Making a cleaning schedule for your home, including how often you should vacuum, helps keep your flooring in tip-top shape and maintains your home's hygiene. A dirty floor is unsightly, and excessive grit and grime can damage flooring and wear out rugs and carpets prematurely.
Floors of all types collect dirt from debris created by pet dander, the shedding of human skin cells, dust mite excrement, and more. A buildup of dust and bacteria can be detrimental to your wellness, and food particles can encourage the growth of mold and mildew and attract household pests.
The rooms used most often need to be vacuumed at least twice per week, while less-used rooms should be vacuumed weekly to maintain the flooring and prevent the buildup of dust.
How Often Should I Vacuum?
The basic rule of thumb is that carpeted floors and rugs should be vacuumed at least twice weekly, while hard surface floors like tile, hardwood, laminate, and vinyl should be vacuumed at least once per week.
However, the vacuuming frequency varies and is highly dependent on the number of people in the household, your jobs (farmers' boots bring in much more soil than someone's shoes who works from home), and the type and number of pets.
| Type of Flooring | How Often to Vacuum | Reason |
| Carpets and Rugs | Twice weekly | Carpeting and rugs collect much more soil and dust than hard surfaces. The longer dust accumulates, the deeper it becomes ground into the fibers, making it more difficult to clean. Eventually, the accumulation of soil will damage the fibers and backing of the carpet. |
| Hard Surface Floors: Hardwood, Vinyl, Ceramic Tile, Stone, Laminate | Weekly | Hard surface flooring does not capture and hold onto dust and loose soil as easily as carpet. However, the soil can accumulate in corners, grout lines, and crevices and should be removed weekly. The loose soil can also scratch some hard surface flooring and leave permanent damage. |
How Often Should I Vacuum With Pets?
If you have furry pets, all carpets and floors should be vacuumed daily to capture dander, dust, and dirt. Rooms that receive high traffic like entryways, living areas, and kitchens may require more frequent vacuuming, while guest rooms or formal dining rooms will be fine with weekly cleaning.
Other Surfaces
Your schedule can include vacuuming more than just floors. Here are other areas of your home that need vacuuming attention:
- Ceilings: 3-4 times a year
- Mattresses: 2-3 times a year
- Pet beds: Weeklybetween washings
- Stairs: Low-traffic 1 to 2 times a month, high-traffic twice a week
- Upholstered furniture: Weekly
- Blinds: Every week or two
- Drapery and curtains: Every 3 to 6 months
8 Tips for More Efficient Vacuuming
- While area rugs should be vacuumed twice weekly, don't forget to remove them and vacuum the flooring under them weekly. You should also occasionally flip the rug and vacuum its backing using the vacuum's upholstery attachment.
- Select the best type of vacuum for the majority of the flooring in your home. Canister vacuums are usually more efficient in collecting soil from hard surfaces, while rugs and carpeting are better cleaned with an attachment or upright vacuum with a beater bar to loosen the soil.
- Frequently clean your vacuum so that it operates at full capacity.
- If you have a multiple-story home, keep a vacuum on each floor, if possible. This will encourage more frequent cleaning.
- Choose a vacuum with a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter to trap as much dust, dander, spores, and bacteria as possible. A HEPA filter will collect many more particles than a regular vacuum and prevent them from redepositing on floors and other surfaces like upholstery.
- Take advantage of all of the features your vacuum offers. Adjust the vacuum head height on upright vacuums to match the type of flooring. This will give you better suction and trap more soil. Engage or disengage the beater bar depending on the type of floor surface. Leaving the beater bar engaged while cleaning hard surface floors can result in dents and scratches.
- Vacuum slowly to trap more soil. Move the vacuum several feet ahead of you and pull it back toward yourself following the same path. As you move to a new area of the floor, overlap the paths. Work in one direction of the room (east to west) and then repeat at a 90-degree angle (north to south).
- If your vacuum is broken, sweeping and dust-mopping hard surface floors and cleaning carpets and rugs by beating, scrubbing, or using a carpet sweeper will protect them until you can get the vacuum going again.
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FAQ
How long can you go without vacuuming?
Really, this is up to you, but most recommend vacuuming at least once a week. One month without vacuuming is usually enough time for mold and mildew to spread.
See AlsoHow to Clean A ToiletWhat happens if you skip vacuuming for a month?
If you skip vacuuming for a month, not only is this enough time for pet dander and other allergens to accumulate, but also, it's enough time for mold and mildew to spread. Both situations can be harmful to your health.
Is vacuuming too often bad for carpets?
Unless your carpet is made out of some sort of unique fabric, there is no need to worry about damage from vacuuming. Carpets are designed with regular vacuuming in mind.
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Easy ways you can improve indoor air quality. Harvard Medical School.
