The Trichomegarden Buildout

[HairyRoots]

Greetings everyone! I hope everyone's new year has started out just as good as mine! I have just acquired a new location that will be specifically for my gardens. I want to share this journey with the rest of you as I know I will be learning allot which means others can too. I would love to hear any and all suggestions along the way. So lets get into this!

There is a basement, 2 car garage, and 3 bedrooms. The basement and garage are going to be flowering areas. 1 bedroom for moms, 2 bedrooms for veg and propagation. The basement is unique, it is one big open room, no separate rooms that are closed off. most of the area is about 25' x 18' and 8' ceilings but then you can add on two other areas one that is about 14' x 7'10" and another space that is about 14' x 6'. The best way to understand the layout is to look at the diagram I have drawn and will attach below. The garage is 26' X 18' and plenty of head room.

Electrician is still coming in, and HVAC is still coming in, all to be done by the end of this next week. If all goes as planned haha. I should end up with 200 amps to the house, (im not an elec. guy so ill probably ask stupid questions.) I want to say ive seen residential homes. not many very few in fact, with 225 amps, or even 400 amp at this one location. Is that possible to any home? im assuming im capped at the normal 200 amp. So we will move on with that in mind. 185 amps will be dedicated growing amps, leaving a 15 amp circuit to household items. Mind you this will not be a residence, but will need power for internet, security, laptops blah blah blah. so 185 amps to grow. Most of which will be on 240. Also would love someone to chime in on 400v, is that an option? to run gavitas on 400v requires only 2.6 amps I believe.

HVAC and AC is undecided yet, I need a unit to control both garage and basement individually. Replacing the old unit on this house with something new, whole home unit that only supplies the garage and basement? or do i do mini splits? im not an AC guy so dont know much about it on this scale. I was looking into the excel stealth systems. I will keep you updated with new developments on those decisions. and again any input is welcomed.

Ideally I want to run DE in flower rooms. I know everyone will jump on me because of the 8ft ceilings in the basement, but ive seen it done before as long as the setup is done right it can be kept cool. I also understand the canopy needs to remain much farther away from the bulb than a regular HPS. this is a discussion i want to have though. DE's in the basement. Whats the best option. I'm thinking AC/DE hoods, and nano remote ballasts. Or Gavitas with there standard hood. From my understanding the AC/DE hoods put out a light canopy of 4x5, and the Gavitas are 5x5. So based on these numbers i have a light layout for both the Gavitas spaced 5ft apart and another layout with the AC/DE hoods spaced out every 4x5. the Gavitas are marked with an X

And the AC/DE are marked with an I.

I would love it if someone can CORRECT me on this light layout. I know there is much more to a light calculation than this. And for this room i need it done right. So please let me know your thoughts. On maximizing this space with light.

We will start here and then later i will get into growing styles and watering and all that!

Also should mention, my Instagram is TrichomeGarden and that is why ive titled this as such.

 

[Seed Buyer]

I would suggest the AC/DE will give you a 5x5 footprint. If you are legal then I would source a local HVAC company to install your units. Excel is a great company but they charge a premium for their units and if your legal you don't need to pay that premium to avoid an HVAC company. You can have two 5 ton units installed locally for the price of one excel stealth 5 ton. Most homes are built with one 200 amp service as that is way more than the average American house hold needs. However, you can have another 200 amp installed but your electrician will probably have to pull permits with the city and the power company will want to add a second meter for the extra service and run another service drop from the can/transformer outside. So once again if you are in the open it all can be done but it will cost. If the power is buried rather than over head expect to pay out the nose. PM sent.

 

[sixstring]

yes you can get more than 200 amp service run to the house.i have worked on houses with 300 amp panels and also a few houses with multiple 200 amp panels coming in on both sides of the house.we just installed some 2 in gas line in a house for the guys 4 furnaces and 5 gas fireplaces lol.its just money but yeah talk to a sparky and they should be able to answer your power questions.im about to run another 200 amps to a new garage,seperate service.here in michigan it will cost me 4400.00 just for the line drop,i still have to install the meter box and panel before they come in.sounds like a fun project

 

[mittenmedgrow]

yes you can get more than 200 amp service run to the house.i have worked on houses with 300 amp panels and also a few houses with multiple 200 amp panels coming in on both sides of the house.we just installed some 2 in gas line in a house for the guys 4 furnaces and 5 gas fireplaces lol.its just money but yeah talk to a sparky and they should be able to answer your power questions.im about to run another 200 amps to a new garage,seperate service.here in michigan it will cost me 4400.00 just for the line drop,i still have to install the meter box and panel before they come in.sounds like a fun project

Where I'm at consumers put in a separate meter and service for my barn but they charge me commercial rates on the meter.
HairyRoots if I was planning what your doing the first thing I'd do is sort out the power issue then go from there. Some places can not give you more if they don't have it at the pole. I have a friend that lives in a rural area and consumers power told him they just don't have the power he wants in his area.

