Your guide to a smart home
Your guide to a smart home
Houses with several floors have some unique challenges in stock for robot vacuums.
Even though the robotic vacuums can’t climb stairs yet, there are well-suited models for use in multi-storey houses.
You want to know which features the robot vacuums must have for use in a house with multiple floors? Then read this detailed review.
Storage of 4 cards is possible. A powerful battery provides an operating time of up to 3 hours plus an excellent app with many useful functions.
High-tech functions everywhere you look!
Highlights include a liftable mop for carpets (VibraRise), a vibrating mopping system (Sonic Mopping) and an extraction station with a reusable dust bag.
The Roborock S7 UK convinced us in our independent review.
You can store four maps. Houses or flats with several floors are therefore no great challenge. The powerful rechargeable battery is also convincing, which means that you can clean very extensive areas with one battery charge.
But the Roborock S7 has much more to offer. 💪
The cleaning performance is second to none.
Hard floor:
Short pile carpet
High pile carpet
The highlight is certainly the excellent (vibrating) mop system. This way, you can remove even more stubborn stains.
Carpet owners, in particular, can breathe a sigh of relief: the mop is lifted when driving over a carpet. 💡
Carpet driveway
Mop lifting
Carpets are only vacuumed (and not wiped!) when mopping.
The Roborock S7 can be retrofitted with a self-emptying station if desired.
Here too, Roborock's philosophy is: mediocrity is not an option!
Compared to the competition, the self-emptying station can be operated with disposable dust bags or with a reusable dust container.
Disposable dust bag
Reusable container
We must reward so much quality and innovation: Roborock S7 is our deserved test winner. 🤴
Can save up to 4 maps. A powerful battery with an operating time of more than 2 hours. Excellent app with many useful functions. Top price-performance ratio.
The Roborock S5 Max is our test winner. You can easily use the robot vacuum in larger houses because it’s got a long-lasting battery, and you can save up to 4 maps.
The Roborock S5 Max is an all-rounder among the vacuum robots.
The S5 Max performed exceptionally well in almost all areas.
You can save up to 4 maps, making the robotic vacuum very suitable for larger houses with multiple floors.
The Roborock S5 Max also has excellent and efficient laser navigation technology (Lidar).
This ensures that it’ll clean your home seamlessly and fast.
The 5200 mAh lithium-ion battery gives it the necessary power.
It has a runtime of up to 2 hours. With that, it can clean more than 200 m² of living space in one go without any problems.
The Roborock S5 Max has a reliable mopping function. It can vacuum and mop your floors at the same time.
This ensures more cleanliness in your home.
You can even set the suction power and water intensity level for each room via the outstanding Roborock App (the best app of all tested robot vacuums).
With that, you can adjust the suction power and water intensity individually for each floor (or room), depending on the degree of soiling and floor type.
The price is the cake on the icing. You get a premium device at an unbeatable price ?.
High-end vacuum robot with an emptying station. You can save up to 10 maps. Excellent app and good voice control.
The iRobot Roomba i7+ can save up to 10 maps, which makes it ideal for big houses. And the luxury robot vacuum from the American manufacturer has more to offer: an self-emptying dust bin.
The iRobot Roomba i7+ can save up to 10 maps. So if you live in a house with multiple floors, you should take a closer look at this luxury robot vacuum.
You can also carry it very comfortably from floor to floor because it has a practical carrying handle.
The self-emptying function also worked exceptionally well.
You won’t have to empty the mobile dust container by hand anymore. The self-emptying cleaning base will take care of that, whenever the robot vacuum comes to the charging dock. This automates the daily floor cleaning even more.
Another highlight is the well-designed and intelligent voice control with Alexa and Google Assistant. It has a wide variety of voice commands.
The range of functions and the simple operation of the app were impressive.
The app is very user-friendly so that even technically uninclined won’t have any troubles with it.
The fast navigation and the long-lasting battery also make the Roomba i7+ very suitable for houses with multiple floors.
This robot vacuum belongs to the luxury segment with its high price.
If you have to save so many maps (up to 10 floors) and don’t mind spending a little more on your household helper, you certainly won't be disappointed.
Luxury vacuum mopping robot with automatic obstacle detection (Reactive AI technology). You can save up to 4 maps. Powerful battery with operating times of more than 2.5 - 3 hours.
