Getting in Trouble for Metal Chips in the House

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Been there....Done that. I put down a sticky absorbant mat. McMaster-carr #3437N12 - Very comfortable (Carpet Like) to walk on. It attracts chips of all kinds! I use a little bissel $20 push broom from amazon and it cleans right up. I went with this after I tracked coolant in the house..... (Another story)

So far so good, my Bride is much happier now... :)

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I have one of those YDBY outdoor doormats from IKEA. The nap is like plastic grass and not woven. The chips fall right through and don't get stuck to my shoes. When is too loaded, I just turn it upside down and shake. The chips just fall off just as easy (vacuuming doesn't seem to work as well as expected). Not a end all solution but one can envision putting enough of these mats in a row to get rid of must of the problem. The nap provides enough cushioning to make it very comfortable as well.
 
Years ago I new a welder that had a shop behind his house and I spotted 2 brown paper grocery bags stood open at his back door. I thought it was a brilliant idea. Think his wife had that well sorted and was happy to keep them at the ready.
 
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My main problem is with chips caught in my clothes and in my pockets. I can take my shoes off at the back door but chips get caught in my clothes and even get into my pockets. Chips also get caught in my hair and my beard.
 
I have oak floor boards in front of the South Bend lathe and the Bridgeport mill. Chips (and small parts!) fall between the boards so I'm not standing in a sea of chips. Before entering the house I check for the occasional stuck one. Also, being a Southern Californian, I frequently am just wearing Crocs in the shop, so easy to flick off at the door. Hot chips in the Crocs are another issue!
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Comstock, you must have cleaned up for that photo. ;) I don't even see any chips under the roll arounds.
Maybe general housekeeping should be my focus. If cleanliness is next to Godliness, I am a dead man.👿
 
Comstock, you must have cleaned up for that photo. ;) I don't even see any chips under the roll arounds.
Maybe general housekeeping should be my focus. If cleanliness is next to Godliness, I am a dead man.👿

Just illustrating the floor boards. This is the shop where I bought my mill and lathe. Wealthy retired guy (that had died) that really never did any work with them. I think he sat around with his buddies drinking beer. Love the boards, a little springy, much better than standing on my garage's concrete floor. Only problem is having to lift them up to retrieve that screw I just dropped!

Here's the real deal in the cramped garage...
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I found the best thing was to have a a pair of slip on steel cap boots in the workshop. Easy to change into household slippers for a dash to the bathroom. Like you my shop is a well appointed, insulated and air conditioned garage - the car sits outside.
Now theres an idea, magnetised you toecaps, wear plastic bags over your feet and slip them off when you leave.
 
I am required to remove my shoes before entering the house. My gripe is that my wife's hobby is sewing and she tracks thread all over the house and my socks get covered with the crap. It gets wrapped up in the vacuum and the wheels of our rolling chairs. Do I complain? You bet I do but it gets me no where. I think there must be different rules at play.

Mark T
 
I am required to remove my shoes before entering the house. My gripe is that my wife's hobby is sewing and she tracks thread all over the house and my socks get covered with the crap. It gets wrapped up in the vacuum and the wheels of our rolling chairs. Do I complain? You bet I do but it gets me no where. I think there must be different rules at play.

Wow, don't complain! She might give up her hobby, develop a liking for TV soaps, and start to insist that you do likewise!

Meanwhile, regarding the 'dash (upstairs) to the bathroom' - errrr...someone I know quite well...errr...has a downspout going into a drain grid quite close to the shed door, and...errr...keeps a water butt and watering can by it and...errrr....re-routed the washing-machine drainage into that particular grid just to help keep the whole thing...errr...fresh :) A lot less swarf in the stairs carpet!
 
Been there....Done that. I put down a sticky absorbant mat. McMaster-carr #3437N12 - Very comfortable (Carpet Like) to walk on. It attracts chips of all kinds! I use a little bissel $20 push broom from amazon and it cleans right up. I went with this after I tracked coolant in the house..... (Another story)

So far so good, my Bride is much happier now... :)

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I use older rubber truck mud flaps. Perfect size and work very well. Have a washer in my shop so my work clothes don't wash in the house.
 
I too have been in trouble with Domestic Management for the metal chips which I unthinkingly bring into the house. My workshop is in the basement but I have to gain entry and exit via the stairs up to the kitchen.
Over the years when caught "messing up the whole house" (Unquote) I keep quiet and when the verbal diarrhea has abated I reply "so sex is out of the question then?". Most of the time I get silence as the loud reply, but just occasionally I don't need to produce chips for a while.

Last year a friend of mine was caught in the same scenario and was quick-witted enough to realise the chips were aluminium, he replied that they must be tinsel leftover from the Xmas tree, he got away with that for a while until his wife sussed his excuse. More cold shoulder and tongue pie I guess.

The war goes on!!
Do like I did: put the wife in the backyard with a chain around her neck and give her the doghouse to sleep in. during the winter, yuou can put a small electric heater out for her. I put the lathe in her former place in the bed and the mill at the foot of the bed. Werks out FINE! If She barks too much I put her on a muzzle.
 

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