the attic grow room debate

I'm sure there are many people that have asked this before, but here goes. I'm planning on building a grow room in my attic. I know, the heat is going to be a major issue. But I plan on walling it in and placing a sub floor with the proper insulation. My air handler is right next to it which I plan on tapping into for heating and air. I am not going to drywall it, will be too much of a pain in the ass (I used to hang drywall). So I will be using insulation panels that are 1/2" thick, then sealing the seams with REAL DUCT tape. The room will be 16'x8'. I have a good access to it and my spare bathroom is right below, so I am going to tap off of it with a water supply and install a sink and drain. Then place an exhaust out the back of my roof. My question is has anyone ever done this, and can they give me some pointers. I am an Architect and have done construction all my life. So I am not too worried about the building part. Just would like to hear some pros and cons. I have dabbled with growing in the past when my wife and I got out of college, mainly in the closet. But couldnt keep them there due to visting parents and reletives. So the attic is my only option. I decided to try and grow because I am just tired of trying to find weed! My wife and I are heavy smokers. She is a teacher, and I work with a bunch of "suits", so it is hard to meet fellow tokers. I would just like to hear from someone who has done something similar to what I'm trying to do. Thanks

well your biggest problem is the heat signature given off by all the heat buildup. If a police chopper does a fly bye and sees that heat, your done for!
(remember that the police scanner can only pick up the heat signature directly on the surface of objects) So if you run cooling pipes on the ceiling you can remove that risk.

secondly if your doing a hydro system for that large of a room, its going to be very very heavy I dont not recommend put your res. tanks up there unless you really reinforce the structure.

third, I recommend making a hidden staircase for easy up and down access. unless you really want to build those muscles climbing a ladder many times a day

most importantly humidity control, you'd be surprised how fast mold grows in an attic.

besides those, its really just like any other setup... measure and plan out the system before you build the rooms...







For security reasons, I do not post details about my operations (if i have operations) just helpful tips and hints on how to do it

Yeah, I've thought of the heat issue. I live in the south, so everything is hot here. Ive done some research on the thermal imageing. From what I've found, Its seems that they only use that when the think someone is growing. Just like checking the elec meter. And the way my roof is done, My ceiling will be kinda dropped below the roof line. I'd have to post a picture of it for you to understand, I just don't know how to on here. I allready plan on beefing up of the floor system. I allready have a set of stairs to the room, so I won't have to beef up my muscles too much. The room will be climent controled, so I think it will be ok, I hope. Guess I will find out the hard way. Thanks for the advice

You should be able to make it work - especially if it's your house. Homeowners can get a way with far more than renters can. Your background should come in really handing in creating the perect grow space!

One suggestion - if you build it out of foam panels, use the foil backed stuff. I built my grow cab using the stuff - built in reflectors

Yeah, I thought about the foil stuff, but allways heard that foil makes a bad reflector. But I can't speak from experiance. I planned on a layer of that white panda plastic stuff. And I have to tip my hat to you for that grow box you made. Looks like it works great. How is your heat build up in it?

Thanks for the hat tip

I was a bit concerned about the foil thing too, but it's more like the dull side of foil - reflects and diffuses the light - I haven't seen any evidence of hot spots.

Heat hasn't been too much of an issue - about 12 F above ambient. The shelves that my cab is made from are totally ventilated, so the bottom is pretty much open to the concrete floor below. It seems to be pretty effective as a heat sink.

Good luck with everything!

Two thoughts...
tapping into the ac sounds cool, but what about the winter? I live in the south as well so winter means different things to different people. But at some point do you turn off the ac and crank up the heat? Even when its cooler here, the attic space in my home still stays fairly warm(probablt never get below 90ish)....Also with an attic room, keeping it cool if you ever have a power outage will be a real challenge(I live in hurricane country). A generator would probaby be able to help with the lights, but keeping it cool will still be kinda hard. Other than that, I wish I had a truly out of the way place that I could grow....BEST OF LUCK!!!

Ive thought of the winter as well. I live in the carolinas, so right now my AC has been going non stop all summer. What I thought of doing was placing a manual valve on my air handler so I could have no AC in the main house when its cool and just AC in the grow if needed. Today is the first day its not hiting 90 and should be in the 70's for awhile, THANK GOD. This has been the worst summer! And I have been waiting for it to cool down so I can get to building up there. I even thought about getting the grow room its own system. You can get units just like in hotels that can be for heating and cooling. To be honest, I dont know what the best way is going to be yet. I guess I'm just going to do some trial and error and see what works. Thats the only thing that sucks about the south, no body builds basements if you dont have too. I grew up in PA, and just about every house has a basement. Thats why I was hoping I could get with someone on here that have ventured in the attic and had some pointers. It sucks that its my only option. Thanks for your thoughts.

yeah worry about creating a good environment for your plants b4 you even germinate. i think people should set up their rooms and let them run for a couple days to make sure everything is spot on. cause if your growing in constantly fluxing temps from high to low and vice versa your probably ganna come out with most males and hermies. your on the right track bryant but just keep on workin at it. like you said trial and error. and a whole lotta reading. ur def ganna have to a/c ur grow room. my grow room is in a bedroom and i thought i might of had to get a 5,000 btu a/c to fix the heat but its settled now that i have my lights vented. oh yeah def ganna have to vent your lights. an attic is hot enough as it is. and with the space your using your ganna need AT LEAST 2 1000 watters, thats some heat right there boy.

