You can rent a water-vaccuum from a grocery store to see if that helps you. They're pretty inexpensive and deep clean and trap all the dirt in the machine, to be cleaned by someone else later!

Hm, don't think I've never used a water-vacuum. Looks kinda like R2-D2 in the pictures I'm seeing! One huge problem is that it's really heavy-- 23 lbs according to one listing! My back won't handle that too well, so I'll opt for the lighter 8-pounder Oreck I think.

Okay, one more thing! I was just looking into consumer reports for vacuums that are good for allergic nerds like me, and found this old article in Essence Mag that says "three popular vacuums are tested and rated in this article, including the Oreck XL Ultra Hypo-Allergenic Upright Vacuum Cleaner, Dyson DC14 Animal Vacuum Cleaner and iRobot Roomba Discovery. Vanessa Bush says the Oreck is good for allergy sufferers.."

Wooo! Sounds good to me.

Nice work! Let us know what the results are...to share for other potential allergy folks.

Curious to hear everyone else's thoughts too! So chime in, people.

Do you have carpet? Cause maybe if you get rid of of your carpet ... it would really help with allergies and/or asthma! You can always replace with ceramic tiles or faux wood panels....so much nicer than carpet, anyways.

Mostly wood floors in my house. Which is good for the allergies. And from what I've heard, the Oreck glides really well on smooth surfaces like that.

What's the difference in cost between the options?