Vacuum cleaner recommendations?

[ineedtostop]

My house is top to bottom plaster dust after six months of building works. I'm allergic and despair of ever getting it all out of the carpets and soft furnishings. I've been persevering with a Henry-type thing but it's just not doing the job. Also we've got lots of stairs and its heavy. I need a new vaccuum cleaner... needs to be a super-sucker, preferably filter out small particles, not too difficult to carry upstairs, and be good for hard floors too. No pets, so animal hair not an issue. I'm looking at Dyson, Shark, or anything else. Preferably not silly money. Thank you for your recommendations!

---

This thread is a bit old now, so if you have landed here looking for recommendations, we recently updated our best vacuum cleaner buyers guide, featuring the best cordless, cylinder and upright vacuums, tried and tested by Mumsnet.

We hope you find this useful.

MNHQ

I've just returned a Shark vacuum so wouldn't recommend them. Good suction (a little too good) but very hard to manoeuvre and it 'juddered' across the carpet rather pushing smoothly.
I have a Dyson upright, it's ok but blocks easily.
Miele are very good, I used to have a cylinder one when I had hard flooring and it was great, but I prefer a brush bar now I have carpets.

I have a Shark cordless and love it for day-to-day cleaning, but probably wouldn't reccommend it for you right now. The filters need regular cleaning to keep suction, and plaster dust clogs it right up.

For DIY cleanup, I tend to use our old bog-standard vacuum to do a first pass (which also clogs with decorating dust, but hey ho), then finish off with the Shark.

What about hiring a heavy-duty industrial or site vacuum cleaner (from HSS or similar) for a couple of days to do a deep clean?
www.hss.com/hire/c/cleaning-and-floorcare/vacuum-cleaners