Tool Hack #3: The Hot Sockie
A wintertime jobsite solution
The HotSockie safely warms up cans of single component insulation, firestop, and adhesive foams even during the harshest winter conditions. Made from a thick layer of high density silicon, one of the best thermal insulators known on earth, the cans fit snugly inside the warming chamber. Plug it into your favorite 12v or 18-volt cordless battery system (adaptors available for all major brands) and let the HotSockie work its magic. Within 10-15 minutes your can is ready to dispense while your next can is warming up and getting ready to go. The device can run all day without breaks and you can warm up to 3 cans on a single charge (more with larger batteries).
At the time of this tool's release, there was no other aerosol can warmer on the market, but like most of my innovations I released this idea publicly as an open-source seed idea, and it's since taken root with several manufacturers. Our global community of builders and tradesmen were all raised inside of information silos, holding ideas like this as "trade secret:, but I believe in dismantling trade secrets and elevating the entire build community to success together, united as one collective so we can all serve homeowners more efficiently and save ourselves time while saving clients money. Collaboration> competition, every time.
A Community Effort
This product was the result of a social media collaboration between North Idaho's own Joel Mcintosh, Tennessee's Nathan Shirai, and myself. Joel was warming his foam cans up in the dash of his truck and then keeping the can warm on the jobsite using an old winter sock, thus the name "HotSockie". Nathan commissioned the project after joking about how bad the cans must smell being stuffed into an old sock, and I enjoyed bringing this product to life and shipping it up to Bonners Ferry to surprise Joel in the cold winter of 2022.