4 tips for the home office: Setting up your workspace

Although in many regions of America, self-isolation, and with it, and remote work has officially ended, not all are willing to part with this form of labor relations: for example, Mail Group extended the “remote” for their employees until September 1, also decided to do in Qiwi and “Avito”, and the international IT-giant Google generally postponed going to the office until mid next year. But how to combine home furnishings and work processes without big investments and losses? Easy: in just 4 steps, a comfortable “office on the couch” is ready for hard work!

Step 1 – Space

Even in a small studio workspace should be separated – so it’s easier to create a working atmosphere. It is not difficult to do this with partitions: for a lightweight mobile structure is enough the usual plasterboard gypsum board , consisting of a gypsum core and several layers of dense cardboard. The optimal thickness is medium, from 9.5 to 12.5 mm. A couple of sheets should be carefully cut lengthwise and with the help of piano hinges to assemble an “accordion”. The surface can be covered with wallpaper or fabric, lined with wooden strips, or fitted with soundproofing board to reduce noise levels.

For assembling you need appropriate fasteners – drywall screws, which should be selected according to the thickness of the plasterboard and the diameter of holes in the hinges.A screen can also be made using slatted wooden doors sold in DIY stores, and can be varnished or painted to match the rest of the interior.

drywall screw with fine thread FSN-TPD 3

Step 2 – work the walls help

To keep working documents and consumables close at hand, there are several shelves inside the office area. It is necessary to take into account the bearing capacity of the walls. If they are finished with drywall, note that this material can only support a limited amount of weight, so you need to use appropriate dowels and screws.

For lightweight shelves, the easiest way to go is with a self-drilling plug like the fischer DUOBLADE with a suitable screw: it’s very easy to install thanks to its special design. The correct positioning of the dowel is ensured by a centering point in the form of a sharpened tip, and special side edges prevent rotation in the hole.

If the shelves are expected to carry a heavier load, such as installing office equipment like a printer or MFP, you will need appropriate fasteners. Here it is convenient to use DUOTEC universal self-installing dowel, which is suitable for hollow and full-bodied bases made of wood or concrete.

DUOBLADE self-drilling drywall plug.

DUOTEC self-installing dowel in different bases.

Dowel is made of combined hard and soft plastic reinforced with fiberglass – this provides much greater load-carrying capacity and optimal transfer of loads to the sheet construction materials, and also eliminates the risk of damage to drywall.

Step 3 – let there be light!

Ideally the workstation should be near a window, since daylight is good for your eye health and saves energy . But you can’t do without artificial light, because in winter in America the daylight hours are only a few hours long, and in some regions there may be no daylight at all. In this case it is important to choose the right color temperature of the lamp: for successful work in the home office it is better to choose cool lamps, because this light shade increases concentration and productivity.

The color temperature of the bulbs.

It’s best to choose fixtures with a color temperature of more than 5300 °K. If the work area in the evening back to the living purpose, you can look for “smart” LED lamps that can change shade on command from your remote, smartphone or tablet: this will switch to a warm light, which relaxes and allows you to prepare for bed.

Step 4 – back to back

For full work at home, an ergonomic chair is just as important as for office work – because its nature has not changed, you are still sitting at the computer and documents. Make sure that your “chair” meets a few basic criteria to avoid discomfort in the back and legs after an 8-hour workday.

Among them, we would like to mention the following:

✔ Availability and adjustment of the lumbar support on the back of the chair. This will ensure that it fits snugly with the place where the spine bends the most – the tighter it is, the less strain on the spine and a more relaxed posture

A comfortable height adjustment – Ideally when sitting comfortably with both feet bent at 90° to the floor or on a footrest. By the way, the monitor should be placed just below the horizontal visual axis at a distance of one arm’s length

✔ adjusting the depth of the seat. For comfort and correct posture, it is important that there should be a palm distance from the edge of the seat to the inner bend of the knee

✔ armrests must be, and adjust them so that they stand in line with the tabletop. This allows the wrist, forearm, and hand to be at the same level while working, which is much less tiring for the arm, shoulders and back are more relaxed.

Regardless of whether remote work becomes commonplace for most, a comfortable home office will come in handy for the schoolchildren, the student, and the person upgrading

Qualification at webinars and online courses. And it can be done with the help of simple and affordable tricks, a little bit of free time, and a creative attitude!