Hey crew! Your buddy Soup here!
I’m doing some upgrades and trying to figure out which paint to use for some fresh drywall going up in a grow area. The plan is to do flat white but its going to be a sealed room so I also want to make sure the walls are properly moisture sealed and mold resistant. Total cost of the upgrades are starting to add up, so trying not to spend a fortune on paint, but I am building my long term room so trying to do it right the first time.
I’ve heard a few commercial grower folks say Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 Primer is good, but it wasn’t clear to me if they are just using the primer or if they are putting another coat of something else on top. Seems like it could get pretty expensive if I have to buy separate paint and primer.
I also saw Zinsser Perma-White Mold and Mildew Proof Interior Paint that looked like it might be a cheaper option since I dont think I would need to buy both a paint and a primer. Not sure how reflective it is, but it is available in “eggshell” finish, which I think is pretty close to flat, but sounds like it might be a little easier to wipe clean than the primer. Currently thinking this might be the way to go.
Also heard someone say to use elastomeric roof coating paint that is usually intended for mobile home roofs. Don’t know much about it but sounds more like a reflective sealer than a paint. Could be good… anyone out there try it?
Any thoughts on paint additives?
My local store also has Zinsser ADD-2 Prevent Mildew that I could add to normal paint to help resist mold. Not sure if that would be a good idea though and would still have to figure out what paint I’m adding it to.
I’ve also heard of people adding titanium dioxide or other additives designed to boost reflectivity, but I couldn’t find much real info about it or where to buy it. Anyone out there try any of that sort of stuff?
What are you pros of the DGC using to paint your rooms? Any tips on grow room painting in general?
Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks!
Hey Soup,
Let me start this off by saying that I have not yet built my own indoor grow room. But, I do work in construction and I’ve done quite a bit of research on the subject. Drywall for the most part is naturally mold and mildew resistant. It’s not going to go bad unless you have a bad coat of paint on the walls and/or subjugate it to rather extreme hot/humid conditions.
I would suggest that you use a really good coat of zissner 1-2-3 or Kilz oil based primer. Kilz is essentially the same as zissner and costs $16/gallon at Lowes or Home Depot. I really don’t think you need to spend the extra money in the mold resistant kind. A really good coat of the original oil based primer should do the trick. Keep in mind they will be pretty flat, and since they are oil based they will be a bitch to clean. I would plan on throwing away and brushes or rollers. If you really want the walls to reflect light I would get a high gloss pure white paint. Just a light coat on top of the primer and you should be good. With a good coat of Kilz primer and a high gloss white you could hose down a wall no problem. Plus, high gloss paint is easier to clean kn general.
What about delux white and space absolute white claims to reflect twice as much light. I remember brandon from spectrum king mentioning a paint also that is great for grows. Cant remember if it was the one i mentioned or not.
Hey Soup,
I was looking at this several months ago and this is the one I had saved. I will be doing this soon (within three months) so I can let you know my results if you are further out than that on completion. Here is the link http://us.henry.com/roofing/reflective-coatings/white-roof-coatings/887hs-tropi-cool-silicone-white-roof-coating-high-solids
Unless the plants are less than a foot from the walls I don’t think it matters what color you paint the wall.
I believe that Brandon mentioned a barium white paint used in light testing instruments because it reflected more IR and UV spectra than house paints…crazy expensive. I think one brand name is Spectralon?
Soup,
I ended up with several gallons of elastomeric roof paint at my disposal and thought it would be good. It was reflective, waterproof, and didn’t mildew. The issue was that when I moved out it was a bitch to try to paint over. Being waterproof, it wouldn’t accept the latex paint and I ended up using an expensive oil base primer then painting to cover it. I can’t remember the specific type I had, but the brand was Henry’s. If it was a long term, not moving ever kind of situation, this stuff would have been great, you can practically hose it down to clean it.
I’m with JMystro on this one. As long as you have good lights and you aren’t growing super short plants it doesn’t matter. I was listening to the Kyle Kushman grow show the other day and someone asked if Mylar or a reflective surface helped much. He said just plain white walls work just as well because the plants don’t actually take up much secondary reflected light anyway. So I would focus mostly on 2 factors, price and how easily they can be cleaned. That Henry’s waterproof roof paint that SonomaGold and Snotbubbles mentioned could be a great way to go. I would compare prices to that and the kilz primer with a cover coat high gloss interior latex. (I recommend high gloss not for its light reflectivity but because it’s easier to clean). Good luck!
