Building Out The "permanent" Grow Room, Hope To Get Some Advice

[somedumbjerk]

alright, got the okay from the wife to build out a grow room in my little corner of the basement. think two 4x8 rooms, one veg/storage and one flower. the flooring is gravel, so i have a few options there. I'm going to have my panel redone soon and run the existing dryer line (gas dryer FTW) as well as get one or two dedicated circuits for the 110v. cooling has not been an issue so far down there, in fact in the winter i need to heat the veg area. My thoughts and frame up walls with 2x4's and plywood, paint with a mold inhibitor, and throw panda film up. i like the idea of wiping down the walls with a mild solution and keeping things a little cleaner. I'm not married to the film over flat paint by any means. My idea for lighting is 3 600w for cooling and power consumption, plus i can always leave one light off if the flower room isn't full yet. i want plenty of shelving in the veg room for moms and propagation.

So that was verbal diarrhea for my thoughts. What i'm really hoping to learn from you seasoned (or not so much, your input is very welcome) farmers is what would you have done differently to your grow space? Hoping to not have to upgrade a bunch of a stuff right away and focus more on the techniques than the environment. I have no interest in sealing the room and doing co2. i've got plenty of other variables to lock in. Also medical grow with 3 people at this address, so the number of plants is pretty big.

i'm at the stage where i'm about to order building materials. i'll try and figure a way to draw schematics and get a few pics up on here.

Thank you!

 

[Seamaiden]

To me, panda film is expensive. I prefer the rigid Styro insulation sheets, in white specifically, so I don't have to pain or anything like that. If you can afford to run three 600s then awesome, otherwise you may want to consider trying the 315cMH (ceramic metal halide) or LED. I have only used fluoros, metal halide and HPS, but I'm seeing many amazing grows with LED.

The space you mention, 4'x8', seems narrow to me, but if you can work in that space, great.

In my old basement grow space, I had to drop the ceiling (used the rigid Styro) and add a temperature controlled exhaust fan, oversized on purpose, in order to get environmental parameters a little tighter. Cold during winter was a BIG problem, but during summer holy cow did it get hot in there! So no summer growing for me. The cold was why I dropped the ceiling.

 

[somedumbjerk]

To me, panda film is expensive. I prefer the rigid Styro insulation sheets, in white specifically, so I don't have to pain or anything like that. If you can afford to run three 600s then awesome, otherwise you may want to consider trying the 315cMH (ceramic metal halide) or LED. I have only used fluoros, metal halide and HPS, but I'm seeing many amazing grows with LED.

The space you mention, 4'x8', seems narrow to me, but if you can work in that space, great.

In my old basement grow space, I had to drop the ceiling (used the rigid Styro) and add a temperature controlled exhaust fan, oversized on purpose, in order to get environmental parameters a little tighter. Cold during winter was a BIG problem, but during summer holy cow did it get hot in there! So no summer growing for me. The cold was why I dropped the ceiling.

Thanks for the advice. Some things changed as i just got laid off. so now i have more time but less funding. agreeing with the 3 600w being a little much. where i live there is constantly used growing equipment being sold. I will be buying the ballasts etc used. in fact i got my current 600w setup for $150 w/bulb at my hydro shop because it's used. that being said, if i run into HO t5 lights i'd much rather get some of those. BTW i use cheap amazon LED lights and have had great luck. I currently run 2x300w in a 2x2 but that could do up to a 4x4 but i found it too weak for flowering. for veg in the 2x2 it's strong, would probably be great for about 3x3 or so. Galaxy Hydro 300w on amazon. the new ones dim, which would be great for what i need right now while i transition out of the tent.

The temps in my basement are actually pretty steady, gets a little cool at night but i'm going to thermo-control the vent fan. Heat has never been an issue surprisingly. that's going to quickly change with more lights so i'm planning on getting AC, or at least reserving budget for it. on that note, let's talk styrofoam boards.

for the sake of this, i'm ignoring the environmental impact of styrofoam. that being said, it's a bit of a big deal to my decision making process. i don't want to get in a discussion about it by any means! not trying to talk badly about it. I'm curious as to how well it blocks light? I'm assuming you tape the seams? the temp control bene's are there for sure, and it would mean i can skip insulation (a step i was waiting to see if i needed). the narrow thing is starting to bug me, too. i might make the room square instead of an L shape... not sure if the wife would allow that much space to be dedicated to this though...

Well i'm off to see if anyone else who got laid off with me wants to do some manual labor this week! please keep any advice coming, i've got nothing but time for right now!

 

[Seamaiden]

I'm so sorry you got laid off.

Did you know that mealworms can not only eat Styro, but they grow and stuff and the frass is still good frass? Completely blew my mind! The thinner Styro will let light through, I ended up backing mine with black poly, construction grade stuff. I didn't bother taping the seams since I backed the exterior of the room. Does that make sense? One wall was comprised of the house wall, so I just slapped up the Styro, the other walls were freestanding within the basement, so those got covered and that was taped.

