Hey what’s up Dude, Scotty, Guru and the DGC?
So I’ve finally moved into my new place, it was a long time coming I’ll tell you that! Now I can finally build my dream grow room. I’m conscious of my spending but won’t cheap out on something. I want to build a good setup. I have a few questions regarding materials and just some general advice as it’s my first grow room build, I’ve been growing in tents up to this. I’ve also included a beautiful use of Microsoft Paint as an idea of what’s in my head. I’m in Canada so keep that in mind if recommending certain purchases and it’s availability up here. Here’s where I’m at:
I have an insulated garage I’m going to build a flower and dry room in now and down the line I’ll build the veg room due to budget. I have a little room in my basement I can use for veg for now. I’m planning on framing out a 13′ x 11′ room for flower which will house two 4 x 8 beds. Going to pick up the Grassroots ones with the trellis netting poles ready to go and then sit them on plastic pallets. This spacing allows for a 2′ isle in the center of the room between the two beds and 1.5′ aisles on the wall sides. Ceilings are 8.5′ tall.
I am going to grab four 320W XL RSpec kits from HLG for each 4 x 8 bed. The beds will be soil mixed by me with amendments sourced from Black Swallow Soil, an awesome organic amendments company up here that’s trying to be along the lines of Buildasoil for us Canadians.
For irrigation, I’m going to go with Blumats and then do my once a week treat with Recharge and some teas, etc.
For AC, I’m thinking of following Guru’s advice from a previous grow talk question and using a couple of portables. Reasoning being that the demand should be much lower because I want warmer temps in an LED room, and also the expense of a mini split versus having two dual hose AC units. It would still be cheaper to even get a third as a spare. But I’m not sure I’ll even need to run two, that is to be determined. I may run an extra one in the garage just to keep it from getting hot in the air around the grow room. I already own a Quest dehumidifier which is more than enough for this size room.
For some nice airflow, I’ve seen some people suspend the tower fans online. I’m thinking of maybe trying that on the wall sides of the canopy with a 360 degree fan in the middle of the room. Thoughts on this?
When it comes to the actual build out of the room, any advice on materials? Going to do a typical frame with 2 x 4s, but after that I’m not sure what to use. I’ve been checking out the rigid insulation, it’s 2″ thick, comes in 4×8 sheets and is shiny reflective. Would these even be light tight? Is this going to create hots spots? Am I better to go with plain white walls? If so, what material? Chipboard painted with a sealer paint that’s white? Paint the floors white or is that just overkill and a pain in the ass? Sorry loads of questions when it comes to the actual building materials and the room design. I have a good idea of all the gear I need for inside the room!
I may also be totally missing some stuff so please offer any questions or advice
Thanks!
Ventilation? Fresh air or co2? Sounds like fun!
Damn, I knew I’d forget something lol. And it’s already a long ass post đ
My plan for ventilation is to make the room fully sealed and recirculating with the possibility to exhaust and draw fresh air if needed. There’s a window I’m going to build a box around with a fan hooked up and a passive intake if needed.
I’m hoping to not use CO2 tanks. I live in the country now so stuff is not easily accessible. I’m hoping that the exhale CO2 bags do the trick. I’m thinking 3 XLs per bed. Here’s the reasoning. I don’t care about pushing 1000ppms for production growing. I want something simple to suppliment and I think if I can achieve 600 – 800 that would be great. And they release for several months. I may look into just making the bags myself with edible mushrooms if it works well.
Any feedback here is welcome. I’ve seen some mixed results on the exhale bags but what I seem to take from it is that they have to be fresh and not just sitting in a hydro store or warehouse for ages and it’s all just dead when you get it.
I used an exhale bag in a tent without exhausting and ppm of co2 depleted to 300. When I exhaust it stays around 480…. don’t bother with those bags man. Unless you want 1 for every 1 cu ft.
Was a 4x4x6.7 tent. I had to activate the bag and it takes a month or so to activate.
That sucks. And it was fresh? Could you see it growing in doing stuff in the bag?
You can also just buy edible mushroom bags and then I just buy some of those and grow cool mushrooms that I can eat while also putting out CO2 in the room. Doing tanks for me just really isn’t an option.
Yep definitely seen the mycelium doing work– white everywhere and condensation in the bag. I’ve used them 2 1/2 grows, but no more of that.
as nice as it would be to take my grow to the next level with co2, I really don’t think it’s worth the cost for small scale like a home grow. A perpetual setup makes much more sense. I keep my shit simple and don’t need to buy weed, what more do I need?
