First off, I'm a newbie so keep that in mind and please feel free to criticize and/or suggest improvements.
Months ago I was researching attic grow rooms and found very scattered information. I think I only found one crappy example with pictures. But I did read numerous posts advising against attic grow ops (and fully comprehend that advice now) but it is my only option for the time being. I realize now how beneficial a basement setup would be compared to an attic with no running water or drainage, little sound dampening, and extreme temperatures. If possible, I would strongly discourage this but when an attic is all that is available, I guess you just have to make due. It just seems very labor intensive and vulnerable to the cold in winter and heat in the summer, not to mention susceptible to moisture problems in a location I'd rather not have any moisture in (UGH!). Also, odor reaching the neighbors could be an issue.
The grow chamber is approx 6'Wx8'Dx8'H. The floor is just plywood covered with a thick rubber sheet (10 mil I think?) and very unlikely to puncture or leak. The outer walls consist of just foam insulation sheathing tacked to the trusses with mylar tacked inside. I framed in a two foot wide opening for a doorway and I'm just using a piece of the foam sheathing as a simple door.
Here's the hardware:
(2) enclosed 240V 1000W HPS on water heater timer
(2) 6" inline fans (one for ventilation and one for the filter)
(2) fan controllers
(1) 6" duct booster
(1) 6" carbon filter setup as a scrubber
(4) 4x2 trays (which make maneuvering inside the room tricky)
(1) 40 Gal reservoir
(1) submersible water pump
(1) submersible water heater with auto shutoff if water gets too low
(1) large air stone (that currently floats for some reason)
(1) overpriced cycle timer down to 3s cycles
(1) power strip
(3) appliance timers (vent fan, cycle timer/pump, duct booster)
Throw in electrical supplies, ventilation supplies, irrigation supplies, wood, insulation, mylar, rubber for the floor and misc and all this makes for a hefty price tag... in the neighborhood of $3000 including the tools I needed. I really spared no expense though because I wanted to do things safe and not half-assed. Let me also add that I'm also not looking forward to purchasing an air conditioner and dehumidifier in the coming months.
General Operation:
-Drip system
The reservoir rests outside of the grow chamber and needs filled approx every 2 weeks. To do this I haul a heavy duty garden hose from my laundry room up to the attic. It's a pain but not too demanding. The pump sits inside the reservoir and is connected to a hose that runs into the grow chamber and is capped at the end. I have several tiny T-adapter fittings that tap into the larger hose to run smaller tubing to each individual plant which is then staked into the rockwool cubes. The pump is plugged into the cycle timer which, depending on demand waters every 3 to 6 hours for about 4 to 7 seconds during light periods. I just monitor the water in the bottom of the trays to regulate this and tweak the cycle timer just about every time I go up there. Once the water level in the reservoir gets low enough, I tip the reservoir so all remaining water collects near the pump. Then turn it on to water the plants with as much of the resting water it can pump. I shop vac any remaining water give it a quick rinse before refilling. That's the basics of the whole operation. I had a problem initially that once the pump turned on and shut back off, the water continued to get siphoned to the plants. I remedied this by tapping a short tube and fitting about 1 inch up from where the hose connected to the pump to break the water pressure when the pump shut off.
Ventilation/exhaust:
Air flows in from a roof jack opening through an adjustable elbow, through 5' of ducting where it attaches to the inline fan. From there it flows through flexible ducting into the grow chamber and attaches to the first reflector (cools the bulb), more flex duct to the other light, flex duct to the booster fan, through another adjustable elbow and 5' duct and finally through the last elbow and out through another roof jack opening. Fresh air is introduced to the room through a 2" diameter opening in the flexible ducting that first enters the room.
