Attic grow room materials and design

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SBuddz

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Hey folks,

Curious if anyone can share any advice or pics of your attic grows?
I have a newly built 2-Storey with a standard attic hatch and I'm looking to use at least half of the space. Approximately 600 sq ft (I'm Canadian EH). Curious about framing the walls, reflective material etc.
 
2Bad

2Bad

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Hey folks,

Curious if anyone can share any advice or pics of your attic grows?
I have a newly built 2-Storey with a standard attic hatch and I'm looking to use at least half of the space. Approximately 600 sq ft (I'm Canadian EH). Curious about framing the walls, reflective material etc.
You're going to have to climb to get to your grow? That's roughhh
 
RootsRuler

RootsRuler

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Hey folks,

Curious if anyone can share any advice or pics of your attic grows?
I have a newly built 2-Storey with a standard attic hatch and I'm looking to use at least half of the space. Approximately 600 sq ft (I'm Canadian EH). Curious about framing the walls, reflective material etc.
How deep do you want to get into it?

You could line the roof and floor rafters with foil backed OSB for reflectivity and you'd have the basic walls and floor of your grow space. If no roof insulation was there this would be the time to install some R-38 fiberglass insulation to keep outside weather from influencing your indoor environment you being in a colder climate. 600 sq/ft of space. OSB is 4 x8 = 32 sq/ft. 600/32 = 18.75 sheets of OSB but make it 24 for cuts and things. HD website says foil backed OSB is $12.60 a sheet. 24 x $12.60 = $302.40 USD.
Not sure how you'd be able to use anything under 3' high so I'd probably mark that as my wall spot so I'm not having to air condition wasted space.

Are you going to run a sealed room or a ventilated room?

If your attic temp doesn't change that much through the seasons an easy way to line your attic would be 1" R-Tech foam panel insulation. This would only work for the roof rafters so you'd probably need to lay some 3/4" OSB for the floor. I like to lay a layer of Panda Film, white side up, on top of OSB floors as I find this makes it easy to keep the floors clean without any funky wet wood spots if I spill something. You could also lay some peel and stick tiles if you wanted to get fancy, also to make floor cleaning easy.

Not sure how high your gables are but I would imagine not more than 5 ft at center beam. You're probably going to want to use SCROG or SOG method because of the low roof issues you'll probably have.

Before you close up your walls I would suggest you run all electrical and water lines you're going to need up there. I'd run PEX for water as, IMO, that would be the easiest way to do that without having to cut up walls. I'd tap two 20 amp dedicated circuits off of your electrical box. One to run your A/C unit and the other for lights and whatever else. Obviously this only an example since you could be hanging more lights or whatever other variable that I'm not aware of.
 
RootsRuler

RootsRuler

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263
Run a 240v line for lights and A/C as these are your biggest power users and 120v for everything else.
 
mysticepipedon

mysticepipedon

4,738
263
Hey folks,

Curious if anyone can share any advice or pics of your attic grows?
I have a newly built 2-Storey with a standard attic hatch and I'm looking to use at least half of the space. Approximately 600 sq ft (I'm Canadian EH). Curious about framing the walls, reflective material etc.
This is where my grow room was in my previous house -- an uninsulated attic. This was in North Carolina, so I could only grow from October - April before temperatures got too high.

I framed a room, insulated it with R-13 (you'll need more in CA, obviously). All corners were sealed to keep cold air out. I used a thermostatically controlled outlet to turn on and off my exhaust fan to keep temperatures from going too high.

I was able to heat it completely with MH and HPS bulbs, but the temperatures plunged during lights off, slowing maturation time by about 2 weeks. If I were doing it today, I'd use LEDs and ceramic lizard heat lamps.
 
RootsRuler

RootsRuler

2,389
263
This is where my grow room was in my previous house -- an uninsulated attic. This was in North Carolina, so I could only grow from October - April before temperatures got too high.

I framed a room, insulated it with R-13 (you'll need more in CA, obviously). All corners were sealed to keep cold air out. I used a thermostatically controlled outlet to turn on and off my exhaust fan to keep temperatures from going too high.

I was able to heat it completely with MH and HPS bulbs, but the temperatures plunged during lights off, slowing maturation time by about 2 weeks. If I were doing it today, I'd use LEDs and ceramic lizard heat lamps.
I wonder if you could design it like a greenhouse where one side has a big fan, in this case it would be your attic fan, and the other side has filtered air inlets? You could connect the attic fan to an inkbird or similar control and run air exchanges in the room like that.

Outdoor Nursery
 
mysticepipedon

mysticepipedon

4,738
263
I wonder if you could design it like a greenhouse where one side has a big fan, in this case it would be your attic fan, and the other side has filtered air inlets? You could connect the attic fan to an inkbird or similar control and run air exchanges in the room like that.

View attachment 1342663
That might have worked to keep it going through summer.
 
S

SBuddz

4
3
How deep do you want to get into it?

You could line the roof and floor rafters with foil backed OSB for reflectivity and you'd have the basic walls and floor of your grow space. If no roof insulation was there this would be the time to install some R-38 fiberglass insulation to keep outside weather from influencing your indoor environment you being in a colder climate. 600 sq/ft of space. OSB is 4 x8 = 32 sq/ft. 600/32 = 18.75 sheets of OSB but make it 24 for cuts and things. HD website says foil backed OSB is $12.60 a sheet. 24 x $12.60 = $302.40 USD.
Not sure how you'd be able to use anything under 3' high so I'd probably mark that as my wall spot so I'm not having to air condition wasted space.

Are you going to run a sealed room or a ventilated room?

If your attic temp doesn't change that much through the seasons an easy way to line your attic would be 1" R-Tech foam panel insulation. This would only work for the roof rafters so you'd probably need to lay some 3/4" OSB for the floor. I like to lay a layer of Panda Film, white side up, on top of OSB floors as I find this makes it easy to keep the floors clean without any funky wet wood spots if I spill something. You could also lay some peel and stick tiles if you wanted to get fancy, also to make floor cleaning easy.

Not sure how high your gables are but I would imagine not more than 5 ft at center beam. You're probably going to want to use SCROG or SOG method because of the low roof issues you'll probably have.

Before you close up your walls I would suggest you run all electrical and water lines you're going to need up there. I'd run PEX for water as, IMO, that would be the easiest way to do that without having to cut up walls. I'd tap two 20 amp dedicated circuits off of your electrical box. One to run your A/C unit and the other for lights and whatever else. Obviously this only an example since you could be hanging more lights or whatever other variable that I'm not aware of.
I appreciate your knowledge. Thank you
 
Madbud

Madbud

3,906
263
I use white styrofoam 2’x4’ suspended ceiling tiles for reflectors and insulation. Easy to work with and big box styrofoam packing sheets are easy to find too.
 

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