A Place to Work (Warmly)

The previous owner of my house had himself a workshop area in the basement. It has since been repurposed by me into just storage of stuff I should throw away but I am pretty lazy. Since it is too cold to work in my garage, now is a great time to get that basement area cleaned up and converted into an airplane workshop.

Boy, did I have some work to do. It isn't like I could easily move the stuff from one area of my basement to another. Funny thing about life, you tend to collect all sorts of things you just really are better off giving away or throwing away. So I had to play some very restricted space Tetris for a while to get things moved around. While I was moving things though, I noticed something rather annoying.

Yeah, mice had been here. Add that to the list of things I need to resolve before my house collapses. A quick trip to the hardware store and I have some anti-mice supplies as well as various cleaners that I'm sure I'll need to clean up their urine. Mice are cute but wow, they are super destructive.

While pondering my mouse issues I also realized I could use a lot more light for my work area. The sideways hanging fluorescents don't work anymore, and even if they did that buzzing sound they make drives me crazy. Then I remembered I had actually bought some workshop lights a while ago to put in my garage when I was expecting to get the plane parts in the summer. So I slid out and grabbed them.

I adore LEDs. They are one of the neatest inventions mankind has ever come up with. So I hung up the lights and they are super bright. I love them.

So more heaving of heavy items around my basement and some brain burning later, my body hurts but my workshop area is roughly completed.

And while I would love to store my tools on the wall, I don't have the hardware for that yet. Lucky for me, the area opposite the above picture there is shelves! Now, I didn't just get that lucky for free though, those shelves have all manner of random items, seasonal decorations, and whatever else on them. So I got to do some more redistribution of my own items around my basement and then bring in my tools from the garage (which were just languishing in boxes).

For now, this setup will do. I'm sure over time I'll want to improve it by hanging up the hand tools but my shoulder wants me to take a break for now. About a year ago I was "blessed" by the chronic shoulder pain fairy and while the pain is usually pretty tame to the point where I don't notice it, it turns out that moving heavy things around it doesn't like. I made good progress though, so I'm happy with how things are turning out thus far.