Attic/Rafters Setup

This will be the beginning of my Attic/Rafters setup here at home which i plan on having a perpetual grow going with a Veg room and Flower room. I have been pondering about this project for some time and I'm finally ready to put it into action.

Reasons being, my woman's family are a bunch of nosey f*ckers. I have a 4x4 grow tent going with a 1000w XXXL hood going in the garage with some DWC buckets and a few outdoor plants that are just finishing up. So about 85% of the year I'm in the clear and don't have to worry about anything. But, there's that 15 percent of the year her side of the family comes down and does whatever it is they are doing or celebrating that day. Well we know what that means, hide EVERYTHING. Haha long story short, I need a stable set up that doesn't ever need to be fucked with. Well my hiding spot has always been the attic or rafters above my garage.

The garage is a finished garage with all the drywall put up, as well as covering the attic above it. The only challenge I really see in this setup I have in mind is getting the wood and stuff up through the attic hatch. Not too difficult, can pull up pieces of plywood as long as they are cut at an width of 24" which is half a piece.

Some numbers and pictures for this set up to help you visualize this.

This attic hatch door is 28 3/4" long and 21" wide.
Every 24" there's a stud across the floor as well as the studs coming down at an angle to the back wall.
The back wall is 85" from top to bottom which is the tall side of the roof.
The short side or the side behind you as you come up the attic is 63" inches.
I have 50" across of floor space but it goes back as far as 6ft or even farther if I chose to go longer.( See pictures, I'll go about as far back as to where the pipes are on each side, no father) So I'm working with about 24 Sq ft of space on both the left and right side.
48 Sq ft total.
One side would be veg, the other flower.

Cut your 8x4 plywood right down the middle so it's a 2x8 and slide it right on up in there.
Figured I would lay another 3 2x4x24" studs in between the existing floor studs for extra support. So I calculated another 28 2x4x24 studs for support that I would need just for the floor. Then lay some 1/2 or 3/4 plywood down on top then wall it off how I feel.
Insulate all the outside of the walls for that summer heat here in Cali.

I have a buddy who is an electrician, works for a union. Said he would come install a new circuit specifically for this and run the wiring up to the attic. My tent alone blows my garage GFI breaker sometimes. Thats a 20 AMP. Figured Id get a while separate circuit for it and install a 40 AMP more than likely unless I'll need bigger.

I'd like to have 2 600w in each room as well as a AC unit of some type in each.

I'm still in the drafting stage so nothing is set in stone yet. Thought I'd throw this out there and here some input and ideas.

Pic 1 - Enterance
Pic 2 - Finished Garage
Pic 3 - Left Side down
Pic 4 - Left side up
Pic 5 - Right side down
Pic 6 - Right side up
Pic 7 - the rest of the rafters (unusable space)
Pic 8 - sketch while I was up in the attic getting measurements

Cool good luck with the build man.

Wouldn’t that be expensive as hell to try and keep cool during summer. Hell I live in The bay area and in the summer time it’s got to be at least 1300 (or at least it feels like it) in my attic. Just saying.

Davmalk said:

Wouldn’t that be expensive as hell to try and keep cool during summer. Hell I live in The bay area and in the summer time it’s got to be at least 1300 (or at least it feels like it) in my attic. Just saying.

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Im here in Sacramento so i already know. Ill have it all fully insulated. Ill still be fighting the heat but wont be much different than my grow tent in the garage during the summer either... Electric bill went up $100 just for my tent AC... But in the long run, it still pays for itself, plus the free smoke... Almost done with the first room, which will be my Flower room eventually but for now ill be vegging in there until i build the veg room. Going to veg with a 4ft 8 bulb t5 and supplemental t5s on the walls. The flower room will have a 1000w and a 600w hps going. We will see how it all goes. If all else fails ill run these rooms from September-April then bring the tent back out for one crop until it cools down again.

I built a an attic room that I accessed via my garage through a ceiling door in a very hot climate and ran it for 4 years. If you insulate properly and have adequate ventilation/AC it'll be fine. If you are running HID, use air from through the roof (I put an extra heater exhaust vent in that I pulled the air through) to cool your light and vent it into the attic. I also ran an extra vent from my main AC/Heater into the room (with a return).

Regarding the floor joists (not studs), they need to be sized based on the span and spacing. 2x4s aren't usually adequate for any type of floor joists. You should be looking at 2x8s or 2x10s on 12 or 16 inch centers.

Make sure you plan for adequate air circulation to keep those summer time temps down. Also, don't forget the carbon filter.

Just got done building out an attic, 28'x12' with 10' ceilings sealed. I insulated the shit out of it and have been very surprised at how well a small mini split has kept up. I insulated with r30 all the way around. Like has been said 2x4 are a no no for floor joists, 2x8 minimum.

As far as electrical my suggestion would to be run 2 circuits if you can, that way you never have any worry as far as electrical goes. Never know when you might want to add on and it's a lot easier to do it now than later