Yeah, I totaly plan on venting the lights. It would be my only option. Was just thinking of doing 1 1000 watt HPS. And I was looking at your ebb and grow system online. Can that be done with smalled containers? The manufacturer didnt seem to offer it with smaller containers. I think I'm going to have to do some sort of sea of green method to keep height down. I was also looking at maybe making my own system. Thanks for your help

they are 2 gallon pots and they sit about a foot tall from ground to stem. honestly i built my drip irrigation hydro system for my veg room. but trying to build and ebb & gro you would spend more time/money trying to build one than buying one. getting everything watertight. the controller for the system is the brains of the operation and that is 300 dollars if u buy it alone. u can try to build one, but when i was assembling it me and my buddy both said there was no way possible we could have built it. unless you can get your hands on all the supplies needed at once it would take weeks to get all the stuff and them assemble it. and then u still have to worry about things leaking, going wrong ect. i know i can leave my ebb & gro for like 3-4 days and not have to worry about it. if you want to use a 1000 watt hps puts off around 140,000 lumens. in a 16x9 space 1 1000 watt would supply 972 lumens per square foot. the sun is 10,000 lumens per sq foot. just something to think about

what you also must do which is a god send and worth everyone penny the whopping $30 is to get a water line up there and a drain pipe, that is what I have and its soooo conviniant. you can by a thin water line like maybe one used for refrigerator water dispensers and then tap into the closest sink using a splitter.

sounds like your project is gonna be very expensive and your heat will be insane with 1000wats, I would rather sacrifice a closet and seal it off with a secret panel which will make it 100% stealth

what I did is push a couch up to my closet door, like blocking the door, then I bought a nice ornate and very large tapestry and hung it over the couch which was backed up against the entrace to the closet. this makes my whole closet 100% concealed and you would never know there was a room there unless you saw it before it was built. then you just lift up the taperstry, open the door to your closet and hop over the couch. now boom your in your grow room with water lines in it and its tottaly stealth and low cost without heat issues and climing ladders.

on top of that you can put a hole in the wall behind the couch which enters the closet. put a small inline fan in the hole and wal-la you have ac from you bedroom going into your secret grow room. mine was still getting hot so I cut the bottom of the door off which is concealed by the couch anyway for a passive intake. then exahast throught the closet cieling into the attic.

lastley buy a doorknob keyed lock for the door and no prying eyes can enter if you have children.

here is my setup and how its done. I highly reccomend it:

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the door to the closet is right near the intake fan near the end of the couch facing you in the pic, the couch is that big square boxy thing on the right, it was hard to draw. the tapestry is represented by that long vertical rectangle which the tapestry arrow above is pointing to.

now you guys know my secret, you all must die now......
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yeah 1000's are pretty hot. i have 2 600s vented by a can fan and the reflectors stay at room temp all the time. as long as your lights are vented and sealed you have no worries about the heat from the lamps. plus u can put them within a foot of the plants.

Your right, it will be alittle expensive. Ive been planning this for alittle over a year now. Minus lights the regular growing needs, I might have 500-700 dollars in it. Just found this board and it has helped a ton! I know more about Hydro then I ever did, and still need to learn a boat load more. I had a similar set up before in my closet, but had to take it down. We just have too many house guests through out the year. And we are trying to have a baby soon, so my office will be the guest room now (thats where i used to grow). I just really want it out of the house and the attic is my only option. And I NEED to grow. Just tired to looking for weed and paying for dirty, seedy, steamy..........just plain crap! Thanks guys

bryant228 said:

...And I NEED to grow. Just tired to looking for weed and paying for dirty, seedy, steamy..........just plain crap! Thanks guys

Click to expand...

Amen brotha. Amen

Sounds like you really did your homework! I think you covered all the important bases... space, lights, water, ventilation, security and the grow system. Good luck and have fun!

Well, finaly getting around to posting plans of my grow space. Let me know what you think

That space is workable. When you get ready to tap into the water line remember you need to tap in before the water softner if you have one. All the comments about heat and no one says T-5. If you don't produce the heat you don't have to deal with it. Foil backed insulation is not right for this project. Closed cell formula will be impervious to any moisture problems and the foil backed isn't. I saw a 'Portable' air conditioner at Meijers and K-Mart that is also a dehumidifier, around $400.00. 10,000btu. I'm hoping they put it on clearance. Well, maybe next year. VV

Yeah, I dont even know if you can get that foil backed stuff. I havnt seen lowes website. I dont have a softner on my water system, its just straight city water. And I'm just going to tap into the cold water supply and run the drain down the vent which is right under the where I plan on putting the sink. Just found out I will be getting my bonus in another 30 days so construction can begin in 31 days!