diff --git a/esky/finder.py b/esky/finder.py
index 20061ef..2bdf081 100644
--- a/esky/finder.py
+++ b/esky/finder.py
@@ -123,6 +123,12 @@ def _workdir(self,app,nm,create=True):
         updir = app._get_update_dir()
         workdir = os.path.join(updir,nm)
         if create:
+            # the failure of this may raise an error which notifies us to try root access
+            if os.path.exists(workdir) and len(os.listdir(workdir)) == 0:
+                try:
+                    os.rmdir(workdir)
+                except OSError:
+                    raise
             for target in (updir,workdir):
                 try:
                     os.mkdir(target)