diff --git a/borghelper.sh b/borghelper.sh
index 6aebea0..cddaab0 100755
--- a/borghelper.sh
+++ b/borghelper.sh
@@ -8,6 +8,13 @@
 trap trapExit 1 2 3 6
 
 ### functions
+cleanup () {
+    # remove borg temp directory, if it exists
+    if [ -d "${borgBaseDir}/tmp" ]; then
+        rm -rf "${borgBaseDir}/tmp" > /dev/null 2>&1
+    fi
+}
+
 consoleError() {
     printf "%s\n%s\n" "$err" "$2"
     printf "Exiting.\n\n%s" "$norm"
@@ -19,6 +26,7 @@ textblock() {
 }
 
 trapExit () {
+    cleanup
     printf "%s\nScript execution terminated via signal.\n\n%s" "$err" "$norm"
     exit 99
 }
@@ -195,3 +203,16 @@ fi
 if [ -n "${borgRemote}" ]; then export BORG_REMOTE_PATH="${borgRemote}"; fi
 
 
+### create borg temp dir:
+## python requires a writable temporary directory when unpacking borg and
+## executing commands.  This defaults to /tmp but many systems mount /tmp with
+## the 'noexec' option for security.  Thus, we will use/create a 'tmp' folder
+## within the BORG_BASE_DIR and instruct python to use that instead of /tmp
+
+# check if BORG_BASE_DIR/tmp exists, if not, create it
+if [ ! -d "${borgBaseDir}/tmp" ]; then
+    if ! mkdir "${borgBaseDir}/tmp"; then
+        consoleError 3 'Unable to create temp working directory for borg.'
+    fi
+fi
+export TMPDIR="${borgBaseDir}/tmp"