Understairs closet into grow area

Ok so I have a small closet under our stairs that the wife will let me use to grow. Only problem is it's only 3x3x6' tall and then tapers down with the steps. I've looked at tents but most have venting on the sides so I'd have to run a smaller tent say 2x2.5. My other option is to block off the under the stairs part and somewhat seal the entry door.

I've seen a few options in my online search of basically poly zipper doors.

What do you guys use for a floor base, right now it's bare concrete. I see liners and poly but how do you make it light & air tight? More concerned with the smell escaping. I plan on venting thru the wall into my garage with an intake pulling from the room on the other side which is Central cooled/heated.

Ideally a tent was ideal but shrinking down to a 2x2 sends like it's not even worth the efforts.

Drumking15 said:

Ok so I have a small closet under our stairs that the wife will let me use to grow. Only problem is it's only 3x3x6' tall and then tapers down with the steps. I've looked at tents but most have venting on the sides so I'd have to run a smaller tent say 2x2.5. My other option is to block off the under the stairs part and somewhat seal the entry door.

I've seen a few options in my online search of basically poly zipper doors.

What do you guys use for a floor base, right now it's bare concrete. I see liners and poly but how do you make it light & air tight? More concerned with the smell escaping. I plan on venting thru the wall into my garage with an intake pulling from the room on the other side which is Central cooled/heated.

Ideally a tent was ideal but shrinking down to a 2x2 sends like it's not even worth the efforts.

Click to expand...

My vote would be to try to talk her into letting you use a upstairs closet. Easier to vent outside with charcoal filter.Seems like you are going to have to put a lot of effort into a area that you can only grow one short plant. Just my 2 cent worth.

I have a small 2x2x4' tent under my stairs, you can grow quite a bit in a 2x2x5' tent. I use it almost exclusively for breeding now. But I've done clones in 1gal pots vegged for a week after up-potting them from cups and grabbed 6+ zips off them. You'll need a carbon filter to manage the smell. I threw a Styrofoam sheet under the tent to keep the floor a bit warmer than bare concrete. LED's will work best in a tight and small environment.

CAPT CHESAPEAKE said:

My vote would be to try to talk her into letting you use a upstairs closet. Easier to vent outside with charcoal filter.Seems like you are going to have to put a lot of effort into a area that you can only grow one short plant. Just my 2 cent worth.

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I'm not worried about getting the air out. I'm very handy and can run vents etc it be only thru one wall.

Originally planned on setting up a 5x5 in our den but then it be out in the open. Wifey wasnt to keen on all our visitors knowing we're growing. So I moved to a closet and was going to run a 3x3 but then by looking at different tent options realized I would be stuck and can't access the main door on most or cutting holes for my vents due to the walls. Or run a smaller tent say 2.5x2.5 but now with much smaller yields it doesn't become worth my time.

So pretty much my options now are 2.5*2.5 tent or convert the whole understairs nook as my grow room. Yes probably way more work but then I get quite a bit of space it's just not all super tall. Basically slopes down from a 8' height to 4' as the stairs decline. The room itself is already sealed with sheetrock I just need to make some sort of air tight door. We use some poly doors for asbestos work we do that I think will work out but I still need to light seal the door itself. I've also found a kit from hydrofarm that might work also and is reflective.

If the space is already sheetrocked and sealed, paint it with some cheap white paint. LED lighting is definitely the way to go for small areas due to heat issues. Definitely a carbon filter (good quality). Quality duct fan in the 150-250 CFM range. I just bought a duct muffler the other day . . . Cut my fan noise by 50%. Someone here should be able to recommend a LED light or a DIY LED plan.

Insulated flexible duct also cuts down on air movement noise.

It's already painted too . Is it worth it to line with reflective mylar.

Also it wraps underneath the lower stairs as it's a split stair case. Should I try to make the space smaller where I won't be growing per se. Also concerned with the high humidity in the room itself. Was going to get a dehumidifier but more concerned with returning the area when I'm done back to normal, will the grow leave residue that a basic repaint won't cover.

Also looking for advice on floor covering.

Dont line it white will work. Use rubber floor mats like you would in a garage or basement floor heck even one of those mike holmes approved sheathing tiles lol also you gonna need a tray for water run off when watering your babies

My veg space is under the stairs so basically same as yourself, to vent out which you really need to do or mould is gonna be a real problem for you. My vent is into ceiling which then flows around the void between floors. That will work fine for you so long as you have that void.

From the description of the area it sounds like you're better off without the tent. It hasn't been mentioned but I'm assuming you have access to electricity in the closet?

If the space were mine...

A quick easy fix for a cement floor is styrofoam. It can be as thin as you prefer. Styrofoam is cheap, easy to shape, and readily available at craft stores and big box stores.

I would not paint the walls. Instead, I would buy Panda Film to line the walls, floor, and door. Again this is relatively inexpensive and available at big box stores and gardening centers. For the wall containing the door I would cut the Panda Film to overhang from the wall over the door. This should help cut back on light entering the grow area (assuming the door opens away from the growing area). I would line the door with Panda Film while leaving enough film to drag the floor, roughly 1 inch longer than the total length from the top of the door to the floor. Again to minimize light entering the room.