 

[sixstring]

Where I'm at consumers put in a separate meter and service for my barn but they charge me commercial rates on the meter.
HairyRoots if I was planning what your doing the first thing I'd do is sort out the power issue then go from there. Some places can not give you more if they don't have it at the pole. I have a friend that lives in a rural area and consumers power told him they just don't have the power he wants in his area.

yeah alot of my cost is for a transformer upgrade.they told me there was power in the lines but our transformer is maxed out so they had to put in another one just for my new 200.she did say if they had more wiggle room my costs would be closer to a grand.
but that aint nothin,they want 26,000.00 to run power to my place up north lol

 

[HairyRoots]

Thanks for the info everyone. I am officially getting the keys to this place tomorrow. Also getting electric looked over and see what the options are. I have concluded I need 400 amp service. i dont know if i can get a single panel or if i need two panels on two meters. ive been told so many different things from different people. Im calling the electric company first thing in the morning. For this venture to be worth while i need 400 amps, 200 just wont cut it. I can get allot done, but i can get allot more done wiht 400 amps.

Does the utility company ask what its for? do they care why the house is being upgraded. what if i was a welder dont' they require allot of power? lol trying to think of ways to cover my needs for this much power.

 

[mittenmedgrow]

They probably won't ask. I actually have a welding fab shop and if they do ask you can tell them your going to be doing high amperage welding and plasma cutting. Plasma table with the large air compressor needed to run it takes a lot of juice. When I'm cutting thick steel I'm using well over 100amps

 

[HairyRoots]

Thank you that's good to know.

 

[Seed Buyer]

The power company will not ask. However, the citys building department might. And if the contractor pulling permits spills the beans than they might say you are not zoned for such things and deny you a permit based on that. If permits are pulled I would make the contractor/electrician aware of this concern.

 

[fishwhistle]

They probably won't ask. I actually have a welding fab shop and if they do ask you can tell them your going to be doing high amperage welding and plasma cutting. Plasma table with the large air compressor needed to run it takes a lot of juice. When I'm cutting thick steel I'm using well over 100amps

I used this reasoning at my old shop,just my plasma table and compressor were 80-90 amps when both were running but they never even asked,I was in a commercial area though.
I have edison here in cali and they wont even give you more than 1 drop unless the property is zoned for it(r2,light commercial,agricultural etc).Ive never personally seen a 400 amp residential panel but like six says im sure they have that option,richie rich cant run his mega mansion on 200 measly amps.

 

[HairyRoots]

I have a request in with the electric company. This little old lady that takes the applications for the job loved me. We started talking about all sorts of random crap. She is even going to help push it through faster lol. It's good to know how to communicate with people. I used to be a used car salesman for many years. I can sell anyone on anything. So the electric company should have someone at the property to look into what the job will take and give me an estimate. Then we move on from there. Also talked to my electrician. He said it won't be a problem for him as long as the utility company brings in the proper sized line. All in all should have 400 amp service in the next month or so.

In the mean time I have allot to do to get the space grow ready. Tearing up carpets sealin Windows and doors getting plumbing taken care of. Maybe get an HVAC guy in to set up an ac system even though I won't have the power hooked up yet.

I currently have 110 clones that need to be transplanted into 1 gal and begin veg so that's next on my todo list. Set up a veg room and get the plants going. They are freshly rooted clones so a month out on electricity to start flower isn't too bad. I'll need that time for veg anyways. So over all things are looking good.

I'll keep you updated on the electric job and what it requires from me!

I've also started getting allot of people telling me to use 315's ceramic light units. Downside they cost allot. Positive side is less power used. But ice been told that you can fit 3 of them in the same space as 1k hps. Ideal yield on a 315 is about 1.4lbs. Anyone have experience with these and let me know if these numbers are accurate.