The Roborock S6 MaxV is the successor of the Roborock S5 Max. Its highlights are the automatic obstacle detection and the monitoring function. You can save 4 maps, which is why it’s very suitable for use in multi-storey houses.
The Roborock S6 MaxV is a more than worthy successor to the S5 Max.
You can save up to 4 maps, making this robot vacuum very suitable for homes with multiple floors.
Especially the automatic obstacle detection is a handy feature.
The S6 MaxV can also detect small obstacles (e.g. socks and phone charging cables), thanks to the two front cameras. The data-based Reactive AI technology (Artificial Intelligence) ensures that the robot vacuum independently avoids the object.
The Roborock S6 MaxV also convinces with its fast and seamless navigation.
The Roborock S6 MaxV is a natural marathon runner with an operating time of 2.5 - 3 hours at a stretch and ideal for large houses.
It also has a mopping function that worked great in our test.
Use voice commands to control your Roborock S6 MaxV with amazon alexa and google assistant.
The Roborock App (wi-fi connectivity needed) offers a lot of useful additional functions that make cleaning even more straightforward.
These two features are super handy for houses with multiple floors: individual adjustment of the suction power/water output for each room and the monitoring function.
Especially the monitoring function was quite interesting.
You’re worried about your home? Just open the app and have a quick check.
That’s not a problem anymore, thanks to the Roborock S6 MaxV's monitoring function.
Why is the Roborock S6 MaxV not the test winner?
The price-performance ratio of the S5 Max is much better.
But if you’re willing to dig a little deeper into your pocket, you certainly can’t go wrong with the Roborock S6 MaxV.
Robot vacuums can’t climb stairs or fly (yet). You have to make the following decision:
Do you want one robotic vacuum for each floor or one robot vacuum for multiple floors?
That’s undoubtedly the most convenient alternative.
For example, if you have a house with 3 floors, you can buy 3 vacuum robots and put them on each floor.
Advantage: They’ll clean the entire house at the same time. You don't have to carry the robot vacuum from floor to floor. This saves effort and time.
Disadvantage: It may be convenient, but it’s quite expensive. You’d have to buy a total of 3 vacuum robots (instead of just one).
Therefore we’d go with option 2 instead.
With this option, you have "only" one robotic vacuum that cleans the entire house.
Your robot vacuum (including the charging station) is therefore only on one floor at a time ("main floor").
If you want it to clean another floor, you have to carry the robotic vacuum to the (second/third) floor and let the little household helper do its work.
As soon as it has completed its tasks, you have to carry it back to the main floor. The charging station will be there, too, and the robot vacuum can recharge its battery.
Advantage: Cost-effective variant.
Disadvantage: You have to carry the robotic vacuum from floor to floor, which takes more time and effort. You can’t clean several floors at the same time.
It may happen that your robot vacuum can’t enter several rooms due to an insurmountable elevation (e.g. very high door threshold).
A terrace or balcony are typical examples of that.
This means that your robotic vacuum cleaner can’t reach the other room.
Thus, this room is like a second floor.
So if you want your little household helper to clean both rooms, it should be able to save several maps.
In our detailed review, "Robot vacuum cleaners for high thresholds", we address exactly that problem. We’ll show you numerous models that overcome heights well and how your little household helper can climb seemingly insurmountable heights with the help of a robot vacuum doorstep ramp (available* on Amazon UK).
If you live in a house with multiple floors, there are a few things you should keep in mind when buying your robot vacuum.
The following criteria are essential:
We’ll take a close look at each criterion now.
If you want to use a robot vacuum in a multi-storey house, the device must be able to create and save several maps for several floors (Multi Floor Mapping technology).
As soon as you place down the robot vacuum on the second floor, it recognises this and automatically pulls up the correct map.
This way, your little household helper doesn't have to reorientate himself whenever he has to vacuum the second floor.
That makes cleaning the second floor much faster, too.
Another advantage: You always have a detailed map (floor plan) of the second floor, which you can edit as you please (set up virtual walls, merge or separate rooms if necessary, etc.).
This way you can personalise the daily floor cleaning according to your wishes.
The mobile app determines the intelligence of a “smart” robotic vacuum. And
It should provide numerous useful functions that make cleaning several floors easier.