Thank you all so much for your replies! Such a wealth of knowledge in this group! Makes me so proud to be a part of this awesome crew! You’ve all given me a lot to think about! 🙂
I looked up the fancy Barium White reflective paint Brendan mentioned… sounds awesome but its like $1200 a liter lol!
I totally thought you guys would think I was crazy for bringing up the elastomeric roof paint stuff but you guys knew exactly what I was talking about! Sounds like it could be a real pain if I ever have to paint over it though. As cool as it sounds, I’m a little nervous about using something that permanent.
Just for some background, the room is a new 6×20 flower room, going to be running three SK 400+ on a light rail down the middle of the room. Not planning on using the whole room and the rail and lights will be mounted down the middle so plants will likely be at least a foot from the walls.
So I’m thinking I should probably prioritize cleanability over reflectiveness.
Currently leaning towards a good coat of primer with a coat of white semigloss or something similar. Pretty sure my veg room is currently semigloss and its actually pretty reflective and not bad to wipe down.
I’ll be going paint shopping and comparing prices later this week so I will let you guys know how it turns out!
Thanks again to all of you for all your amazing input! I just started building my dream room, so I will no doubt have some more questions for you all over the next few weeks!
After a few grow build outs for friends and myself. I found kilz works fine. But zisser is a much thicker paint..when I goes on one coat does it. I’ve had kilz take 2-3 coats to get the same results as the zisser.
I used tropicool for a confined basement room 8x8This stuff is amazing for reflectivity as well as cleanability. But I cannot express this enough. ***YOU NEED SO MUCH VENTILATION*** both times I’ve applied it, my whole house reeks. And I experience the most horrible abdominal pain In my entire life but strangely enough it was gas both times. Never outside of these two instances have I experienced gas anywhere close to this degree. I borderline thought I was dying. I even have a respirator designed for organic particulates, asbestos, mold and pretty much everything else I see in my line of work (I’m a contractor). It ended up causing me gas. It sounds strange and I wouldn’t have believed it unless it happened the second time. Never in my life have I experienced this kind of pain. Now my wife is in the house at the time, as we’re my dogs, none of which experienced these symptoms at all. There’s something to being in a confined space with this material as it’s being applied that causes gas. I post this not to say don’t use it, I’d do it again, but I’m curious if anyone else ran into this issue. My wife is a chemist. Her job deals with Safety data sheets for chemicals just like this and there is nothing even remotely close to describing any sort of symptoms like this. Respiratory irritation at most. Even the state of California deems this to be basically harmless. No one else in the house had any symptoms except me. Same symptoms both times. Took gas pills and it went away. Keep in mind I’m healthy, and never ever get gas. Be warned. This is the weirdest material I’ve ever work with. I need to know if anyone else ran into anything similar or am I crazy?
You are not crazy. The MSDS sheet shows that ingestion can cause digestive distre
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://henry.com/fileadmin/pdf/current/tds/HE887HS_techdata.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwi0oKPOmrznAhWlla0KHeKKCZ0QFjAAegQIAhAC&usg=AOvVaw13qowkPxWB_ah2TIqalpp0&cshid=1580967849389
@pitsandpots Sorry to revive this, but… No you are not crazy. The MSDS sheet shows that if ingested it can cause digestive distress. Now I know you didn’t do this, but perhaps you are just sensitive to these materials so it caused that response. I have MCFS Multiple Chemical and Fragrance Sentivities and go into extreme respiratory distress and a myriad of other symptoms around fragrance and many chemicals. Totally possible.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://henry.com/fileadmin/pdf/current/tds/HE887HS_techdata.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwi0oKPOmrznAhWlla0KHeKKCZ0QFjAAegQIAhAC&usg=AOvVaw13qowkPxWB_ah2TIqalpp0&cshid=1580967849389
Hey guys, I know this is a way older post, but for the guys looking up this subject and finding this thread as your source of info I wanted to add my recent experience with this subject. I am setup in a basement so for me I kinda wanted to seal the walls aswell and create a cleaner and more easy to clean environment for my girls!
So anyways, i started by heavily coating my walls and any wood I used for walls with that zinser Mold preventative paint mostly because, I had it extra from work and because, the mold part can’t hurt! But that came out almost grey-ish so I went over that in my actual rooms where the brick walls were i went over that again with just your standard Behr premium ultra white semi gloss just to add a little more for a shiny more easy to clean surface as opposed to the flat i got from the zinger! The walls i built i used 2x3s painted and then reflective poly pro board and foil tape for my walls opposed to drywall just because it can’t mold. This has worked excellent for me hope this helps you guys aswell!