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Mark’s simple home improvement tips: Make your shop vacuum work better

Home improvement is easier when tools work like they're supposed to.

Home improvement is a big enough challenge without having tools that don’t work like they’re supposed to. My shop vacuum head was one such tool. Here’s the simple fix.

Home improvement is easier when tools work like they’re supposed to.

Problem: The bottom of the suction thingie is dead flat. Unless I really articulated the wand—total PITA—the vacuum would suck the #$%^&* thing to the floor. More below…

>>>> Want another home improvement fix? Watch this video. <<<<

See that little dot in the vac head above my left hand below? I drilled a hole in to relieve some pressure. Bubkis. So I got me some Gorilla Glue instead and went about creating an air gap between the bottom of the nozzle and the floor.

Using Gorilla Super Glue with Brush & Nozzle—love affair—to paint sticky stuff on the vac head.

First, I tried some cork I had lying around. Figuring it was thin it’d be perfect to break the suction between the vac and the floor without sacrificing power. I glued it on with Gorilla Super Glue with Brush & Nozzle. The glue worked great. The cork was an insta-fail.

I vacced up a bunch of gnarly remodeling dust and grit and the cork wore out within minutes.

I thought I was outsmarting my vacuum head by gluing cork to it. The only smart choice there is the scissors I used. The cork wore out in minutes.

Lesson learned. I turned to thin strips of wood—some stir sticks my wife Theresa had lying around. I glued little strips of stir stick right to what remained of the cork and my vac has never been easier to use.

The cork wore down so I beefed up to little blocks of stir sticks.

I hope this home improvement tip helped you. I have a million of ’em. If there’s something I can help you with to make your DIY projects go faster, easier better, smoother or otherwise requiring less profanity, I’m here to help.

The air channel created by the stir stick ‘bumpers’ keeps the vac head from sucking to the floor.

When my tools work like they’re supposed to I call that ‘home improvement happy’.

Mark

Mark is a licensed contractor, tool expert, wood and outdoor enthusiast, and elite Spartan Race competitor. He writes about home improvement and tools for national magazines and websites, and teaches hands-on clinics for other remodeling professionals. Check out his book, The Carpenter's Notebook.

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