Hardwood Floors

Reneaura · Guest

How well does the Roomba do on hardwood floors? I have recently removed all carpet from my house and replaced it with laminate hardwood. On one list I am a member of, one person said she did not think the Roomba cleaned her hardwood very well. Would just like some feedback from several who have used it over time before purchasing it...would also like to know what model you think will work best for this type of cleaning. Thanks so much!
Rene

Broadband Lab Rat · Guest Joined: 07 Dec 2004 Posts: 23 Location: Alabama

I have 90% hardwood (1/4" thick pre-finished Bruce plank) on the first floor of my house, topped with area rugs in about 30% of the space. My Discovery SE cleans the hardwoods as good, perhaps better, than they have been cleaned in the past by sweeping with various traditional and rubber brooms and vacuming with an upright. It's actually quite amazing how well it works, getting far more up than I expected or even knew was there. I let it loose to clean all the floors, then follow up with a damp swiffer for the sticky spots. (Of course the Roomba can't clean up spilled coffee stains or coke stains) I've also noticed far less debris on the swiffer mop after the roomba has cleaned versus my old methods.

I believe it's is very efficient in cleaning dirt from the tiny cracks between the hardwood planks and that may be where all the extra dirt is coming from.

Any of the Discovery series would be the best choice IMO. Red, Sage, Discovery or Discovery SE.

DCinSEA · Guest Joined: 27 Dec 2004 Posts: 2 Location: Seattle

I echo the last reply. Our Roomba Discovery does a great job on our wood floors, they are much cleaner now than they used to be (part of that is just the time factor with two young kids at home!).

One thing I have noticed is that Roomba does not clean the transition area from my hardwood to my carpet that well, it seems to more push dirt into the little crease. It is not a big deal in my opinion, I just make sure to hit that with the handvac once a week to keep it cleaned out.

We actually bought my mom a Roomba Discovery for her house specifically because she has all laminate floors. It will help get all the dog hair up from the corners and areas hard to reach with a regular vac.

-DC