Finding the Best Vacuum for Your Carpet

LESLIE: James in Virginia’s doing some redecorating [1]. What’s going on at your house?

JAMES: I was wondering what kind of vacuum cleaner I could get for a berber type of carpet. It’s sort of a small weave and the one I have doesn’t pick up too much. I need something heavier.

LESLIE: OK, so this is a new carpet. This is a brand new carpet [2]?

JAMES: Yes.

LESLIE: And it’s not – the berber is a short shag and it’s a tight weave. It’s not really like a pile or like a loop, correct?

JAMES: Tight. Real tight. High traffic.

LESLIE: I mean it really depends on what your budget is. You really definitely want to look for something that has a HEPA filter built into it because when you’re vacuuming you’re going to kick up a lot of dust obviously and you want it to get sucked up into the vacuum and not be re-released back into the air causing allergens [3].

JAMES: Yes.

LESLIE: So a HEPA filter is something definitely you want to look at and depending on your budget there’s actually a good website; it’s ConsumerSearch.com [4]. And they are a consumer-based website that people put up all sorts of reports and research based on usage and testing to different appliances; vacuums are one of them. You can look by budget. You can look by uprights. I have a Dyson. We also have a berber at our house. It’s fantastic but it’s a little bit more on the high end of price-wise. It’s really up to you and your budget so I say do your research and you can start on the web with some really specialized searching as far as your budget will allow.

JAMES: Hey, thank you very much.

TOM: You’re welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.