The insulation board is great for wall covering just make sure you tyvek tape all the seams. And it sounds like exhale bags wonât be enough CO2 to justify sealed room status. Love the hlgâs. Sounds like a nice room.
I used the 2â foam 8âx4â boards you are talking about for my flower room, and they are not light tight, even when taped. The other side of the wall is drywall, which makes it light tight. If I could do it again, I would have done all drywall, and just painted it all flat white, which would help with resale purposes too. Make sure you get permits if needed, or you might have to tear it all down if you ever need to sell your house, especially, if youâre running Electricity in the walls. I would recommend building space larger than you need, if you can fit it in your budget, to let you maneuver around the plants. You might also want to consider planning a space for your supplies. I use one of those muscle racks along the back side of my veg room, with totes full of growing shit and glass jars, and is the middle shelf for my seedlings. I have a âwork roomâ that is sort of like a foyer. All my doors (entrance, flower, veg) all in-swing into this work room. The work room is where I transplant, trim, etc. I have one main exhaust and one main intake, and the air has to pass from the veg and work room side, into the floor room, by going through the wall. This wall has drywall on both sides. In the veg and work rooms, I put an 8â hole about six inches down from the ceiling on the wall. On the other side of the wall, in the same âbayâ between 2x4s, I put another 8â hole, but on the bottom. Thus, hot air in the veg and work rooms rise up, go into the wall, and are pulled (via negative pressure from exhaust fan in flower room), down and out the lower hole. I thought I would have to put baffles in the âbayâ in the wall to make the light âsnakeâ through the wall (no light leaks), but it seems to be working without them.
Really think about how you use your space now. Try to plan for the things you will need. Good luck.
Smokeable Johnson, Iâve always thought dry wall isnât great for grow rooms. I thought the humidity isnât good for it. I figured sealing up chipboard with white paint that seals for moisture with the rigid insulation between may be my best bet.
The garage is going to house a flower, veg, dry room and then storage area for miscellaneous stuff. Reselling is incredibly unlikely. Life changes and anything can happen but weâve made this our spot in the country and ready to settle. And if it came down to it, painted chipboard walls probably wouldnât even be that weird for a garage.
As for space, it would be nice to have a little more but I think 2ft and 1.5ft aisles are not bad and totally workable. I donât have to crawl along the floor and pop up in the canopy at least lol.
I think Iâve done some pretty good planning so far. I think the exhale bags will work. I see the best success online in sealed rooms. It seems too many people try them where theyâre exhausting in a tent and the biggest negatives seem to be when people buy old dead ones without realising. I have the option for fresh air if needed anyway.
how many plants are you planning to flower at any one time?
Tinker, imo plant count is irrelevant because itâs to do with canopy space and veg time. Itâll be variable depending on whatâs going on. When I pheno hunt, Iâll probably do 18 per 4 x 8 but if I just want to grow some nice sized plants, more along the lines of 8 â 12 per 4 x 8. And there might even be times I have moms to recycle so may even do only 4 plants per 4 x 8. Itâll just depend what Iâm running and if Iâm doing seeds or clones
Oops I didn’t understand the reply thing, I thought comments all ended up here. Accidentally replied to the top comment and tried to copy my reply further down and then can’t delete the first one. Sorry for ruining the format guys!
I removed it for ya. No worries.
Thanks Mystro!
Lots of great tips from the crew.
Personally I would invest in the mini split over the portable ACs. The money you save on electricity alone will make it worth it in the long run. I hate the thought of pissing away resources by buying a bunch of shitty disposable ACs that are just going to end up in the landfill.
I spent a lot on my mini split, but it uses around half the power of a portable ac for the same amount of cooling, so the monthly savings are HUGE. I got a really nice one that came with a full 10 year warranty too, so I know I won’t have to replace it for a long time. An AC is an investment. If you plan to use this room for a while, I suggest investing in a really good AC that is is energy efficient and will last you many years.
I built a similar room a few years back and learned a lot in the process. You can see tons of pics and read all about my build here:
https://www.dudegrows.com/soups-new-flowering-room/
and
https://www.dudegrows.com/soupsbigfatupdate/
Good luck and hit me up if you have questions or wanna chat about your build. Looks like a fun project!
Wassup soup big fan, building my first grow room in my garage and would love some soup help on what type of material and brands to use and what would be the best most efficient way to grow dank for my specific setup if you have time i would love to chat about it thanks and stay higher