RE: woodworking shop
From: Lynn Nadeau (welcomeolympus.net)
Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2004 12:35:10 -0700 (MST)
At RoseWind, we are considering the addition of a "hobby shop". Aside 
from the need for thousands of dollars not in our current budget, there 
are some cautionary concerns. How have other groups dealt with this sort 
of thing?

Insurance. Whose insurance, at what cost, covers liability? Does your 
main insurer, for general liability, also want to raise your rates? Whose 
insurance, at what cost, covers property loss or damage? Can a resident 
be joined in the work by a nonmember? 

Ownership and stewardship. Quality of "donated" tools. Common vs personal 
tools. Free access vs private locked cupboards. Access to the shop - 
locks? Who cleans it? Does it require another committee? (There are only 
so many volunteer hours available.) Are there limits to how long one 
person can take up a bunch of the space, for example building a boat? 

People are going to have diverse attitudes. (I think of our kid room: I 
put quality, fairly-sturdy stuff in there and it gets repeatedly broken 
by kids whose parents let them experiment in rough ways.) 

Safety. Is there a required training or "test" to pass, to be allowed to 
use certain machinery? (Our tractor mowers sustained serious damage from 
intelligent well-intentioned people who were ignorant of some aspects of 
the equipment.) Is there a minimum age? How are toxic products stored? 
Sharp things? 

Clean vs dirty space. One might want to have two kinds of space. Someone 
doing one project might want a dust-free environment, and someone else 
might generate a lot of sawdust. 

Utility and maintenance costs. Will it be a challenge to heat? What will 
be the costs of heat, electricity, trash, plumbing if any. 

Noise and fumes. Can you position it so that the sounds of power saws, or 
the vapors of epoxy and fiberglass, won't be a challenge? 

One doesn't want to be run by fears, but common sense and prudence still 
need to be in the balance. Any stories you can share, about how you did 
or didn't deal with these sorts of considerations, would be valuable!
 



Lynn Nadeau, RoseWind Cohousing
Port Townsend Washington (Victorian seaport, music, art, nature)
http://www.rosewind.org
http://www.ptguide.com
http://www.ptforpeace.info (very active peace movement here- see our 
photo)
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