Workspace: Softly Softly…
When we found the former chicken shed that was to become our workshop we decided, along with the three other makers that were going to be bench renting, that our workspace needed to be warm. And while it had a 4-inch thick insulated roof, the floor was plain concrete.
From previous experience we knew that concrete is cold, unforgiving on your feet and a destroyer of tools. So before we moved in we bought 120m2 of one inch polystyrene and 22mm chipboard flooring. We laid the polystyrene directly onto the concrete and the tongue and groove chipboard on top of that. The immediate result was a toasty workshop (we moved in early Spring), and ever since it has remained the perfect floor.
A few additional things have made this floor even more perfect. Tools don’t break when they hit the floor, ditto furniture components. As importantly, we’ve noticed that no-one ever gets tired working there. It is so comfortable that you can stand for 10 or 12 hours (with tea breaks obviously!) without your feet complaining… and without your back complaining.
And let’s not forget the importance of decent shoes in all this. We have always gone for good quality hiking/walking shoes or boots over workshop or building site heavy duty shoes.
It is so easy to ‘do’ your back in this game – lifting and heaving awkward boards of timber and sheet material, repeating processes like sanding and routing, shifting furniture and even machines around. They all take their toll.
Take it from us, these incremental changes to improve your work environment significantly improve your health, which is critical to a successful business. Because one of the things you definitely cannot do with a bad back is make good furniture.
Until next time,
Lakshmi
