Yes, a robot vacuum can be used to clean your garage floor so long as you don’t have this on your floors…
- Oil
- Water
- Heavy metal like screws
Roomba and most other robot vacuum manufacturers don’t have garage floors in mind when making them, but most garage floors are concrete, and that is what is used in basements which is something they consider.
The problem comes in when there is water, oil, and heavy objects that can damage the robot vacuum.
If it’s just leaves, dirt, and dust, then a robot vacuum can handle it just fine. I mean, it’s the same stuff that ends up in your home anyway.
Here is a great video showing a robot vacuum cleaning a garage.
Robot Vacuum For Garages
iRobot, the creators of the Roomba, did have the Dirt Dog back around 2007.
Not only was the Dirt Dog good for the garage, but it was great on concrete and other hard surfaces like around the pool. It also had sensors to keep it from falling in the pool.
The Dirt Dog was later discontinued because of low demand, which is a shame as it seems there is still a need for them today.
What was different with the Dirt Dog and Roomba’s you get today is that it was only a sweeper, it did not have a vacuum. It also was dumber and had a smaller dirt bin too. The Dirt Dog didn’t even go to the home base to charge like many robot vacuums do today.
The Roomba’s you can get today are far better due to their current tech.
Best Robot Vacuum For Garages
Since there is no dedicated robot vacuum for garages anymore, you can instead use any Roomba 600 Series* robot vacuum.
Do be warned, iRobot didn’t have people vacuuming their garages in mind with their current robot vacuums, so don’t expect it to last as long or the warranty to cover anything out of scope like vacuuming your garage.
You want to stick to Roomba’s and not because I think they’re the best but because they have the dual brush design on lock-down. Only Roomba can sell dual brushes for robot vacuums, and you need that more than you need suction power as it’s the sweeping of the garage floor that is more important.
You can still get lucky and find an iRobot Dirt Dog on eBay.
The problem with buying a Dirt Dog today is that it was based on the 400 Series, which has a much smaller bin capacity than the 600 Series of today. Combined with the 600’s today being smarter and having more features, I rather get a 600 even if it’s used. And buying a used working 600 might be the best way to go about this or if you upgrade your current robot vacuum you can use the old one for the garage.
What To Be Aware Of
If you’re going to use any robot vacuum on concrete or other hard and rough surfaces, you must keep in mind the brushes will wear out faster.
You can buy replacement brushes and filters here* for when they do wear out.
I also must stress that these robot vacuums can’t be exposed to water or really anything wet on the floor. I say this with confidence because dog poop is enough to destroy many of them.
Even wet dirt or mud is enough to mess up a robot vacuum. And don’t get me started with loose screws and similar metal objects; they don’t do well with robot vacuums.
A robot vacuum does best with dirt, dust, sawdust, leaves, and other light materials.
Use A Shop Vac or Leaf Blower Instead
A few people bring up using a shop vac or leaf blower to clean the garage floor.
It’s a fair point but using a leaf blower makes a bigger mess by blowing everything around. The shop vac will work, but it requires me to do it when I could be doing something else.
You use a robot vacuum on your garage floor for the same reason you use a robot vacuum for the other floors in your home; so you don’t have to do it as much.