Your Corner Wrench: Keeping your workspace clean can save you a headache

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It’s amazing where you might pick up life lessons that you can apply to your own daily routine. Several years ago, we hired a contractor to build a major two-level addition onto our home.

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While it seemed like a job that would take a team of professionals to complete, it was accomplished early and on-budget by a single expert. At the end of each day on the job, our builder would take about 20 minutes to sort, clean, and stow tools and sweep the entire area.

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Your Corner Wrench: Keeping your workspace clean can save you a headache Back to video

During this time I joked the construction site was kept in better condition than its end result would ever be in. But no time was ever lost due to a broken or misplaced tool or injuries caused by stepping on a protruding nail or tripping over something in the wrong place.

Home auto repair tools and sites need attention as well, and experienced shade-tree mechanic veterans know the value of spending a little time to keep things in order and in good working conditions.

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Air tools and compressors

Any tech who uses air-powered tools wonders how anything got done before their introduction, but as with anything with moving parts, they require some minor attention to keep them working. Draining the compressor’s tank at the end of a major job is the best way to keep water from contaminating your air-tools.

And while most home shops don’t use an in-line water-trap to keep tools dry, they’re a relatively cheap preventative measure. A small squeeze bottle of tool lubricant is a necessity to prevent excess wear on air-guns and a few drops should be added before a major job gets started.

Make sure to wipe down air tools and pay special attention to the fittings that connect them to the air line. A little grit on these can interfere with the line coupling causing leaks or loose connections. Don’t neglect the compressor’s air filter or its oil-change intervals. And as many air tools are used in the a vehicle’s passenger cabin, wipe their hoses down regularly to prevent grease stains on interior surfaces.

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Keeping hand-tools clean and lubricated is also a good idea, but one of the biggest problems is keeping them organized. You can shell out money for tool-chest drawer liners and holding racks, or you can easily make your own with dense, flexible shipping foam. An older soldering iron with a flat tip can be used to trace out tool outlines in the foam, giving you a perfect nest for wrenches and sockets, meaning you can grab the right item every time even without looking.

Probably the most important thing to keep clean is the floor of your working area. Trip and slip injuries rank in the top five automotive repair personal risks, so getting grease and oils off the floor is an important part of home safety. But simply using an industrial-strength detergent with water to clean up oils isn’t wise. After all, where is all that oil going to end up? Rinsed down the driveway into a municipal storm drain? Keep a supply of dry oil absorbent or fibre pads on hand to keep as much as possible from being rinsed away and give it time to do its job. Let it work for a few hours before sweeping it up and properly disposing of it according to environmental guidelines.

Keeping tools and your work area clean and maintained is cheap and easy and will save you money in avoiding early replacements or personal injury.