The Best Place for Your Home Office By Will Newman

Those of us who work at home often have no choice as to where we set up our home office. But if you DO have a choice, paying attention to where you locate it can save your computer … and your hard work.

I had a near disaster a week ago. We came home to find water pouring through the ceiling of our spare bedroom. A hose connector in an upstairs bathroom had worked loose, and an hour’s worth of water had destroyed the ceiling.

Fortunately, there was not a lot of serious damage – but it was a warning for me (and you). Because I was planning on moving my office into that room.

Here are some things to think about before deciding where to set up your home office:

1. Most houses have the plumbing in the walls on one or two sides of the house. If you can, locate your office on a different side of the house.
2. Pay attention to the location of plumbing fixtures on the floor above your office. If possible, locate it on the opposite side of the house. If you can’t do that, try to locate your desk and computer equipment as far as possible from where those fixtures are.
3. Use a desk that has some sort of cover you can put your computer under.
4. If your CPU sits on the floor, put it under your desk. But elevate it an inch or so off the carpet. Even if the flood is on the other side of the room, the entire carpet will get wet quickly – presenting serious problems for your computer.
5. Back up your most current or important projects onto a flash drive. (See today’s main article.) Keep the flash drive in a well-sealed Ziploc bag or jar.