Chores

The following is information about chores.

Each member of the lab is expected to contribute to the lab. Chores are one of many ways to contribute.

Chores are typically organized by a member of the board.

Assignment Eligibility

Anyone who has accessed the space 2 or more times in the previous month will be eligible for a chore assignment.

Chores are not not assigned to anyone who has already contributed their "1-2 hours/month" in the previous month. Here are just some examples of some of the ways you can contribute your time which would make you excused from being assigned a chore in a given month:

• Being a team lead for a space/tool
• Being an active member of an established team for a space/tool
• Being a member of the Board of Directors
• Being an active tool trainer
• Participating in a build day or an ongoing build project.

Getting involved in any of the above is a great way to have a bit more control over how you're contributing your time to the lab, and members are encouraged to get involved in a way that is meaningful to them such as joining a team of their favorite area or tool as the teams are established and grow.

It's not always possible for us to know that you've contributed your time in another way, so if you are assigned a chore but feel you have already contributed about 1-2 hours of your time, please don't hesitate to speak with the chore organizer.

Where are chores posted

Chores are posted on Slack for notification. There is also a physical sheet at the lab to mark off when a chore is completed.

If you do a chore, but forget to mark it off, you can send a message to the chore organizer.

Chore Descriptions

The following are common chore descriptions. There may be other chores assigned that are not defined here. If you need more information you can ask the chore organizer or in #team-facilities in Slack.

Bathrooms except floors

• Clean sink and faucet
• Clean toilet bowl, clean/wipe down outside of the toilet bowl, seat, lid
• Clean doorknobs
• Empty the garbage from the bin

If needed:

• Clean mirror
• Restock toilet paper (one on the go, one spare roll on the tank)
• Restock paper towel
• Wipe down walls, doors (if needed)
• Carefully wipe down light switch

Bathrooms floors

• Sweep floor
• Mop floor

Fabtronics

• Put away anything left out on tables or benches
• Tidy up any power cords (no cords should be ever left between the center tables and outer benches)
• Sweep the room
• Push in chairs
• Wipe down the table if it’s needed
• Make sure the closet door labeled “do not block door” is not blocked

Front Room

• Sweep room and stairs down to the glass door at the bottom of the stairs
• Organize tables if needed (as one or two big tables in the middle of the room for Tuesday Open Nights)
• Push in roller chairs at the table
• Clear off tables, tidy desk around 3d printer
• Dust if needed (desk around printers, coffee tables)
• Mop if needed
• Vacuum rug under lounge chairs, lounge chairs if needed

Kitchen

• Clean sink
• Wipe down tables, counter and if needed oven top
• Sweep
• Mop if needed
• Put away dishes left in drying rack
• Check the fridge for spoiled food and discard appropriately. If it’s gross/stinky, please take out to the dumpster or if not too bad, bag it and tie it before putting in the garbage can
• Push in chairs
• Dust/vacuum lounge chairs if needed

Laser Area

• General tidy of table, around the computer
• Organize ‘scrap materials for reuse’ - discard anything which seems more like garbage than reusable scrap
• Take laser garbage down to the dumpster
• Sweep and/or vacuum the floors in the laser area
• Carefully remove the honeycomb bed and clear out any debris

Layup & Storage Area

• Tidy up tables, move stagnant projects to the member storage area.
• Message slack if you find anything on tables without a name
• Tidy around the sink - make sure there’s no debris in the sink, items left to dry put away
• Sweep around the layup area and storage (from sink to the metal shop)
• Confirm nothing is dangerously stacked on the storage shelves.
• Take the layup and garbage from both of the bathrooms down to the dumpster

Member Entrance

• Sweep the main hallway (past the studios, all the way to the front room), to the bathrooms and down the member entrance stairs
• Vacuum main hallway rug
• Remove any debris left at the bottom of the member stairs
• Confirm the unmarked door at the bottom of the member stairs is NOT BLOCKED by shovels, buckets etc (this is one of the emergency exits for the downstairs tenants)
• (tidy landing, sweep doorway and stairs) Main hallway (sweep and vacuum)

Metal Shop

• Clear off work tables- put away tools, etc
• Brush off any tools needing a bit extra attention
• Sweep floors

Back Locker Area and Rear Stairs

• Sweep by the bike rack/laser area all the way passed the back lockers and down the stairs to the emergency exit
• Make sure there is no debris on the stairwell/top of stairs. Make sure any building supplies stored against the wall opposite the locker do not impede anyone needing to use the emergency exit in the case of an emergency
• Confirm the emergency exit door is deadbolted/locked

Wood Shop

• Put away any hand tools left out
• Vacuum/brush off tools
• Vacuum/brush off benches
• Sweep floors
• (maybe empty dust collection bags?)

Empty garbage cans & take to the dumpster as needed. Make sure to replace the bag in bins

Includes the following bins:

• Front room/fabtronics (shared bin)
• Top of member stairs
• Woodshop
• Metal shop
• Kitchen (garbage only)

Optional: (it’s part of other chores, but absolutely no one is going to be angry if the garbage is taken out more often):

• Bathroom
• Layup
• Kitchen recycling
• Scrap bins (laser, woodshop)

Empty woodshop burn bins

• Empty the contents of the two black rectangular bins sitting beside the woodshop garage door in the dumpster.

Take Recycling Home

• There is no curbside pickup, so you’ll need to take the kitchen recycling home for your curbside pickup (take the bags from the blue bins, replace the bags)
• If you live in an apartment building without municipal recycling pickup, please post to slack

Where to find stuff

If anything is out, or running low, please post to #team-facilities, email [email protected] or purchase yourself and file to be reimbursed.

Cleaning supplies

In the white cupboard in the larger of the two bathrooms.

Toilet paper and paper towel

In the white cupboard in the larger of the two bathrooms or on top of the lockers across from the bathrooms

Mop and mop bucket

Around the corner from the bathrooms, in the closet beside the layup area sink

Garbage Bags

In the white cupboard in the larger of the two bathrooms, or on top of the lockers across from the bathrooms

Shop vac

There are ones near laser, in the woodshop, and in metal shop. (not the chip vacuum)

Household vacuum

Maybe in the fabtronics closet or furnace room? (door almost in the front room - facing the long hallway)

FAQ

Is the chore a one time thing during the specified period, or are multiple visits expected?

You are only required to do an assigned chore ONCE in the two week period. There is no expectation that you'll visit

multiple times to "keep it clean". Just get it done once and you're finished.

Is the chore organizer targeting specific chores to me?

Actually, maybe. In the past it has been completely random across all members and chores, but we saw situations where a member who practically lives in the woodshop being assigned a task for the laser while at the same time someone who only uses the laser was assigned to a chore in the woodshop. We are working to try to match members and chores a little better where possible, but it's a work in progress at the moment.

Still, there are chores which are the share responsibility of all members such as the common areas (hallways, bathrooms, kitchen, front room, stairs, etc) band we do our best to make sure those are randomly assigned.