As for dimensions, my advice comes with a caveat--I am a TERRIBLE klutz. If it can be walked into, bumped, or tripped over, I absolutely will. I often fail to negotiate the curve (aka the corner where the walls meet) walking from one room to another. My butt'll knock it right over! So, I need room to work. Others usually don't have my problems. I blame it on my super-low cortisol levels. :D

 

[somedumbjerk]

I'm so sorry you got laid off.

Did you know that mealworms can not only eat Styro, but they grow and stuff and the frass is still good frass? Completely blew my mind! The thinner Styro will let light through, I ended up backing mine with black poly, construction grade stuff. I didn't bother taping the seams since I backed the exterior of the room. Does that make sense? One wall was comprised of the house wall, so I just slapped up the Styro, the other walls were freestanding within the basement, so those got covered and that was taped.

As for dimensions, my advice comes with a caveat--I am a TERRIBLE klutz. If it can be walked into, bumped, or tripped over, I absolutely will. I often fail to negotiate the curve (aka the corner where the walls meet) walking from one room to another. My butt'll knock it right over! So, I need room to work. Others usually don't have my problems. I blame it on my super-low cortisol levels. :D

Thanks for the kind words and the wisdom, you've taught me a ton about what i know about growing. hopefully i'll be putting it to good use!

Well the project is paused for a few days, my wife saw the eight foot wall i framed up and basically forbid me to work on it alone after i told her i had to move the whole thing. she pointed out degenerative disc disease plus lifting plywood by yourself are bad. i'll have help soon and will get hustlin. I'm going to look into the syrofoam. Had no idea about the mealworms, that does make me feel a lot better about it for some reason. i think i'm going to make it a little bigger, and i might add a closet so i can keep a tea brewer in there... and a worm farm... my thought was i have enough room to build a small utility room, i can put some of the equip in there and then have the worms and tea brewer i want to build as well. i may even be able to put the big fan in there and i can put up sound dampening to keep things quieter.

Any thoughts on a gravel floor? i'd rather not dig all of it up. I think i might lay some crete over it so it's easier to clean up when i trim. should help keep the room a little more stable as well. It's eight foot ceilings, so i've got plenty of clearance, but want to keep the height as much as possible. would love to raise the plants a bit so i don't have to stoop as much... bah! too many ideas, not enough focus.

 

[DemonTrich]

Screw hid and led, CMH ftmfw!
Much less heat, less power used, less ac usage, hugely better light output and longetivity, and much better growth.

Sorry about being laid off. Sucks balls. Glad I'm self employed. Screw big business and greedy business owners.

 

[Seamaiden]

Any thoughts on a gravel floor? i'd rather not dig all of it up. I think i might lay some crete over it so it's easier to clean up when i trim. should help keep the room a little more stable as well. It's eight foot ceilings, so i've got plenty of clearance, but want to keep the height as much as possible. would love to raise the plants a bit so i don't have to stoop as much... bah! too many ideas, not enough focus.

I was just gonna ask if you could just lay some concrete over it. I think we're in agreement! :D I hear you on the raising of the plants. I went and got myself some sturdy plastic shelving at the Lowe's down. Had to keep the plants much shorter but that was fine as I was doing sea of green, 1-2gal pots, all single colas topped and flipped at 12" tall.

 

[somedumbjerk]

Screw hid and led, CMH ftmfw!
Much less heat, less power used, less ac usage, hugely better light output and longetivity, and much better growth.

Sorry about being laid off. Sucks balls. Glad I'm self employed. Screw big business and greedy business owners.

CMH scares me. i defoliate so i work on the plants with the lights on. i also have vitaligo (Michael Jackson disease, makes you white not touch kids) and short wave UV can do serious stuff. they used it for treatment on my face causing acute sunburn like radiation burns. scary scary. everything else about them sounds great though. question on the heat output: i use 6" vented hood(about to be hoods). Those have to put out some heat. I'm hoping to not buy an AC unit for a while and use cooling for the lights...

Also thanks for the kind thoughts. I really want to work for myself. been a dream for years, and my mentor just told me i have to start. problem is capital. hoping to raise some with one idea, but need to bake it more. problem was i didn't see the layoff coming, so i couldn't get my shit together. and to add to the financial drama my poor dog just had to get CCL surgery. good news is i'm around to help her recover. enough of my bitching, this is a grow room thread!

Calculated out the 'crete i'd need. it'll only be about 30-50 dollars for mats. thinking about doing that later, as i need to dig a few inches of gravel to get the true 8' height for inside the room. Also ran into the local hydro shop mainly to shoot the shit and price out lights. ended up getting panda film on crazy discount as a "seed starter". To be fair i've spent a shitload of money there and he knows i'm about to do the same on some used equipment i have my eye on. This was great as i was coming back from home depot and they had zero white foam sheets. now i'm pretty set on 2x1000w dimmable. i'm going to run them at 750 most of the time (as long as this pretty much does what i think it does, make it a 750 probably saving some life on the bulb), and this will jumpstart me getting the 240v hooked up. Anyone know any good electricians in the san jose area?