OK so this weekend I've got some messes that are very large and will be hard to get out of my home. Typically we have done the bucket walk where are we tarp the floors and scoop up buckets and then flush them down the toilet which is rooms away. I have two shop vacs one big and one a little smaller. If I were to use the shop vac's for this mess how would I use them? Do I need to take out the filter? I just need to have a more efficient way to get this out of my home and I have the tools at hand I just don't know how to utilize them! A lot of what I'm picking up with it is oats. Does anyone have any advice for me? If this could work it would be substantially helpful and I would be able to produce a whole lot more stuff that people want later on down the road or things that I want to do with a little more ease of cleanup. Which means I don't have to charge as much! Can anyone help me in this regard?

Wow, your message got in my head as I could just imaging the mess in the room.

Did some digging, and have the full link below, but the 10000ft view of what was useful is copied:

https://www.aafrc.org/how-to-use-shop-vac-for-water/

How to Use Shop Vac for Water?
Step 1: Empty the Collection Tank
Step 2: Remove and change the filter. (Foam filter needed to stop water getting to the motor)
Step 3: Attach the Right Nozzle
Step 4: Plugin the Vacuum using a GFCI circuit breaker (water and electricity don't mix, please take a lot of care and don't skip this)
Step 5: Remove the Water
Step 6: Remove the Debris from Canister
Step 7: Proper Water Disposal
Step 8: Proper Cleaning and Disinfecting

Hope this helps. PLEASE pay attention to the safety aspects within the link.

So Jayce in summary your getting your oats and doing alot of sucking this weekend

Only jesting. Being serious, while your vacuum will work without a filter, using it without one is a bad idea. At best, you'll have a vacuum that doesn't perform as well as you'd planned. In the worst-case scenario, you could have irreversible damage that could cause your vacuum to break.
Most, if not all, vacuum cleaners will switch on and run for a reasonable period without a filter.

Unfortunately, it applies to all models. Some models will blast dust and dirt out of the unit's back end. Others may acquire debris lodged in the engine, causing catastrophic damage to the motor.

So while you could use it, and it does in theory sound an excellent idea, I probably wouldn't go down the vac route. Shame.

You can get big plastic storage boxes with clip lids that you could scoop the mess into. Then transport to a better location (outside) to dispose of correctly.

I disagree with the above. I have used a shop vac many many times without the filter to suck up wet or muddy stuff. Suck up the crap, and hose off the receptacle when finished, and you should be fine.

I've used a wet/dry shop vac a few times and found them more hassle than a help

The collection tanks are never big enough, and then you have a hell of a job cleaning the vac itself

If you have plastic, a pool or tarp on the floor it will suck that up as well. It seemed like all my dreams would come true but sadly it was just a nightmare

Good luck though if you go for it, maybe you have the magic touch x

How close is the mess room to an outside exit? Would it be feasible to lay an open-topped "tube" (or I suppose really, "half pipe") of tarps, with the edges overlayed like roof-slates where the bottom of the upper one in direction of flow lies on top of the top of the next - so you can sweep stuff along it without it leaking - and effectively make a mess slip-and-slide out of the room, along the hall, and outside, into a collecting tank or a drain?

TBH we're lucky, there's a drain right outside the dugeon external door, so all we do is sweep everything into that corner and it flows out into the drain, makes cleanup an absolute breeze.

I make my living in the business of electrical safety. "DO NOT" plug the vacuum into an outlet that is not ground fault protected. Bathroom outlets, garage outlets, and kitchen outlets within 10 feet of the sink should be ground fault protected. Ground fault protected outlets have buttons on them: one says "test" and the other says "reset". Not using the proper outlet can kill you. It's OK to use an extension cord if the plug between the vacuum and the extension cord is protected from liquid.

I once used a shop vac to pick up contents from a wading pool and got a back shock because my hands were wet when I pressed the power switch. I also found that it lacked suction power if the substance was too thick.

Here's what I would do in your situation:

I'd buy one of those huge plastic garbage bins on wheels and bring it next to the mess. Then I'd bucket the mess into the bin until it's gone. Finally, wheel the bin across your home to where you plan to dump it.

I think using a shop vac would just end up being more work than helping the cleaning issue. And not all shop vacs are made for sucking up liquids. If yours are definitely take the filters out. You'll still be carting buckets to another room either way.

You can get water filters for most shop vacs (basically a funnel and ball float to protect the motor)

It'll be useful for picking up splatter and cleaning the floors- you can also get floor/carpet cleaning heads which can bring in fresh water/detergent.
The cleaning heads should also work on tarps/sheets as long as you can keep them tight enough not to be sucked up.

Emptying pools etc is still easier with buckets. At the end of the day a shop vac is just a bucket with a pump on it.

RE: Electrical safety- if you don't see individual GFCI socket outlet, take a look in your mains board/breaker panel. Your circuits might be outfitted with RCD/RCBO type breakers which protect the entire circuit (and everything plugged in) from earth faults.
Ideally these should be 30mA rated or smaller.

The entire point of a WET/dry vac is to be able to use it on WET materials. They are built for it. The motor is heavy duty and long duty cycle. The electrics are double-insulated. Don't worry too much about doing damage to it if it specifically says wet/dry on the label. They have a float valve that shuts them off when full. Yes, the paper filter should be removed or it will get wet and slow things down considerably.

Decades ago, I ran a mud wrestling operation in a Washington night club (mudwrestle.us) and we used a large wading pool full of OM-4 clay. Unfortunately, random bar idiots had a tendency to spill or pour beer into it all the time, so we had to change it regularly. At the time, it was $5.50 for a 50 lb bag of dry clay, so not super expensive. We had an old wet/dry shop vac that was on wheels and held something like 18 gallons. To change the pool, we'd vacuum some up until full, then wheel the tank out to the alley and dump it. Occasionally we dumped it into the storm drain outside, but that's probably illegal and not recommended. Anyway, if it was too thick, we'd just add some more water until it flowed freely.

The key is having a large capacity and wheels. A $20 discount store type that holds 2 gallons ain't gonna cut it.