I had a bit of an incident with the sunroom.
It’s under construction, so there’s a door missing, and the sides leading to the roof aren’t finished. No biggie really, unless it rains like hell here.
Which it did.
And I realized that I’m going to have to deal with drainage, and the dumb thing is sealed pretty good. So I had a good 3/4″ of water in a corner, and it was growing. This is a problem, unless you have a way to suck up the water that doesn’t involve a dozen towels and a mop.
Enter the Shop Vac.
Every time I use it, I think of a rant one of my High school teachers went on after a visit from a Kirby Vacuum salesman.
Dude asked if he’d like a free six pack of coke, then invited himself in to give the demo of an overpriced vacuum cleaner to a single dude. He was probably one of my favorite teachers – Mr. Kelleher. He taught Shop 2, Auto Shop, Photography, Electronics, and Yearbook. Basically the teacher of cool man stuff. He raced Chevy Corvairs, had a couple very cool Kawasakis. Matter of fact he moonlighted as a motorcycle mechanic.
The sales guy asks what Vacuum he uses. “That shop vac over there”
“HA!” Salesguy says. “Can your vacuum polish pots and pans?”
“No, it can’t” Mr K. says. “Can your vacuum suck up whole donuts?”
And indeed it can. I had a craftsman model I bought at a yard sale and lent to a neighbor where it vanished.
So the missus was yard-sailing and picked my up this model. It’ll literally suck up anything. Drywall dust, sawdust, desiccated French fries from under my car seats, rocks.
And even water.
Take out the paper filter, and it will suck up puddles. It’ll pull water out of your carpet. And when you’re done, there’s a plug in the base that opens up to drain it all out.
It’s become one of the two tools you didn’t know you needed until you have it. The other is an air compressor.
Your shop has arrived when you’ve added these two to your tool collection.
Inspected By Pat 