diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 19fb83c2..276526d1 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #ignore data folders for containers
 /services/
-/volumes/
+/volumes/*
 /backups/
 /.tmp/*
 __pycache__
diff --git a/menu.sh b/menu.sh
index 55e19ae6..83757bba 100755
--- a/menu.sh
+++ b/menu.sh
@@ -339,6 +339,8 @@ function do_project_checks() {
 		[ -f .project_outofdate ] && rm .project_outofdate
 		echo "Project is up to date" >&2
 	fi
+	# volumes shouldn't be owned by root, change it to the current user
+	[[ $(id -u) != "0" ]] && sudo chown $(id -u):$(id -g) volumes
 }
 
 function do_env_checks() {
diff --git a/volumes/.gitkeep b/volumes/.gitkeep
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b