Converting a shipping container to underground grow space

[JustGrowWithIt]

Entrance is 3x3 for those curious

 

[JustGrowWithIt]

4 of 7 lights have arrived.

 

[Texasdigger35]

For sure use coarse rock mix as a bed and a water buffer zone. No reason to flood ur container to indicate to turn on sump pump.

Do you need that many walls in there? Why have clones and mothers separated from regular veg room if ur tight on space? 3 rooms, veg and flower on the ends. Supplies and controls in the middle section.

 

[Pushrod Monkey]

Entrance is 3x3 for those curious

3’X3’?

 

[Texasdigger35]

Nope, need a tunnel from the house to the container... anything else would be uncivilized... lol.
Fr though, its going to be hard to get supplies down a hatch. That's what the 3x3 entrance is for... entry, correct?

 

[JustGrowWithIt]

View attachment 1155895For sure use coarse rock mix as a bed and a water buffer zone. No reason to flood ur container to indicate to turn on sump pump.

Do you need that many walls in there? Why have clones and mothers separated from regular veg room if ur tight on space? 3 rooms, veg and flower on the ends. Supplies and controls in the middle section.

I am actually with you on this one in regards to the clone and mother room. Though my plan is to now only take out the wall between the clone and mother so I can have more mothers but to mitigate any contamination should something hermie on me and some pollen gets released. The hurdle I have yet to get an official plan on is ducting between the rooms. I thought about using some 12" flexible hose going in one side of the room then running down to another end and be sure its black internally so no light gets reflected down the tube in between rooms.
I wouldn't mind someones thoughts on this, but I will sketch up what I am talking about for that tubing between rooms.

Yes it will be 3foot by 3foot for getting down into it. I'm pretty spry so im not too worried about getting in and out of the unit. Will it be somewhat of a challenge? Yes, but low profile is the name of the game for me when building its hidden entrance above.

 

[JustGrowWithIt]

The mother/clone room will be lit with one 240W 4000k QB and a 4 light T5 fixture with 6500k bulbs incase the ambient light from the 240 isnt enough for the clones.

 

[Pushrod Monkey]

The mother/clone room will be lit with one 240W 4000k QB and a 4 light T5 fixture with 6500k bulbs incase the ambient light from the 240 isnt enough for the clones.
With a single air intake it’s going to require a blower to provide enough pressure to move adequate air to the furthest point from the intake. More efficient to consider a manifold with an outlet in each room.

 

[JustGrowWithIt]

The mother/clone room will be lit with one 240W 4000k QB and a 4 light T5 fixture with 6500k bulbs incase the ambient light from the 240 isnt enough for the clones.
With a single air intake it’s going to require a blower to provide enough pressure to move adequate air to the furthest point from the intake. More efficient to consider a manifold with an outlet in each room.

I've got the AC Infinity T12 pulling air through my 12" filter and out the exhaust. 1600cfm I believe

 

[KDB42]

Just wondering, I assume the flower room will double as a dry/cure room too?

 

[Texasdigger35]

The hatch can definitely be managed. Some things will take two people to get down... lights, cabinets, the bigger stuff that takes two hands to carry. Personally id really like the supply room in the middle with doors to grow rooms on opposing ends. It would help mitigate light contamination and you wouldn't have to haul water/etc through one packed room to get to the other. It just makes it easier to me. I get that ur using a different light for cloning but still id put in same room w a corner dedicated to a clone rack with that 240w light. Theres never enough room when it comes to growing weed. You always could use more. Any unnecessary walls would make it that much worse.

Off the top of my head quick sketch.

 

[iTurniGrow]

I'm thinking Walter white is that you?

I'm thinking 'the gentlemen' movie

 

[JustGrowWithIt]

The hatch can definitely be managed. Some things will take two people to get down... lights, cabinets, the bigger stuff that takes two hands to carry. Personally id really like the supply room in the middle with doors to grow rooms on opposing ends. It would help mitigate light contamination and you wouldn't have to haul water/etc through one packed room to get to the other. It just makes it easier to me. I get that ur using a different light for cloning but still id put in same room w a corner dedicated to a clone rack with that 240w light. Theres never enough room when it comes to growing weed. You always could use more. Any unnecessary walls would make it that much worse.
View attachment 1156036
Off the top of my head quick sketch.

The only problem is my hatch entry chute is already installed haha.
Perhaps having the work room in the center would have been preferable but for what I have planned above the room I needed the entrance to be designated to a certain corner.
I do still have the option to build out the inside as you with doors and such and a work room in the center.
The flower room will indeed be my drying room.
Here is what I made based off of what you posted.

 

[Texasdigger35]

Thats looking better, Think about a perpetual grow. How many you want to add every couple weeks? and take into account in the veg room theyre only going to need approx 1x1ft each. Flower room 2x2 ft each, minimum to maturity. You can get a good idea of each rooms definite needed size.
Edit: But now with that hatch there taking up that space it should be just about right.

 

[JustGrowWithIt]

@Texasdigger35
The venting through the middle would be secured to the ceiling so it would be up and out of the way.