Electrical:
Bought a DIY electrical book at Home Depot and read it cover to cover, twice. Also researched it on the internet. I wired one 240V and one 120V circuit, installed the breakers, fished the wires, wired the receptacles, and everything. It was a bitch and took way longer than it should of because of the house's characteristics but I got a 90* drill for my trouble (and money). Ran the 240V receptacles near the ballasts and installed a 120V receptacles next to the fan and another near the reservoir. I was really intimidated about the wiring but it was pretty simple once I educated myself on electrical and constantly double checked everything as I went. I cringed when I flipped the breakers the first time and let out a deep sigh of relief when everything did not erupt into flames. One thing I wish I would have done though is installed metal conduit and junction boxes to protect the wiring and receptacles but by that time I was just ready to get this mofo up and running. Really not that big a deal as long as I stay aware of them.
Problems:
You can hear a hum from the ventilation fan and ballasts when standing inside the garage (but I usually have to purposely listen for it) and a louder buzzing when the pump turns on for a few seconds but I doubt anyone would suspect anything. My main concern is that I'm susceptible to FLIR. I know there would a definite heat signature from the back wall of the chamber (i.e. wall with scrubber) so anyone with an IR camera could see what's going on. I'm no so sure about aerial; definitely the ballasts would show but I like to the think that a layer of mylar, 4" dead air space, 1.5" insulated sheathing, more air space, and finally my roof would break up up the lights since they're being cooled. I do plan on tacking some of that foil bubble wrap insulation to the roof beams for added insulation that should break up the signature a little more. I'm pretty uneducated on IR and FLIR though so I could be and probably am way off. If it came down to the authorities investigating me, it means I probably did something else to screw myself, like tell someone or post my setup on the internet? <knock on wood>
Prepping the area to be a grow chamber and then installing and hooking everything up took about a month working on the weekends. All-in-all, I'd say no less than 60 man hours not including trips to hydro shop and home depot. A basement setup would have probably been close to $800 cheaper and less than 10 hours to setup. (But then I wouldn't have all these cool power tools.)
So... for what it is, an attic grow op, I'm pleased with how it's turned out. There's still some small improvements to be done after this (my 2nd) harvest. I'm also planning on adding a propane CO2 generator for next harvest. Condensation was a minor problem during Dec/Jan but that has since been mostly remedied by insulating some ducting and also allowing air to flow through the roof jack openings (originally I sealed off the openings to only allow the ventilation to pass).
Let me know what you guys think so far. There will be more to follow.
Months ago I was researching attic grow rooms and found very scattered information. I think I only found one crappy example with pictures. But I did read numerous posts advising against attic grow ops (and fully comprehend that advice now) but it is my only option for the time being. I realize now how beneficial a basement setup would be compared to an attic with no running water or drainage, little sound dampening, and extreme temperatures. If possible, I would strongly discourage this but when an attic is all that is available, I guess you just have to make due. It just seems very labor intensive and vulnerable to the cold in winter and heat in the summer, not to mention susceptible to moisture problems in a location I'd rather not have any moisture in (UGH!). Also, odor reaching the neighbors could be an issue.
The grow chamber is approx 6'Wx8'Dx8'H. The floor is just plywood covered with a thick rubber sheet (10 mil I think?) and very unlikely to puncture or leak. The outer walls consist of just foam insulation sheathing tacked to the trusses with mylar tacked inside. I framed in a two foot wide opening for a doorway and I'm just using a piece of the foam sheathing as a simple door.
Here's the hardware:
(2) enclosed 240V 1000W HPS on water heater timer
(2) 6" inline fans (one for ventilation and one for the filter)
(2) fan controllers
(1) 6" duct booster
(1) 6" carbon filter setup as a scrubber
(4) 4x2 trays (which make maneuvering inside the room tricky)
(1) 40 Gal reservoir
(1) submersible water pump
(1) submersible water heater with auto shutoff if water gets too low
(1) large air stone (that currently floats for some reason)
(1) overpriced cycle timer down to 3s cycles
(1) power strip
(3) appliance timers (vent fan, cycle timer/pump, duct booster)
Throw in electrical supplies, ventilation supplies, irrigation supplies, wood, insulation, mylar, rubber for the floor and misc and all this makes for a hefty price tag... in the neighborhood of $3000 including the tools I needed. I really spared no expense though because I wanted to do things safe and not half-assed. Let me also add that I'm also not looking forward to purchasing an air conditioner and dehumidifier in the coming months.