These are the must-have features:
The functions listed above extend the flexibility enormously and make cleaning multiple floors much more manageable.
The robotic vacuum cleaner shouldn’t only be suitable for use in a house/flat with several floors. It should have top performance in all other relevant areas, too.
All our top models for multiple floors convinced us in our extensive tests.
In addition to this, the robot vacuums are also particularly suitable for use in homes with multiple floors.
If you have a house/apartment with 2 (or more) floors, there are usually "real abysses".
Therefore, your robotic vacuum should have built-in crash sensors. They are located on the robot vacuum’s bottom side and are a somewhat standard feature of modern models.
It detects precipices in time with these sensors. The robot vacuum will stop immediately and look for another way.
This way, there’ll be no drama - such as your household helper falling down the stairs.
Your robot vacuum has to clean a huge area if you want to use it on several floors.
That quickly adds up to cleaning areas of more than 100 m².
Therefore, you should pay particular attention to navigation.
The prerequisite for good navigation: the robot vacuum should clean your home seamlessly.
Navigation speed is also essential. After all, you don't want the robot vacuums to take forever for cleaning the entire home.
Your robot vacuum for multiple floors should have a long-lasting and powerful battery.
Ideally, the robot vacuum should be able to clean several floors in one go without needing a charge in between.
That’s better because the charging dock may be on a different floor.
Battery runtimes of 90 minutes and more are sufficient. It can usually clean areas of 150 m² to 250 m² during that time.
Furthermore, it’s more convenient if your robot vacuum has a "Recharge & Resume" function.
If the battery runs out during the cleaning, the little household helper returns to the charging station by itself. As soon as the battery is charged, the robotic vacuum continues its cleaning route where it left off.
It’s a great feature that saves a lot of time.
Your advantage: If the battery runs out, the robot vacuum will return to the charging dock by itself and recharge the battery.
The robotic vacuum will continue cleaning at the same spot where it had to stop. It’ll clean your home seamlessly, even if it has to interrupt its trip, thanks to the "Recharge & Resume" function.
Do you want the robot to vacuum AND mop the floors in your home?
Robot vacuum with mop do both (vacuuming and mopping) in one go.
The mopping function can’t replace wiping by hand yet.
Nevertheless, this function ensures that the robot will free your floors from the last traces of dust and dirt. Your home will look even cleaner.
You can find a lot of dirt on an entire floor...
You should rinse the mop thoroughly under running water after each floor.
Or you could also get a separate mop for each floor. Reusable mops are available on Amazon* in the UK at a low price.
Different floors can have very different levels of soiling.
or:
Different floors can have different floor types (hardwood-floors, low-pile carpet, high-pile carpet).
There may be highly sensitive laminate flooring on the first floor, whereas the basement has robust tiles.
Your robotic vacuum cleaner should be able to cope well with all floor types (and all kinds of dirt).
Modern robot vacuums have a great feature for this:
You can control the suction power and the water intensity (if there is a wiping function) via the app.
This means that you can let the robot vacuum clean the basement with the tiled floor at the highest suction level/highest water intensity. For the living area (sensitive laminate flooring), it’ll use the medium power mode/water intensity.
That increases the flexibility for daily floor cleaning even more.
The weight of the robotic vacuum cleaner is also quite important.
If you want that your household helper cleans several floors, you also have to carry it back and forth between the floors.
Thus: the lighter the robot, the better.
Some models (e.g. iRobot Roomba i7+) also have a practical carrying handle.
With this, it’s effortless to carry the robot vacuum from one floor to another.
A somewhat hidden but handy feature!
You usually have a limited budget.
Therefore, your new household helper should fit into the budget and offer the best performance/quality possible for the price at the same time.
Some robot vacuums are very well suited for use in a house with multiple floors.
Certain functions make it possible.
The most important one is undoubtedly the possibility to save several maps (for multiple floors).
These are other features that the robotic vacuum should have:
Our top picks:
So, can a robot vacuum clean multiple floors?
Yes! Nothing stands in the way of using a robot vacuum in a home with several floors. Treat yourself to a little household helper to make your life easier!
There is an enormous assortment of roboti vacuum cleaners for multiple floors that you can buy on Amazon in the UK.
Get the iRobot Roomba for the best price ?
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