So, how often should you vacuum? Does it matter if you are using a top vacuum cleaner? And is vacuuming often bad for you or your floors? The good news is that frequent vacuuming is almost always a good thing. This is especially true if you suffer from allergies or asthma. But, if your vacuum cleaner smells, then you’ll want to find out what’s causing the stench before using it again. Nevertheless, the biggest thing to think about is what type of flooring is present in your household and what type of vacuum you’ll need for each type.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- For most types of flooring, you only need to vacuum around once a week, but for thick carpets and similar materials, you’ll want to increase that to twice a week.
- Your lifestyle will have a huge impact on how often you need to vacuum your house, so take into account allergies, asthma, pets, and other lifestyle factors.
- Accumulation of hair, whether human or pet, can cause your vacuum to clog up if you don’t vacuum often enough.
Is Vacuuming Frequently Good or Bad?
When thinking about how often to vacuum, you should first think about your lifestyle and the type of vacuum you own. For example, robot vacuums work differently than regular vacuums. A consistent, regular vacuuming schedule is always a good thing and can improve the health and hygiene of your household. Make sure that you take into account what the floor manufacturer has to say, as well, since more delicate materials might require a specific type of vacuum to avoid damage or excessive wear.
Figuring Out How Often to Vacuum
There is a simple recipe for figuring out what your regular vacuuming schedule should look like. First, you need to find out how often the flooring in your home needs to be cleaned. The second portion is factoring in your lifestyle decisions and how those choices impact the hygiene of your household. There are a lot of different factors that can come into play, such as choosing to have pets or inviting a ton of guests over regularly. If you’re hosting parties weekly, then your cleaning schedule needs to reflect that. Running a dog rescue with pet hair galore? That’s going to be a daily job to keep your house in running order. How often should you vacuum your pool? Depends on how often you use it.
Frequency For All Floor Types
You should obviously clean different types of flooring at differing frequencies. While lifestyle does have a lot to do with it, there is also a general rule of thumb to go by for each type. Most of them are around once a week but a couple of floor types require more frequent vacuuming than that. Here is a rundown of each type commonly found in houses and how often to clean it:
- Hardwood Floors: Once a week
- Laminate Floors: Once a week
- Tile Floors: Once a week
- Carpeting: Twice a week
- Rugs: Twice a week
Warning
Make sure that you take into account what the floor manufacturer has to say, as well, since more delicate materials might require a specific type of vacuum to avoid damage or excessive wear.
Consider Your Household’s Needs
Every household will have different cleaning needs. For example, folks with kids might have far more frequent vacuuming schedules than their childfree counterparts. Here are a few factors to keep in mind:
- Pet owners should always increase frequency to deal with pet hair
- High-traffic areas will always need more vacuuming
- Those with allergies and asthma should also vacuum more often
- Make sure to vacuum spaces even if they aren’t used to avoid dust bunnies
F.A.Q.
Long story short: How often should my floors be vacuumed?
Vacuuming once a week is a golden rule. Have a lot of high-traffic areas? You might want to do it twice a week to be sure. Pet owners might also need to increase their frequency to deal with pet hair. If you rarely use the formal dining room, you might not need to vacuum its hard surface floors quite as often as the soiled carpets in the living room left by your furry friends, which might need more cleaning sessions than just one weekly vacuuming.
Is it better to dust or vacuum first?
It’s always better to dust before you vacuum. When dusting, you’re spreading dust particles all over. Larger dust bunnies may not get picked up and end up on the floor, too. Vacuuming afterward helps you clean up any residual dust that has escaped your duster. Handheld vacuums can be used to get into those hard-to-reach corners around furniture.
How often should you vacuum hard floors?
As with the golden rule, once a week is really the minimum to keep a hygienic home. If you have asthma or allergies then this should be done twice a week to help keep symptoms at bay. A lot of foot traffic will also translate into demand for more frequent vacuuming.
How often should you vacuum carpets?
Generally, you’ll want to start with twice a week for carpets. It’s important to note that some people will use a stick cordless vacuum for quick daily cleaning, and a regular vacuum, also known as an upright vacuum, for deep cleaning. Carpeted floors can contain all types of micro debris within its fibers, like human skin cells and dust mite excrement, so it’s important to deep clean your carpets consistently for a cleaner and overall healthier environment within your home. It will also maintain a cleaner appearance of carpet fibers to leave a better impression on your guests.
STAT: Reusing bags can cut efficiency by up to 50 percent,” cautions Kuchle. (source)
REFERENCES:
- https://www.wikihow.com/Clean-Carpets
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/221816252_Daily_Vacuuming_of_Mattresses_Significantly_Reduces_House_Dust_Mite_Allergens_Bacterial_Endotoxin_and_Fungal_b-Glucan
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpet_cleaningr
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odVAT-BqS1E
- https://www.howeverythingworks.org/supplements/vacuum_cleaners.pdf
