With long, soft bristles, the dusting brush is a whizz at whisking away debris from window sills, lampshades, blinds, skirting boards and other awkward surfaces. It's also ideal for more delicate cleaning tasks, such as dusting furniture, the top of books or easily scratched objects.

This isn’t exactly groundbreaking but can be a very useful feature to have on a cordless appliance. Some vacuums, including the Dyson V15 Detect, will handily count down your remaining battery time in minutes and seconds. The benefit of this system is that you don't need to touch the dust and dirt to remove it from the canister, which can be the case with a bagless vacuum cleaner. On top of this, we run an interior car cleaning test to see how well each vacuum gets in between the crevices. We try it out on a set of stairs, too, to monitor how easily it manoeuvres.According to The Victorian Emporium, a renovation company specializing in period homes, stair rods were used to help secure runner carpets to wooden staircases. Make sure the brush on the head is free from hairs and threads. If it becomes jammed, cut – don’t pull – any threads that prevent it from rotating. Be careful to avoid cutting the bristles.

You'd be forgiven for finding the assortment of extra tools and accessories a little mystifying. Here’s an explanation of each one, so you know if you’ll really need it. It can be difficult to know which type of vacuum cleaner would best suit your needs, so we’ve detailed the pros and cons for each category. Upright This is useful if you need more power for deep pile carpets. It’s also good to have if you’re conscious of energy usage. The upholstery attachment is wide with a small, flat head. Many also have a built-in fabric strip to help lift dust, dirt and hairs from fabric surfaces including sofas, mattresses, cushions and chairs.From crevice tools to dusting brushes, today's vacs come with a generous collection of vacuum cleaner attachments that are designed to make light work of common household cleaning tasks.