What is best vacuum for dusty garage floor

peterp · 01-31-07, 07:08

Can anyone recommend a vacuum cleaner designed for cleaning garage floors. Our floor (unpainted rough concrete) seems to collect a ton of dust and sweeping is almost impossible. I have a wall mounted shop vac, but it doesn't really work on the floor. Is there an upright garage vacuum/sweeper designed for this purpose. I vaguely recall seeing one advertised, but I can't recall where. I did a search on this site and couldn't find any info. Any guidance would be appreciated.

Devilsown · 01-31-07, 07:13

I personly would use that floor sealer stuff Garage Floor Coating Installation

and buy a giant dry mop for the floor, thats what I do at work and home.

peterp · 01-31-07, 07:20

This is a good idea -- I didn't know Home Depot had this type of service. Do you have any idea about the quality of Home Depot's work?

I see the costs listed on another page -- looks like the price starts at $2.50/$3.75/$4.25 for good/better/best. My garage is 20x20, so it look like the cost would be about $1000/$1500/$1700. Does this sound about right?

mikebai1990 · 01-31-07, 07:34

I had lots of success using my Ridgid wet/dry vac (it's not wall mounted) to clean the garage floors. They were dusty and had all sorts of stuff on the concrete ground. It sucked up everything very nicely.

peterp · 01-31-07, 07:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikebai1990

I had lots of success using my Ridgid wet/dry vac (it's not wall mounted) to clean the garage floors. They were dusty and had all sorts of stuff on the concrete ground. It sucked up everything very nicely.

Mine just sucks

Actually, I have a Craftsman wall mount wet/dry shop vac and it probably would pick up, but there is so much dust that the filter clogs very quickly. It just becomes hard-caked with dirt so that it looses most of it's suction power -- that's the case right now, but I plan to get a replacement filter this weekend. The vacuum isn't very old, so I think it would be clogged again by the time I finish with the dusty floor. I'm not sure if this is a deficiency of shop vacs in general (doesn't sound like it from your feedback) or something specific to the craftsman model.

Setec Astronomy · 01-31-07, 07:49

If the floor is spalling, it will just continue to dust and get rougher, making the problem worse. I'll tell you how to fix it when I figure out what to do with mine. The water-based sealer was just a temporary measure on my floor, it's pretty much back to the way it was.

jfelbab · 01-31-07, 08:19

You should buy a drywall filter or a fine dust filter for your shopvac. This filter will keep your cartridge filter from becoming clogged.

peterp · 01-31-07, 08:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by jfelbab

You should buy a drywall filter or a fine dust filter for your shopvac. This filter will keep your cartridge filter from becoming clogged.

Thanks -- this helps a lot. I see that they offer 3 different filter types -- I will definitely be sure to get the right one.

kompressornsc · 02-01-07, 03:42

You're going the wrong direction! Don't vaccum a garage floor, blow it out with a leaf blower. I do mine about once a week and keeps it nice & clean as well as allowing me to clean under cabinets & shelves w/o moving them. Start at the back and go over the entire thing, let it settle out for about 10 minutes and then go back and blow out what has settled. Just remember to move your car(s) well out of the way.

peterp · 02-01-07, 05:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by kompressornsc

You're going the wrong direction! Don't vaccum a garage floor, blow it out with a leaf blower. I do mine about once a week and keeps it nice & clean as well as allowing me to clean under cabinets & shelves w/o moving them. Start at the back and go over the entire thing, let it settle out for about 10 minutes and then go back and blow out what has settled. Just remember to move your car(s) well out of the way.

You're right -- not sure why I didn't think of this. I will pick up a leaf blower this weekend. I will also get the proper filter for the shop vac since the one that came with it clogged very quickly. Is there any preferred leaf blower to get? I prefer an electric one and will probably get a Sears craftsman (since I will be there for the vac filter) in the absence of a better suggestion.

jfelbab · 02-01-07, 05:17

Not so fast. I tried that in my old house and all it did is make everything in the garage dusty. I wound up with a layer of dust on everything I had stored in the garage. At least with the vacuum approach the dust is removed not just moved. JMHO.

kompressornsc · 02-01-07, 05:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by jfelbab

Not so fast. I tried that in my old house and all it did is make everything in the garage dusty. I wound up with a layer of dust on everything I had stored in the garage. At least with the vacuum approach the dust is removed not just moved. JMHO.

I blow off everything in the garage - not just the floor. Tools, shelves, walls, etc. I have an old, unfinished garage that gets filled with cobwebs in the stud cavity, so I blow those out, too. As I said, it does take doing it twice-you have to let it settle out after the first time. And obviously, open every door you can and work everything toward the door(s). Unless you're running a really good filter on a shop vac-I'll bet it blows out more dust than the leaf blower leaves behind. A standard shopvac filter just isn't made to get fine dust. Shop vacs are great for big stuff, but aren't worth anything on dust. I made the mistake of using a shop vac (with a secondary filter) in the house once and it made more of a mess than it cleaned up.