However, a couple of well-chosen accessories can make your life significantly easier in terms of cleaning. Here’s a list of some of the most useful extras for your vacuum cleaners, and what tasks they are best suited to.
Basics
All vacuum cleaners should come with a few essential tools included. The most common are upholstery, crevice and brush attachments. An upholstery nozzle is excellent at getting dust and debris out from the nooks and crannies of your soft furnishings, without damaging any of the covering fabric. It can even be used to freshen up your mattress!
A crevice tool, as the name suggests, is a narrow attachment that helps you get at any confined or awkward spaces while you clean, minimising the amount of furniture you need to move to get the job done.
A dusting brush is useful for vacuuming delicate and hard-to-reach items, such as light shades or wall mouldings.
In addition to these fittings, you should look for a vacuum with a suitably sized main cleaning head. For example, if you have a lot of space to keep on top of, a larger head will help you vacuum more quickly, but the same size is likely to be a nuisance in a more restricted space where it is harder to manoeuvre.
Nozzle height adjustment is also important, particularly for carpets. Look for a model with a range of options in this category to make sure all your surfaces get an optimal clean.
Turbo brush
If you have thick, luxurious carpets, you should seriously consider a vacuum cleaner with a turbo brush. This is an attachment that has its own motor built in, which helps it achieve maximum suction.
Its powerful nature means that it is also a good choice for anyone struggling with pet hair, which is very good at getting everywhere and resisting most attempts at getting rid of it.
Telescopic attachment
A telescopic attachment is invaluable for people with high ceilings, as it can be extended to get right up into the highest corners, then collapsed into itself again for convenient storage.
It can also make cleaning the stairs less of a chore, as it can enable you to deal with most of the steps without having to move the main machine, with all the frustrations this entails.
Parquet brush
This is also sometimes known as a horsehair brush, and it’s a great way of keeping wooden and tiled floors in tip-top condition and free from scratches, without compromising on cleaning power. This is because of the softness of the brush hairs, so for best results, use your parquet brush exclusively on sensitive services to extend its life.
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