According to Marla Mock, president of Molly Maid, a Neighborly company, "Wet/dry vacs and mops are all better suited to clean hard floors, while vacuuming is better suited for rugs or carpets. If it's just a quick clean-up, then wet/dry vacs are better since they combine the functionality of both vacuuming and mopping."

Some wet-dry vacuums can be used on low-pile rugs, but most of them can't be used on carpets. So, if you have carpet, you'll absolutely need to keep a vacuum on hand. Vacuums are also multi-functional and can be used to clean cobwebs from the ceiling or used as a hand vacuum to clean messes on your couch. They're also perfect for cleaning up debris quickly, compared to a wet-dry vacuum that takes time to set up and use.

Yes, you can use wet-dry vacuums on hardwood floors as long as they're sealed. Some wet-dry vacuums have more water output than others, but among the ones we tested, the water output is not too significant to cause concern. That said, you don't need to mop your hardwood floors more than once a week. Always check to see that the wheels don't cause any scratches on your hardwood floors. That did not occur with any of the wet-dry vacuums we tested. However, we did find some wheels glided more smoothly on our hardwood floors than others, like the rubber wheels on the Tineco S7 Pro. Lastly, some cleaning solutions could damage your hardwood floors over time, so it's probably best to use the cleaning solution provided by the wet-dry vacuum only once a month. 

A wet-dry vacuum will not replace the best carpet cleaners, and we don't recommend using the wet-dry vacuum for cleaning medium and high-pile carpets. There are some models that can be used on low-pile area rugs like the Bissell Crosswave, Shark HydroVac Messmaster, and the Ecowell Lulu Quick Clean P05. They're designed to not soak the rug but rather to use water and cleaning solution to clean the top fibers and suction some of the water into the dirty water tank. Quick pro tip: clean the rugs first before using the wet-dry vacuum on your hard floors to ensure that you're not moving dust and debris from the hard floors to the rugs.