Insulate the ceiling in a grow room?

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Zibit

Zibit

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Hey Everyone! New to the site and new to growing, but I wanted to get an opinion on whether or not I should be insulating my ceiling. I have a fairly large grow room in the basement with a dedicated ac unit for cooling, as well as an as unit for the rest of my house. I live in Michigan so I figure if I don't insulate in the winter it should help dissipate some heat as well as heat up my house which should save some cost. In the summer, it seems like if I don't insulate the heat coming to the up stairs would either get dissipates by my other ac or out the window. I would think that would make the cost a wash since it's the same amount of heat either way.

A couple more things to note, I plan to vapor seal the room with panda film and the room will have 12 lights in a 27' x 14' room.

Does my thinking seem flawed at all? Or is there another reason y'all think I should still insulate? I appreciate any feedback, let me know if I need to provide any more details! Thanks!
 
MIMedGrower

MIMedGrower

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I have my exhaust out letting under my living room in winter as supplemental heat. Helps a lot. But I don’t know if insulation on the ceiling of the basement (which I don’t have) should stop the floor up there from heating up. Heats gonna rise.
 
smokedareefer

smokedareefer

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Hey Everyone! New to the site and new to growing, but I wanted to get an opinion on whether or not I should be insulating my ceiling. I have a fairly large grow room in the basement with a dedicated ac unit for cooling, as well as an as unit for the rest of my house. I live in Michigan so I figure if I don't insulate in the winter it should help dissipate some heat as well as heat up my house which should save some cost. In the summer, it seems like if I don't insulate the heat coming to the up stairs would either get dissipates by my other ac or out the window. I would think that would make the cost a wash since it's the same amount of heat either way.

A couple more things to note, I plan to vapor seal the room with panda film and the room will have 12 lights in a 27' x 14' room.

Does my thinking seem flawed at all? Or is there another reason y'all think I should still insulate? I appreciate any feedback, let me know if I need to provide any more details! Thanks!
Insulate, vapor barrier (its going to sweat when the warm hit the "cooler floor) drywall flat paint. Exhaust the room into the return air if you have a furnace or just the open part of the basement
 
Pondracer

Pondracer

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Insulate, vapor barrier (its going to sweat when the warm hit the "cooler floor) drywall flat paint. Exhaust the room into the return air if you have a furnace or just the open part of the basement

Agreed. Humidity will be your worry more than heat. Depending on how your house is built you could easily get condensation issues. Lets say your floor joist isn't well insulated from exterior cold, then you have 80F and 70% humidity going up against the ceiling/joists. The nice part is your slab floor and foundation walls will make heat a non-issue in winter and your exhaust fan will only run to control any humidity issues the dehumidifier can't handle.
 
Zibit

Zibit

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I appreciate the replies! I have a plan to add a vapor barrier, the one problem is the door. Maybe I should put a dehumidifier right outside the door, you think that would be enough to prevent the condensation issues? The rest of the house is well insulated from the outside, I usually keep the house around 72.
 
MIMedGrower

MIMedGrower

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good point!

I didn’t realize I needed to add I have 2 70 pint dehumidifiers in my basement to handle the extra humidity from the garden in winter.

in summer the exhaust goes out the chimney.
 
pdasterly

pdasterly

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i have the same question but what should i put on ceiling? foamboard insulation?
 
Pondracer

Pondracer

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My experience is with a smaller area. 5x9 tent and then a huge sub-basement area but only a single LED fixture and veg only. The thing about the tent though, when I open that flap the humidity is in my face, and I keep it dialed in pretty tight at 65%. Dehumidifier is controlled by a sensor and thats where I like it. Funny story. I run DI water, and I make 65 gallons at a time, 5 gallons an hour. End of the fill I am standing in the basement and all of the sudden water drips on my head. I completely pissed myself, all I could think of was the pipes had burst or something. I start looking around up in the floor joists and I can see where the main copper line coming in had cold condensation all the way across the house and was dripping. lol.. oops.
 
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