Nag's grow room from the start.

Originally Posted by NagRuTan

Greets,

I would like to build a decent low cost grow room (hydro Bato-Bucket) from scratch. I am a noob to growing, so I though it would be advantageous to post about what I have to work with and get thoughts and ideas as to what directions to take. First and foremost (the room):

Ok, I will be working with an unfinished basement room with the following dimensions (5'x8'x6.5' WxLxH) with a lockable door and small (2'x3' HxW) window. I have installed multiple electrical receptacles both in walls and ceiling. Water and drain are both accessible.

welcome to the forum and congrats for the planning you are doing. If you are in the States then that window could be the ingress, egress window in case of a fire. Do not cover it if it is. A Major source of busts. Your 'work area' should be by the window. You can cover it with a 'mini blind' for about $4.00 and on the outside all they would see is a light on in the basement. Panda plastic between your work area and hid lights.

My first questions involve the finishing of the room.

1. I will obviously need to vent the room both for intake and outtake. what are my options (before finishing the room)?

Many, two that come to mind are, your furnace exhaust, or your sewer line. FAQ upper left hand corner of this page. Mogie has posted some excellent directions, she has included pictures. Check those out.

2. How should I finish the room (insulate, drywall) (paint, tinfoil, mylar....)

What are the outside walls made of? Doesn't matter much. If they are poured walls or blocks you would attach furring strips to the outside walls and attach Styrofaom insulation to the furring strip. Use batts or rolls of insulation for inside walls and ceiling. Pay special attention to insulating the 'band board' (where the wood meets the concrete) and caulk that joint to stop air leaks. If it were me setting that room up, I would order a roll of Panda film. Its 100' long and 10' wide, about $85.00 at my hydro shop. Attach it all the way around the inside of the room, incuding the ceiling. Its not as good as the mylar for reflection by about 5%. It is cheaper, easier to work with and will stop the moisture from the room from causing you mold problems some where else. If you have someone to help you you could probaly staple it in place in about an hour.

3. Anything else I should be aware of at this stage of room development?

There is one thing I wish I woulda thunk of when I set up the electric for my room. I would have put switches for the individual circuits where they would be accessible. I would want to be able to turn off the hid lights without entering the room and any pumps or fans as soon as I entered the room. Not necessary, it would have been smart. I would have bought wall mounted ocsillating fans, not floor stand or table models. They are better quality and not in the f.... way all the time. An 8" duct will carry four times the air of a 4" duct. Stop me any time here. An ro system is worth the investment. I think thats enough.
TIA.

Nag.

Got any pictures, we like pictures. VV

yes. we like pictures. and chinchillas

Greets,

Thanx for the fast replies and info, here is some more info.

Older house pre 1930's with non egress window facing an 80 year old neighbor with no windows on the facing side of mine. Will be landscaping a convenient berm / bush combo to cover outside just for shits and giggles, also was thinking about 1 way film over all basement windows for uniformity then just covering grow room window (I'm thinking with the film on, it will still look like the other basement windows even though it's blocked). Any thoughts?

Venting: New furnace and central air have been installed with uber efficient hardware, so the exhaust vent is only 1.5" id pvc. I don't think this will allow enough air volume to pass. Sewer vent pipe looks like my only option as of now. As for air intake I was thinking of venting internal house climate for now with the option of same but with co2 injection later down the road.

Walls: Exterior wall is block, I will be finishing with vapor barrier, furring strips, slat, styro, then drywall (I have already sealed external wall with basement epoxy just to be safe). three other internal walls are standard pre finished structure walls which I will finish as normal wall (rolled inso and drywall)

Ceiling: Well we all know what basement ceilings look like, this will also be finished with roled inso and then drywalled.

Panda Plastic: Now is this the best route to go with unfinished drywall? Could I skip the panda plastic and just use some sort of paint?

Electrical: When I wired the room I wired 5 separate circuits controlled externally (mounted switches behind grow room where they are not visible) and 2 circuits room internal with switches internal. Bit of an overkill but I want to do this right the first time

Fans: Ceiling mounted oscillators.... God damned brilliant idea!! I will start scoping out the hardware store for these

Question: "An ro system is worth the investment." I have no clue as to what a ro system is, sorry

Any other suggestions? Any ideas would be great as I will not be back to the house for at least another 2 weeks, this should give me some time to feel out all of my options and everyones input. I will also take pics of the room stages that I have already completed when i get back out there.

Yes, I am in the states as well.

Thank you for all of the input and suggestions that have already started, this looks like the site to listen too.


Nag.

Originally Posted by JohnnyPotSeed1969

yes. we like pictures. and chinchillas

Pics in the next few weeks, as for my chins (the stem / seed stealing little bastards that they are ) might as well fire off a few pics of them as well.


Nag.

by RO he means Reverse Osmosis for your water. i would definitely go with the panda plastic on the unfinished drywall to prevent any moisture, i.e. mold issues getting a foothold. when in flowering especially, you will be dealing with some humidity which could cause problems for you. better to be safe than sorry

as for your window film idea, i don't see why it wouldn't work.

it sounds as though you have thought this out very well. oh yeah, if you have pictures, that would be awesome because we like those around here

Originally Posted by JohnnyPotSeed1969

by RO he means Reverse Osmosis for your water. i would definitely go with the panda plastic on the unfinished drywall to prevent any moisture, i.e. mold issues getting a foothold. when in flowering especially, you will be dealing with some humidity which could cause problems for you. better to be safe than sorry

as for your window film idea, i don't see why it wouldn't work.

it sounds as though you have thought this out very well. oh yeah, if you have pictures, that would be awesome because we like those around here

Greets,

Ok, panda plastic and a RO system for water. As for the ro system would something like this be sufficient?

WaterGeneral Manufacturing Co. Ro-585 (A 5 stage 85/gal per day system) info breakdown as shown:

1st stage: high capacity, 5 micron sediment filter, to remove sediment, rust, sand, (replace every 12 months)

2nd stage: high capacity carbon filter, coconut shell carbon block filter removes chlorine, taste & odor (replace every 12 months)

3rd stage: high capacity carbon filter, coconut shell carbon block filter further removing chlorine to ensure 100% removal of chlorine (replace every 12 months)

4th stage: TFC-75/TFM-75 Premium membrane we use genuine GE Osmonics Desal membrane, 75-85 gal/day, it removes 97% to 98% of all chemical, dissolved solids in tap water. (replace every 2-3 years)

5th stage: high capacity final stage inline carbon filter, granular activated carbon, to improve taste of water. (replace every 12 months)






Nag.

P.S. I think I might have scored a computer controlled co2 monitor / injection system from a lab reclamation warehouse a few towns over, I will be checking that out in the next few days as well.

yep, great job on the electric. The drywall wouldn't have to be installed at all, unless you wanted to finsh the room at some later time. Until you are sure about anything you may want to bury in the walls I wouldn't install it. The panda plastic would take the place of a vapor barrier at that point. The one way glass is an idea I have had for a while for my window.
Keep you journal going. Looking forward to you first pictures. VV

put a big PRICKLY bush in front of that damn window man. even with a blind it would prevent curious eyes from peering around because of all that orange light.