With the outbreak of COVID-19 and the quarantine measures that followed, many office workers suddenly found themselves working from home. While some enjoyed the elimination of commute times and dress codes, others have struggled to adapt to their new environment.

Whether it’s the lack of separation from day-to-day life, or you simply lack the proper equipment, working from home isn’t always as great as it sounds. However, many working adults have become creative in adapting to the situation, creating at-home office areas that can compete with what their employer previously offered.

Depending on your situation, a garage can be a great place to put together an office space. After all, they feature increased separation from the rest of the house, allowing you to feel like you’re in an actual work environment of sorts. That is, as long as you have the right setup.

Simply propping up a table, a chair, and a laptop doesn’t quite cut it. If you truly want your garage to feel like a proper workspace, you’ll want to take a few steps to improve it. As providers of garage doors, entry doors, and garage door openers in the Springfield area, we’ve seen some great garage-office setups.

Here are a few tips to take your garage office to the next level.

Ergonomics & Posture Health

Desk work takes a surprisingly strong toll on your body. While many offices have adapted to this fact, providing quality chairs, ergonomic keyboards, monitor stands, and more, home setups aren’t always so advanced.

If you’re working from home, we highly suggest you take a few steps towards keeping your body inline with your workstation. The image below gives a great example of how your posture and setup should look.

It’s possible that your employer may help in providing some equipment or letting you borrow some from your otherwise abandoned office.

Internet Connection

Though some people have a perfectly fine internet connections in their garage, many find performance to be lacking. If your garage’s internet is a little weak, slow, or tends to disconnect, there are a few solutions available. While some may look to purchasing a Wi-Fi extender, a better option may be to switch your home to a mesh network. Don’t worry, it’s not as technical as a it sounds.

Normally, a home has a singular router that sends the internet throughout the building. Though this can (mostly) get the job done, you often end up with rooms that suffer from poor connectivity. Mesh networks utilize multiple Wi-Fi spots placed around the home, providing an even connection that covers the entire building.

It also allows you to place a connection point in a neighboring structure such as a garage. Not only can a mesh network improve internet performance in your garage, but you’ll notice better browsing throughout your home and even your yard.

Backdrop

Zoom calls and other video chats have become the new norm for business meetings. Though working from your garage is a great idea, you don’t necessarily want it to look like you’re working in a garage when you’re in a meeting. A simple backdrop can be purchased for cheap, and it does wonders in making you appear to be in a more professional setting.

Heating & Cooling

Wherever your workspace is, you want to be comfortable. This can prove a little challenging with garages, as they’re often not climate controlled by default. However, this can be remedied. As we’ve mentioned before, you probably shouldn’t connect your HVAC system to your garage. Instead, you should establish separate heating and cooling solutions.

On the heating side, electric heaters offer simplicity, but they’re not always particularly efficient, effective, or safe. A better option may be an infrared heater. They are much more efficient, and they’re much quieter than other options such as forced air heaters.

On the cooling side of things, a window AC unit or a portable unit should do the trick if you need to bring temperatures down.

Before you invest too heavily in any heating or cooling solutions, however, we recommend upgrading your insulation. This includes installed insulated doors, if you don’t already have them. Insulated garage and entry doors can make a huge difference in how comfortable the inside of your garage is at any given time.

For a great selection of quality, affordable insulated entry and overhead doors in Dayton and Springfield, Ohio, contact Springfield Overhead Door today!