Decent Vaccuum?

scottstef

i know this isn't directly a painting question, but can anyone recommend a good vacuum cleaner? i hate the pita vacuum routine i have now before i can start spraying a house. i have a shop vac that gets big bulky stuff and a dirt devil for doing floors. i would like to get one decent vac that i can use for doing both without the pita factor of trying to clean a room with a shop vac since i can never get the wide attachments to work to well, and the dirt devil seems to only be good at getting small stuff.

any recommendations as well as ball park prices would be GREATLY appreciated.

K2

I'm not a painter but if your talking new construction my guy used to clean it up pretty good and then shoot the subfloors with left over old paint to freeze the fine dust. Always seemed to work pretty good.

AAPaint

Yikes!! I wouldn't do that. What if the homeowner decides to acid stain later?

__________________
-AAPaint

AA Quality Painting & Pressure Washing LLC
Jacksonville Painters
Jacksonville, FL.

painterofeveryt

think he means for wood floors.....not on concrete floors.

Miniroller

I use a Fein brand vacumn. A mikita sander hooks up to it easy, it picks
up dust well, and it's fairly quiet. You can use bags with it and it can do wet vac (i never have with mine). Just an all around quality vacumn and it is not cheap. But like i've heard so often in this forum, "you get what you pay for." Hope this helps.

http://www.coastaltool.com/a/fein/images/turbo-i.jpg

painterofeveryt

bought a new clean stream(gore-tex) filter for my shop-vac 7 years ago! this thing is the best ,when it gets way too dirty immerse it in a 5 of hot soapy water swish it around rinse with a garden hose,let dry brand new.It also has great suction...hope this helps

trumps101

Seen these used on construction site

http://www.thesevacuumssuck.com/vacuum-41851.html

Danahy

I got rid of my shop vac, and replaced it with a nice short and fat RIGID brand vac... amazing power. Enough that when I put a wide floor attachment on, it still really works like a charm.

Joewho

I'm glad someone vacuums before spraying, do you vacuum all the switch/sockets too?

The pita factor for me is noise and the air blowing out the back end.

Getting an industial, metal case vacuum with attachements, including the brush is the best solution I've found. But they are expensive.

Another alternative is to get a powerfull one, and adding the paper and foam filters to it. the filters make the motor work harder.

I also agree with spraying some paint around the bottom of the walls a couple/ few feet out. Personally I do this, but don't mention it because I get criticized for not charging more to do it. Key word being subfloor, wood.

AAPaint

Yeah, I missed that idea and was thinking concrete. In most new houses they just trash the slab and cover it with carpet and tile.

As for shop vacs. I have the 18 gallon 6.5hp contractor grade shop vac, and with the large attachments it lifts the carpet when I vacuum. I think it has plenty power....it's only downfall is it's quite large.

__________________
-AAPaint

AA Quality Painting & Pressure Washing LLC
Jacksonville Painters
Jacksonville, FL.

Exroadog

Fein.

__________________
www.decoartisans.com
http://dpap.org
http://paintedfx.com

Brushslingers

I have a shop vac... of course.. but really the best prep i've found is a blower. Open up one door and in a few minutes, the floor is clean.

__________________
Benn

Teetorbilt

I have a variety of them. Use the Stingers for small stuff and like the Craftsman 5.0 for the larger stuff. I have many in between, usually picked up as a 'good deal' somewhere.

__________________
You can't solve you're problems with the same level of thinking that created the problems.

Albert Einstein

Shanklesbuilder

Uhhh thats nasty Brushslingers, and get it all in the air so you can shoot it on the walls. Some sticks to the wall, and it is hard to touch up. I have found it is better to suck it up and never get it air borne.

Shanklesbuilder

Sorry I have been trimming in rubber base all day.
I like a shop vac for rough stuff. A dirt devil or any commercial grade vac works good on carpet. I could see the blower working if you let the dust die down like over night. To each his own suck or blow

boman47k

I can't see using a blower if there is rock dust. That stuff seems to get everywhere on it own with putting forced air to it. But hey, whatever works for you.

furiousstyles

I once was in a a house where the carpenter thought he would save some time for himself by using his blower to blow the dust out the front door. Later that day I was twenty feet up on a ladder in the living room getting ready to paint the windows and they were so coated in his sawdust that I had to completely vac and clean them after having dusted them the day before. Dont let me tell ya about the caulking his guys did on the built ins they installed....

Traditions

I must have really good contractors. I do all the houses for two contractors. They both always clean up before I paint. They both do a great job. They clean the floors, outlet holes, sills, everything. I guess I got it pretty good..

Colonel Hogan

I have a 6.5 HP Genie with the HEPA filter, it is loud, clogs almost immediately on sheetrock dust but is ok on concrete floors, the blower outout is diffused (you cant use it as a blower). I bought a water bucket filter attachment which helps tremendously on rock dust. I am setting up a new shop to do cabinet/furniture work and needed a portable dust collector/vacuum. I bought a FESTOOL CT-22E which I am very impressed with. It is powerful, very quiet, moves easily without tipping, has diffused and focused blower output and with the FESTOOL paper bags is an extremely efficient dust collector especially when used with FESTOOL tools. It is also low profile, accepts the versatile FESTOOL Systainers (tool and storage containers) and accepts a wide variety of FESTOOL accessories including the new Boom Arm which is handy for sawing or sanding. It is not cheap ($400 range) but is of very high quality and carries a three year warranty.