Vacuum cleaners aren’t just for carpet – a good vacuum cleaner is very useful for keeping hard floors dust- and hair-free. If your home has lots of hard floors, the good news is that you don’t need a particularly powerful model to achieve a thorough clean.

Or, as Kiril Natov, a carpet and upholstery cleaning technician with 18 years of experience in the industry, told me: “Any vacuum can suck dust, hair, and crumbs off your hardwood, tile, or vinyl floors, but some models do it better than others.”

Read on for more tips from Kiril, alongside experts from some of the biggest vacuum cleaner brands, on choosing the perfect vacuum for hard floors. Once you’re finished, head to our guide to the best vacuums for hardwood floors for TechRadar’s top recommendations.

1. A dedicated soft floorhead

The advice from almost all the experts I asked was to look for a vacuum that has a soft floorhead designed for this purpose. “For hardwood floors that are prone to scratching, a soft or natural bristle floorhead is a great option to ensure optimal protection,” suggests Tom Akers, from Miele GB.

Teya Field, from Henry, echoes his sentiments: “For hard floors like laminate, tile and wood, vacuums that come with a specialist hard floor tool work best to ensure gentle but effective pick up without scratching delicate surfaces.”

If you have delicate hardwood floors, it’s worth seeking out a vacuum that has an entirely fluffy floorhead. Many of today’s best Dyson vacuums come with a fluffy floorhead designed specifically for hard floors, alongside a multipurpose one for any floor type.

Dreame’s Mark Salmon flags that Dreame’s cordless stick vacuums (including the R20 that sits at the top of TechRadar’s best cordless vacuum guide) also come with a soft floorhead for the same purpose.

The soft fibers get right up close to the surface of the floor and agitate and clear the dirt there, all while gently buffing up the surface. The Dyson version has further special features: “Dyson’s Fluffy Optic cleaner head features anti-static nylon bristles to remove electrostatic attractions between fine dust and hard floors for effective pick-up,” says Dyson Engineer Amy Wright.

2. … or one that’s gentle on the floor

If you have a mixture of hard floor and carpet in your house, and can’t be bothered to swap over cleaner heads, then fear not – a number of big vacuum cleaner brands have floorheads that are designed to be suitable for any type of floor. Typically, these have a mixture of soft bristles for getting right up close to hard floor, and firmer bristles for agitating carpet fibers. Ideally, the latter are cut slightly shorter, so they don’t quite reach the hard floor when the cleaner head is on the ground, and therefore won’t scratch it up.

Other vacuum brands have alternative solutions. For example, on certain Miele vacuums – including the Miele Blizzard CX1 pictured below – you can adjust the height of the brushroll depending on whether you’re cleaning hard floor or carpet.

3. Rubber wheels

If your floors are delicate, also think about the vacuum’s wheels, suggests Tom. “For the vacuum itself, one with rubber wheels will also prevent scratching as it is pulled along the floor.”

4. The ability to turn off the brushroll

Aside from scratches, another issue is scattered debris. Because all the dust just sits on top of the floor surface, going over it with a vacuum cleaner can simply kick it all over the place, out of the way of the suction inlet.

“To avoid scattering debris or possibly damaging delicate flooring, look for a vacuum that either lets you switch off the spinning brushroll or has a special cleaner head with soft bristles,” suggests Kiril, from Premium Clean.

5. Lights on the floorhead

To help illuminate dust and dirt that otherwise might get missed, look for a floorhead with headlamps. Dyson’s bright green laser lights are especially effective on the front, casting big shadows on even the tiniest specks of dust and hair. They appear on the newest models, including the Gen5detect and V15 Detect.

6. A wet-and-dry vacuum

For a more thorough clean on tiles or lino, Tom suggests opting for a wet-dry vacuum instead of a traditional vac. Today’s best wet and dry vacuum cleaners will take care of vacuuming and mopping in one go, and some come with disinfecting and/or self-cleaning functions to help lower the amount of maintenance required from you, too.

Avoid these if you have hardwood floors that are sensitive to water, though (here’s more on how to clean hardwood floors.)

7. … or a hybrid robovac

Another great option for hard floors is to outsource the cleaning and opt for one of the best robot vacuums. These tend to be less powerful than manual vacs, but that’s not a problem with hard floors, where all the dust just sits on the surface.

Go for a hybrid model, and it’ll also take care of mopping for you, as required. If you’re dealing with lots of lino or flat tiles, you might want a bot with a base station that can refill the onboard water tanks and/or clean the mop pads.

You might also like

• “The slower you go, the more you will pick up” – Dyson engineer reveals the most efficient vacuum cleaning technique, backed up by science
• Here’s a general run-down of the best vacuums on the market
• Why does my vacuum cleaner smell, and what can I do about it?

Ruth is TechRadar’s Homes Editor specializing in air (vacuum cleaners, fans, air purifiers), and hair (hair dryers, straighteners and stylers). She has been in consumer journalism since 2020, reviewing and writing about everything from outdoor kit to mattresses and wellness gadgets, with stints on Tom’s Guide and T3.