As someone who has had cats and dogs all my life, I've definitely gotten used to cleaning up pet hair from wooden floors. Add to that my time as a professional cleaner, and I've learned the best tips to clean pet hair from wooden floors.
I've found a multi-prong approach to this tends to work best when it comes to keeping hardwood floors clear of those pet hair 'tumbleweeds' that can build up, especially during shedding season.
To stay on top of the seemingly never-ending mess, I have corralled my best tips to keep a clean home when you have pets and hardwood floors.
How to clean pet hair from wooden floors
1. Sweeping or vacuuming
One of the best ways to clean pet hair from hardwood floors is by using one of the best vacuums for pet hair.
I usually recommend a simple daily or every few days' sweeping or vacuuming routine for general maintenance. How often you vacuum with pets will depend on how many you have and how much hair they're leaving behind. It can also depend on whether you have allergy sufferers in the household, so it's important to stay on top of it with the right cleaning tips to reduce pet allergy symptoms.
If you have any furniture like tables, shelving, and chairs on your wooden floors, make sure you're getting beneath and behind these. Cleaning frequently is going to help a lot when it comes to preventing pet hair buildup on your floors. It also helps this task take much less time.
2. Mopping stuck-on fur
In my experience, sometimes tracked-in water or mud will also result in clumps of pet hair that get stuck to wooden floors. I see this a lot around water bowls, too.
What I recommend here is sweeping or vacuuming like usual, then mopping your floors to loosen this hair and either picking it up with your fingers, or vacuuming it up. A microfiber mop with different heads would work well, like the Bona Pet System Microfiber Mop at Amazon.
Otherwise, though, I would say 'wet' cleaning methods like mopping are something I would advise avoiding when it comes to cleaning up pet hair from wooden floors. If you're cleaning dry hair with a wet mop, you're likely to just end up with a mess, and a good dry mop can help by itself to quickly pick up lots of pet hair.
This set includes a microfiber sweeping mop and a microfiber deep cleaning pad, covering you for both wet and dry pet hair cleaning. The pads are also washable, and the mop has rubber corners to protect your walls and furniture from scratches.
3. Investing in a pet vacuum
If you're dealing with lots of hair on a daily basis, then investing in a high-quality vacuum specifically designed to handle pet hair can also be a good call. When comparing pet vacuums and regular vacuums, it's important to remember that features such as anti-tangle floorheads and HEPA filtration are essential.
Homes & Gardens has tested 65 pet vacuums and vacuums for hardwood floors and knows exactly what to recommend when vacuuming after our cats and dogs.
Keeping a handheld vacuum nearby is a key part of vacuuming pet hair the right way, so you can clean hair as and when you see it. This handheld vacuum from Black+Decker is the best we've tested, with flawless cleaning on hard floors and a motorized attachment for upholstery.
Read more in our full Black+Decker dustbuster furbuster AdvanceClean+ review.
The Shark POWERDETECT is our favorite upright vacuum at Homes & Gardens, and it works like a dream on pet hair. It also has a soft brushroll that leaves nothing behind on hard floors, without scratching the wood's surface.
Read more in our full Shark POWERDETECT review.
It may be expensive, but nothing is more effective than a robot to consistently keep on top of pet hair at home. This eufy model is one of the best robot vacuums for pet hair we've tested that costs under $1,000.
Read more in our full eufy X10 Pro Omni review.
4. Prevention
My other best tip would be prevention. Brushing your pet when they're shedding, along with regular bathing for dogs, can help maintain a healthy coat and result in less hair on your wooden floors for you to clean. This can be made even easier with a vacuum grooming kit, like the Dyson Pet Grooming Kit that's compatible with most cordless Dysons.
Not doing so is one reason why pet hair is so hard to vacuum, as dealing with accumulated fur makes the whole process longer. I have found that regular sweeping or vacuuming, along with regular brushing, is the winning combo to keeping hardwood floors pet hair-free.
If you have a cordless Dyson vacuum, this pet kit is designed to gently groom and pull loose hairs from medium- and long-haired dogs, vacuuming the hairs before they reach your floors and furniture.
Next, browse our tested picks of the best vacuum attachments for pet hair, to make sure yours is fully equipped for your home.
