How to Vacuum Hardwood Floors without Scratching – Easy Guide 2023

Published by Ahmad Jamal on May 28, 2022 | Last updated on January 9, 2023

Installing hardwood floors can be too expensive or too time-consuming, and you don’t want all that time you put into choosing the perfect color, type, and installation to go to waste with simple mistakes here or there.

Therefore, after installing the hardwood floors, you’ll need to be able to clean them perfectly, without any side effects to the maintaining process.

That means you should know how to vacuum hardwood floors without scratching.

This Cleaners Advisor guide shall pave the way for you to know the dos and don’ts of how to vacuum hardwood floors without scratching, or leaving long-lasting damage to the floors.

discover how to clean your hardwood floors & what to use without leaving lasting damage.

Table of Contents

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Why You Should Know How to Vacuum Hardwood Floors without Scratching?

Flooring –at its core- always depends on making the whole floor act as a single piece of floor, serving a single goal.

But, getting the hardwood floors scratched, or damaged, means you’ve broken the aforementioned unity.

Moreover, damaged or scratched hardwood floors won’t shine as you’d want them to be.

And I’ve learned this with over-the-years’ experience, a single crack in the floor will soon lead to another crack, and this can literally demolish the whole flooring system in no time.

Elephant in the Room: How to Vacuum Hardwood Floors without Scratching

I’ll make this as simple as I can, to help you master How to Vacuum Hardwood Floors without Scratching, so I’ll give it in two sections: what you Should do, and what you Shouldn’t do.

What You Should Do to Vacuum Hardwood Floors without Scratching

Use a Soft-Bristled Broom/ Vacuum with Soft Floor Nozzle: This allows you to get into the corners, and move in and out of the floor without damaging the floor, as the soft bristles are easy to maneuver.
Lean towards Obtaining Robot Vacuums: they’re built with the aforementioned brush, as they won’t damage the floor while automatically navigating in the house.
Attend to any form of sticky or hard-to-remove dirt as soon as you notice it: If you remove it soon enough, it won’t be stuck to the surface and won’t be a challenge to clean it compared to trying to do so hours later.
Clean the Hardwood Floors often: I tried daily & weekly cleaning routines and the daily routines help you maintain the hardwood floors easier than the weekly ones.
When selecting a cleaning mop, make sure to use a mop with a microfiber pad, and with a suitable solution, clean back-and-forth without pressing hard on the floor, which will keep it clean, and shiny, without breaking or damaging the floor.
When you find a precious hardwood floor you want to keep for years, sometimes it’s just more optimal to cover it with a suitable rug designed specifically for the room. This means you’ll be cleaning the rug, while the hardwood floor remains unscratched and well.

How to Vacuum Hardwood Floors without Scratching — No one wants their hardwood floors looking like this

What You Shouldn’t Do to Vacuum Hardwood Floors without Scratching

Don’t ignore or delay attending to wet spills: They become harder to remove over time, even the tiniest of spills can be trouble.
Don’t Apply the Wrong Mixtures & Solutions: This is the worst enemy for hardwood floors and any type of floor, as it means melting or damaging essential parts of the flooring.
Never steam clean hardwood floors: you’re getting it wet and leading to potentially growing mold.
Don’t Use the high heels, strong shoes, and heavy ice skating equipment on the hardwood while cleaning, this will create trouble instead of getting rid of it.
Heavy Equipment Warning! Don’t bring heavy cleaning equipment to clean hardwood flooring. It’ll damage the flooring severely.

How often to vacuum hardwood floors to avoid scratching?

As I explained earlier, I try to carry out daily and weekly routines, and the first worked better than the latter.

However, you can do a pretty simple combination of vacuuming, sweeping, and deep cleaning.

Sweep on daily basis, and get rid of any visible type of dirt in your way.

Vacuum every other day, 3 days a week, and this will get you towards 80% of the hardwood flooring cleanliness you’re looking forward to.

And then, you can get to a single session of deep cleaning once a week, to get towards the lovely 100%.

How to Vacuum Hardwood Floors without Scratching FAQ

How do you stop a vacuum cleaner from scratching hardwood floors?

Obtain vacuum cleaners that has rubber wheels, they don’t move as easily, but they are 100% cleared for hardwood floors.

Is it better to sweep or vacuum hardwood floors?

Do a Combination. Sweep on daily basis, and use the vacuum every other day. This’ll get you the best result, instead of using a single

Can you vacuum too much?

Yes, sometimes you vacuum more than you should, and that can possibly damage the flooring unintentionally.

To Wrap Up

Maintaining your hardwood floors is an essential part of making your house as comfortable to live in as possible. Occasional cracks and damaged spots can be a troubling sight, which is easy to avoid if you know How to Vacuum Hardwood Floors without Scratching.

If you have any kind of questions about how to maintain your hardwood floors, feel free to ask us in the comments section below.