Workstation?
As we are moving the temporary “shop” that has been in our former living room back to the real shop, I keep thinking back to the idea of setting up a workstation each time you work. I haven’t been too methodic about this, except for the varnishing, and that’s easy because you don’t need a lot of stuff. As I keep putting tools away and spend even more time running around the house trying to find a tool we need, I’m thinking it’s probably worth the extra 5-10 minutes at the beginning of a project to figure out every tool and supply you might need and then gather them up. We’ve got a bunch of projects to get ready for our big work week next week, so I think I may start a list of what we may need. I’ll start easy with the removal of the bead board from the porch so we can put the joist track up for heating the bedroom above it: demolition bar, nipper, hammer, sawzall, garbage cans, garbage bags, shop vac, smaller pry bar, some of those little things to hold the wiring in place, masks, goggles, water bottle, and a camera. Did I miss anything? How about all of you- do you set up a workstation before you get started, or do you just grab the obvious things you need and then run back and forth trying to find the other items? Or are you like Nick, “Trissa- could you get me the sawzall”?
7 Comments
jm·July 13, 2005
I began thinking about this with the work that we did on the upstairs. Most of our tools are in the basement and running up and down was exhausting! So, Aaron went and got me a piece of pegboard and some extra hooks, I propped it in a closet and hung up the tools I’d need. I kept supplies (more or less) organized in a few cardboard boxes on the floor, and kept power tools in their cases. This helped immensely on the project as I could locate things quickly when needed, but tidy up my workstation each day!
JOcelyn·July 13, 2005
we are definitely setup people. Sometimes set up is a bear too with drop cloths or taping something off, but it pays to do a good setup. Times when we haven’t done a good setup resulted in more dust dispersed in the house and bicycle trips to the hardware store in the middle of a project.
we always allow 30 minutes for setup and cleanup too.
kk·July 13, 2005
We’re not organized enough to prepare a workstation for each project. But I have learned that putting a tool away when you think you’re “done with it” for the project is the best way to ensure that you will be digging it back out again - so we amass a pile of supplies as the project progresses and put it all away when we’re finished.
merideth·July 13, 2005
yeah workstation…we’re committing the dining room to window restoration…move the table, roll up the rug, plastic off the door to the bedrooms…it’s just way easier than hiking to the basement every 5 seconds…
Derek·July 13, 2005
Maybe some of those big wooden toolboxes would make it easier. Instead of having the tools spread through out a workshop. Have one with electrical, plumbing tools etc. and one with just general tools.
Greg·July 13, 2005
I’m not that organized. It is one of my character flaws. I get really impatient and I just really want to start the job. One of the best things I did – and not really on purpose – was to leave the old underlayment in one of the bedrooms. In all the rooms I used the carpet as a drop cloth for stripping wallpaper. I would then rip out the carpet and underlayment. I left the underlayment in one room for another reason, but it has turned in to my finishing room. Anything that needs to be painted or scrapped out cleaned now gets done in that room. It doesn’t matter what gets dropped or spilled in there. I tend to keep paint, saw horses, and related tools in that room.
jason·July 13, 2005
A workstation at the project site? What a fantastic idea. It’s sort of happened naturally at each of our projects so far, but never thought of actually planning for it. I’ll definitely be doing that in the future.