Good suction performance on hard floor types

Keep in mind that this robot vacuum cleaner does not have a mopping function. Do you also want to be able to mop the wooden floor? Then it is best to choose the Roborock S6 MaxV.

Research methodology for a vacuum cleaner for a wooden floor

With all vacuum cleaner reviews I test the vacuum cleaners on different floor types. I have three special test floors for this: floor trays where I can test the vacuum cleaners with different types of dirt. One of these containers is a wooden floor (laminate).

In order to test the vacuum cleaners in the same way, so that comparing vacuum cleaners remains fair and valuable, I always adhere to the following rules:

• I only test the vacuum cleaner with a parquet brush on wooden floors if it comes with it.
• I put the vacuum cleaner in ‘normal mode' to test the suction power on hard floor types
• I make sure that any air slides are closed and empty the dust container
• There are always tests with two different types of dirt: small dirt (rice) and larger dirt (macaroni).

Maneuverability of the vacuum cleaner

I'm not done with the floor test alone: I also check how easily a vacuum cleaner ‘slides' over the floor. Can the suction brush make curves easily and how manoeuvrable the vacuum cleaner itself is.

The wheels are an important part of the vacuum cleaner. Are these nice and big and do they have a rubber edge? Or are these plastic wheels that can get stuck quickly: this can quickly result in a scratch or stripe on your floor.

Watch my research methodology in the video below!

Suction performance of the best vacuum cleaners on wooden floors

All research factors weigh in to determine how well a vacuum cleaner performs on a wood floor. In order to ultimately label the best vacuum cleaner for a wooden floor, I attach a score to this. View the scores of the best vacuum cleaners at the moment in the overview below.

Why research the best vacuum cleaner for laminate?

If you buy a vacuum cleaner without researching its suitability for the floor types in your home, there is a chance that you will get a vacuum cleaner that cannot properly suck up the dirt from the floor. But that's not the worst: using the wrong vacuum cleaner and floor brush can result in irreparable damage to delicate surfaces. Think of:

• Wooden floor
• Parquet floors
• Laminate flooring
• Vinyl or PVC floors

Using the wrong vacuum cleaner and floor brush can result in irreparable damage to delicate surfaces.

By thoroughly researching the degree of protection of vulnerable surfaces, I can help you make a suitable choice. With this you not only get a vacuum cleaner that protects your floors well, but also one with good suction power on hard floors.

Different vacuum cleaners for wooden floors

You can use different types of vacuum cleaners for vacuuming laminate or parquet. Many prefer to opt for a stick vacuum: with this you don't have to drag a vacuum cleaner on wheels behind you, which minimizes the chance of scratches.

Many prefer to opt for a stick vacuum: with this you don't have to drag a vacuum cleaner on wheels behind you, which minimizes the chance of scratches.

However, a canister vacuum is often much more powerful than a stick vacuum, even on hard floors. I see a clear trend in the field of canister vacuum cleaners: rubber wheels are increasingly being used, which are now often also used in the suction brushes themselves.

In addition to wooden floors, there are of course also wooden furniture that can quickly get scratched. For vacuuming small areas, a compact hand-held vacuum cleaner may again be a better choice.

Look at a vacuum cleaner with parquet brush

Almost every vacuum cleaner comes with a multi-purpose brush: this type of floor brush is suitable for hard and soft floor types. If you switch it to hard floors, hair will be pushed out of the brush.

Still, I prefer a parquet brush: it can quickly happen that you forget to switch the floor brush after vacuuming the carpet with a combi brush, after which a scratch is quickly made.

Robbert Tigchelaar

Robbert Tigchelaar is the founder of Vacuumtester.com and is a true vacuum cleaner guru. With more than 10 years of experience in the world of electronic devices, he knows better than anyone what is important in a vacuum cleaner. When a new vacuum cleaner appears, he is eager to test it extensively.