Talk to me about hoovering the stairs.

[addictediam]

I have a vax upright hoover that I love, but the attachment for hoovering the stairs is useless (its got clogged up with hair and dust and no amount of cleaning will restore it to its former glory). I dont want to replace the whole thing as its great on wooden floors.

What do you use to hoover the stairs? Has anyone got a reccomendation for a small hoover that has lots of suck?

Anyone?

Just bumping for you as we've just moved into a house (from a flat) and am fed up of trying to balance the Dyson on the stairs to vacuum them.

Would like to know what other people do!

Leave the dyson at the bottom and use the attachment, it's all you can do! Altho we have used a car hoover which is great at stairs and under radiators etc. The dyson handhelds are great.

I've got a black and decker cordless, hand held vacuum which is brilliant for stairs. Much better than the dyson imo and cheaper too!

I have a miele cylinder hoover and it is easy to balance on the stairs - I use a small attachment for doing the stairs rather than the normal brush head used for the floors

yeah hoovering the stairs is a pain in the a*%e!! we've got a plug at the top and near the bottom of the stairs so just find myself plugging into both and leaving the main bit of the hoover there and doing the top half and bottom half of the stairs separately with the handheld attachment. I always find hoovering the stairs my most frustrating chores.

hi - I bought myself one of these cordless sweeper when DD2 was little (it's much quieter than my dyson so I could use it when she was napping).

The long handle comes off so you can use it for stair cleaning. It's got a good suck

Because I keep the dyson in a cupboard upstairs, I use this downstairs for quick cleans in the kitchen and under the dining room table. It's really light. I love it (can you tell?!). The stair cleaning was a bonus, but a very good one!

DH does it. He just drives our huge Dyson over each step. It has a long enough hose to stay At the bottom, just. He chooses not to bother.
He bought the hateful heavy Dyson and I refuse to use it. He hovers for visitors, that's it.

One of these - it's compact, yet much more powerful than a normal handheld and has a proper rotating brush so beats the pile. Also has a hose with a nozzle attachment for corners and is very good for cars to. www.blackwellanddenton.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage-ask.tpl&product_id=427&category_id=17&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=64&vmcchk=1&Itemid=64
(No clue if link has worked, never tried one before.)

startail :) at your DH hovering for visitors. They must be ever so impressed!

(sorry, not being snide - it was just a particularly good typo )

this is my vacuum

The cylinder comes off and you use just that bit on the stairs or anywhere else you can't get the vacuum to!

Thankyou for your thoughts. Dizzy that's the one my parents have, but its not so great on hardwood floors. I've looked at some black and Decker hand held ones and they look quite decent without charging the earth for them!
Stickey my mil gave me one of thoes when dh and i moved in together I found it useless! But it was an old one (dhs gm had used it)

I have a Dyson, and its hose can reach up the whole stairs.

My dyson is in the shed. It's far too heavy and annoying. I got a Vax Power 2 Pet cylinder specifically because of the stairs problem. You can carry it with one hand while you go up the stairs (and get all the dog hair off). Sucks like a pro.

I use the dustpan and brush as I dropped the hoover on my head . Nearly knocked myself out.
I have since moved house and our house doesn't have carpet on the stairs, they are open wooden ones. It may have been a factor in choosing the house.

Mindthegap the hose on my vax reaches all the way up yhe stairs but the attachment for stairs, sofas etc doesn't work properly, the brushes dont spin and as a result the suction is poor and just fustrates me!

I use a rubber broom for the stairs. Much easier and lighter than lugging the hoover up there! I work from top to bottom then vacuum the huge pile of cat fur on the bottom step when I've finished.

And it probably burns more calories than vacuuming...