 

[JustGrowWithIt]

Maybe will want the flower room bigger too. Think about a perpetual grow. How many you want to add every couple weeks? and take into account in the veg room theyre only going to need approx 1x1ft each. Flower room 2x2 ft each, minimum to maturity. You can get a good idea of each rooms definite needed size.

A perpetual grow is on the table, but for the sake of candor I am pretty relaxed on what style I go with. At the end of the day I want to produce some really good tasting/smoking flower that I can smoke my buddies down with, but I will never tell them I grew it. My wife is the only one in my life who knows about this, and you all of course haha.

 

[Texasdigger35]

Well I think its pretty fucking awesome and Id be pissed if my friend didn't tell me they had such a sweet setup (;
Its not an easy job to finish but the rewards will be astounding.

 

[JustGrowWithIt]

Well I think its pretty fucking awesome and Id be pissed if my friend didn't tell me they had such a sweet setup (;
Its not an easy job to finish but the rewards will be astounding.

Loose lips sink ships and I keep mine tight

 

[pork]

what if you did barn style sliding doors in the work space area. that way you don't lose a bunch of space having room for the doors to swing open.

 

[dirtyoldman]

Kudos to your project and I can't believe I missed this thread for this long. Good luck to you and I will watch what happens. It's going to draw a lot of attention because I'm sure there are people like me that have tinkered around will all kinds of stuff in their lives and will be very interested in watching this develop. And, like me, will not be able to resist putting in their two cents worth. Don't think I'm sticking my finger in your eye in any way. It's just my personal observations. The old "what I'd do" thing. I don't pretend to be an engineer but I have built a few things and I have some education in various fields. Including drafting and design. And, of course, I've been an outlaw scheming about marijuana for decades. I love this project because I'd like to do it myself. I can't, though, I rent now. I was intrigued by how everybody and their brother is selling these containers and you can get them cheaply. I just saw that recently. It kind of popped out at me how easy they are to get. I wish I was younger so I could do this. A couple things registered on my mind almost right away in reading the thread.

• If there is even the slightest threat of it not being watertight I'd take drastic measures to address that. I'd spray the inside of that, use that flex seal stuff if it works, whatever to get the job done. Tar doesn't appeal to me. Common sense is telling me tar will crack over time. It's corrosive. I'd blast that thing with rubberized coating inside and outside and then try to encase it in foam like they blast insulation into homes. What would stop you from encasing it in foam like a caterpillar in a cocoon? Is that possible? How expensive is that? My mind just wouldn't tolerate the thought of moisture gathering in there and I would want complete control over that with my ventilation. Because for me? Fungus is the biggest pain in the ass in growing weed. It seems like there are many of these diseases. And so I like a dry environment. I would be paranoid that water from condensation or a leak could pool anywhere in there. When some one mentioned a pump and a back-up, I thought uh-oh. Are they talking about water gathering under the structure? That would suck. Because I'd be worried about it causing a shift.
• I don't like the idea of complicating the structure with so many multiple compartments. I'd like one main pocket of air to regulate. And I'm a bang-for-your-buck guy. And a keep-it-simple guy. With those multiple rooms you've got multiple applications. You're duplicating systems. You're complicating how air moves in that structure and what temperature it moves at. Duplicate systems means duplicate expenses. It blows up your budget. I see it as a waste of space. I'd transport starter seedlings from another location. Or start seeds right there. A grower of autos might just put seeds right into 5 gallon pots and let them rip. I'd have one entrance at one end with a room where control systems might be. A little area for my stuff. A little table and compartment maybe. And the entire rest of the structure would be a flowering room to maximize potential weight. Wouldn't be that much additional work to haul plants in there. What would you need? 30 or 40 plants in there? That's no big deal. I tend to think you're building a laboratory in which to have fun. I would be building a commercial operation. Outlaws want to make money. Not play around. I want weight. A big weight coming all at once for a big payday. A big mother and clone operation isn't necessary with the seed market we have today. You should utilize the genetics that are available. Forget messing around with a lot of cloning. I love cloning, but it takes time. Seeds are quick. And I see bulk offerings of seeds from brokers all over the place. The Ruderalis is gaining in prominence and there are going to be some high-yielding, ass-kicking Autos out there. I don't grow them myself, but I'm watching.
• Lighting. It looks like you're going with LED's. There is a reason 68% of all growers of everything have not abandoned HID lighting even though it uses 45% more power. The 25% who switched to LED are mostly growing microgreens. Although I see some of them growing grape tomatoes and cherry tomatoes. Using a fascinating technique of wrapping LED strips around the plants kind of like decorating Christmas trees. But you get more product with the big HID lamps. Every time. I Love the 1000 HPS for productivity. You can grow the plants tall because it punches effective lumens at least 4 feet down into the canopy. However your structure is better suited to the 600W. It's the most energy efficient of the HID lamps anyways. I'd switch out between Halide and HPS bulbs during the grow. I'm sure you'll do fine with your LED's. But you would do better with HID.