For ventilation I would create the exit vent into the garage that you mentioned. I would mount a carbon filter and fan inside the grow area. To keep sound down I would mount screws into the stair stringers (so no one steps on a sharp screw) and attach a bungee cord goinv across. The fan would be secured to the bungee cord. This will prevent droning noise in the house. I would recommend a fan that's larger than needed. A larger fan can run lower (quieter) and pull the same air. In my personal house the doors are high enough to allow passive airflow. This also creates a negative pressure inside the grow area and keeps any odor from escaping as long as the fan is running.

The 5 gallon pots I use have trays at the bottom and work fine for me without needing a bottom tray. Maybe I'm careful with my pours and water quantity. I rarely have over flow outside of the fitted tray. However, you can buy reflective mylar/nylon trays. Of course any shallow sterilite container would work as well.

There you have it. The room itself is rather complete. Just pick a light source, growing medium, and seeds.

Hope this is helpful!

FriendlyPharmacist said:

From the description of the area it sounds like you're better off without the tent. It hasn't been mentioned but I'm assuming you have access to electricity in the closet?

If the space were mine...

A quick easy fix for a cement floor is styrofoam. It can be as thin as you prefer. Styrofoam is cheap, easy to shape, and readily available at craft stores and big box stores.

I would not paint the walls. Instead, I would buy Panda Film to line the walls, floor, and door. Again this is relatively inexpensive and available at big box stores and gardening centers. For the wall containing the door I would cut the Panda Film to overhang from the wall over the door. This should help cut back on light entering the grow area (assuming the door opens away from the growing area). I would line the door with Panda Film while leaving enough film to drag the floor, roughly 1 inch longer than the total length from the top of the door to the floor. Again to minimize light entering the room.

For ventilation I would create the exit vent into the garage that you mentioned. I would mount a carbon filter and fan inside the grow area. To keep sound down I would mount screws into the stair stringers (so no one steps on a sharp screw) and attach a bungee cord goinv across. The fan would be secured to the bungee cord. This will prevent droning noise in the house. I would recommend a fan that's larger than needed. A larger fan can run lower (quieter) and pull the same air. In my personal house the doors are high enough to allow passive airflow. This also creates a negative pressure inside the grow area and keeps any odor from escaping as long as the fan is running.

The 5 gallon pots I use have trays at the bottom and work fine for me without needing a bottom tray. Maybe I'm careful with my pours and water quantity. I rarely have over flow outside of the fitted tray. However, you can buy reflective mylar/nylon trays. Of course any shallow sterilite container would work as well.

There you have it. The room itself is rather complete. Just pick a light source, growing medium, and seeds.

Hope this is helpful!

Click to expand...

I always over water when watering to allow run off. Helps make sure nutrient lockout of burn dont happen. Ive even heard of more then a few growers exclusively watering the drip trap and allowing the roots to soak up what they need. I still dont think you should line it. White paint is nearly as good.

https://www.rollitup.org/t/mylar-vs-white-paint.761211/

Rollinituptoo said:

I always over water when watering to allow run off. Helps make sure nutrient lockout of burn dont happen. Ive even heard of more then a few growers exclusively watering the drip trap and allowing the roots to soak up what they need. I still dont think you should line it. White paint is nearly as good.

https://www.rollitup.org/t/mylar-vs-white-paint.761211/

Click to expand...

My plants are overwatered following each feed, roughly 2 to 3 days later. The plants I grow are generally short (3 to 4 feet). Each plant is placed in the utility tub and watered thoroughly with pH balanced water.

It helps that I have 10 ft ceilings. If height is an issue then a container sure would be helpful.

With regard to Panda Film vs White Paint, I agree with the results you shared. I prefer Panda Film for easy cleanup. @Drumking15 mentioned being concerned about returning the closet to the original condition. Both are valid options.

I think I got the idea guys. Two 6" fans, one pulling from adjacent Central aired/heated room kept between 68-72 pulling thru a help filter with a backflow damper to prevent the smell from escaping, venting out to my garage via a carbon filter they ducting to a 6" dryer vent with damper to also prevent any backflow coming out but more any thing coming in when not on.

I found some lining that I not just poly basically 600d fabric similar to tents, this will make it easy to clean and I don't have to worry about the sheetrock and repaintingr after the fact. I'm thinking I can cut that to size and mount on the walls via Velcro strips. Secure and easily removable if I need to pull things out to clean. I'll run the fans in the rear of the split stairs where the ceiling height is about 4' basically useless growing space and run ducting into the higher ceiling portion and build a drape per se that will hang from the ceiling and snap into the edges of the wall allowing me to get back to the fans if need be but also give me a rear wall to keep from waisting light.

Someone mentioned power. The closet itself doesnt have outlets, but I do have two different circuits on each side of the stairwell, one from the garage, and one from the den. Easy enough to cut open the sheetrock walls and hang a few boxes and add into the circuit to balance out the load not on one breaker. The garage is on a 20amp and the den a 15amp, both with 6 outlets currently so I'll be fine there as I plan on running QBs or cobs to minimize heat and allow for easy expansion in the future.

For the floor in thinking I building a small PVC frame say 4" high within the plant area, this will keep me off the bare concrete and line it with some thick poly. This also will give me an attachment point for the rear drape wall to clip into. That way if I overwater it's contained and not running into the existing sheetrock that abuts the floor. Then I can simply shopvac up the overrun or remove the plants from the closet and lift out the tray to clean etc.