General Operation:
-Drip system
The reservoir rests outside of the grow chamber and needs filled approx every 2 weeks. To do this I haul a heavy duty garden hose from my laundry room up to the attic. It's a pain but not too demanding. The pump sits inside the reservoir and is connected to a hose that runs into the grow chamber and is capped at the end. I have several tiny T-adapter fittings that tap into the larger hose to run smaller tubing to each individual plant which is then staked into the rockwool cubes. The pump is plugged into the cycle timer which, depending on demand waters every 3 to 6 hours for about 4 to 7 seconds during light periods. I just monitor the water in the bottom of the trays to regulate this and tweak the cycle timer just about every time I go up there. Once the water level in the reservoir gets low enough, I tip the reservoir so all remaining water collects near the pump. Then turn it on to water the plants with as much of the resting water it can pump. I shop vac any remaining water give it a quick rinse before refilling. That's the basics of the whole operation. I had a problem initially that once the pump turned on and shut back off, the water continued to get siphoned to the plants. I remedied this by tapping a short tube and fitting about 1 inch up from where the hose connected to the pump to break the water pressure when the pump shut off.
Ventilation/exhaust:
Air flows in from a roof jack opening through an adjustable elbow, through 5' of ducting where it attaches to the inline fan. From there it flows through flexible ducting into the grow chamber and attaches to the first reflector (cools the bulb), more flex duct to the other light, flex duct to the booster fan, through another adjustable elbow and 5' duct and finally through the last elbow and out through another roof jack opening. Fresh air is introduced to the room through a 2" diameter opening in the flexible ducting that first enters the room.
Electrical:
Bought a DIY electrical book at Home Depot and read it cover to cover, twice. Also researched it on the internet. I wired one 240V and one 120V circuit, installed the breakers, fished the wires, wired the receptacles, and everything. It was a bitch and took way longer than it should of because of the house's characteristics but I got a 90* drill for my trouble (and money). Ran the 240V receptacles near the ballasts and installed a 120V receptacles next to the fan and another near the reservoir. I was really intimidated about the wiring but it was pretty simple once I educated myself on electrical and constantly double checked everything as I went. I cringed when I flipped the breakers the first time and let out a deep sigh of relief when everything did not erupt into flames. One thing I wish I would have done though is installed metal conduit and junction boxes to protect the wiring and receptacles but by that time I was just ready to get this mofo up and running. Really not that big a deal as long as I stay aware of them.
Problems:
You can hear a hum from the ventilation fan and ballasts when standing inside the garage (but I usually have to purposely listen for it) and a louder buzzing when the pump turns on for a few seconds but I doubt anyone would suspect anything. My main concern is that I'm susceptible to FLIR. I know there would a definite heat signature from the back wall of the chamber (i.e. wall with scrubber) so anyone with an IR camera could see what's going on. I'm no so sure about aerial; definitely the ballasts would show but I like to the think that a layer of mylar, 4" dead air space, 1.5" insulated sheathing, more air space, and finally my roof would break up up the lights since they're being cooled. I do plan on tacking some of that foil bubble wrap insulation to the roof beams for added insulation that should break up the signature a little more. I'm pretty uneducated on IR and FLIR though so I could be and probably am way off. If it came down to the authorities investigating me, it means I probably did something else to screw myself, like tell someone or post my setup on the internet? <knock on wood>
Prepping the area to be a grow chamber and then installing and hooking everything up took about a month working on the weekends. All-in-all, I'd say no less than 60 man hours not including trips to hydro shop and home depot. A basement setup would have probably been close to $800 cheaper and less than 10 hours to setup. (But then I wouldn't have all these cool power tools.)
So... for what it is, an attic grow op, I'm pleased with how it's turned out. There's still some small improvements to be done after this (my 2nd) harvest. I'm also planning on adding a propane CO2 generator for next harvest. Condensation was a minor problem during Dec/Jan but that has since been mostly remedied by insulating some ducting and also allowing air to flow through the roof jack openings (originally I sealed off the openings to only allow the ventilation to pass).
Let me know what you guys think so far. There will be more to follow.
