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Finishing new & improved grow room

Pepperfreak

Pepperfreak

I thought I would post and update and ask everyone's opinion on my grow room that I'm making out of a 9 foot X 12 foot room in my basement. I have been feverishly painting/sealing the walls and have got them done now. All I have left is sealing/painting the floor and building shelves, hanging lights and finding a suitable heating source (which is where I need some suggestions). Here is a picture of what it looked like this past winter when I was forced to move some plants down there.
April2008009-1.jpg


The walls are now white and the room is nice and bright. I plan on hanging reflective insulation board on the ceiling to help keep the heat in the room. I also have been trying to research the best heat source to heat this 108 square foot room. I think I have it narrowed down to a 58 inch Hydronic base board heater with a digital programmable thermostat. Does this sound like a good option for a heater or is there something better that I'm over looking? I know from last year, the small space heater I used worked...but, as far as temperature control, it was a nightmare to try to control.

I'm starting to get excited because this project is coming to completion, not to mention I'll have 108 square feet for my plants.
 
Show us the updated pics! :)

I have a spot to do this very thing this winter. Not on a large scale which suits me fine, but there are several plants that I can buy seeds for and not buy at greenhouses around here. I wanna set up to do about 12 to 15 plants, somewhere in there. I'm also gonna save a few seeds this year from my better plants.

I'm gonna be picking peoples brains about lighting because I have no clue. I assume you leave those lights on it all the time? I dont even know that yet.
 
thats a great sized room Paul...question is, are you going to use if for germination or a grow room or both?....
 
Very nice all you have to do build like box where you put your plants on the top of that door you use for plants inside the box put all the way around reflector paper or aluminum foil so it will reflect the light of your lights direct on your plants all the way around also when you lower the ligts will have the heat from bulbs.
 
CaLoR said:
Show us the updated pics! :)

I have a spot to do this very thing this winter. Not on a large scale which suits me fine, but there are several plants that I can buy seeds for and not buy at greenhouses around here. I wanna set up to do about 12 to 15 plants, somewhere in there. I'm also gonna save a few seeds this year from my better plants.

I'm gonna be picking peoples brains about lighting because I have no clue. I assume you leave those lights on it all the time? I dont even know that yet.
Click to expand...

I will most definitely be posting updated pics and will take some when I get home :) As for the lighting, I use plain old fluorescent shop lights and have them on a timer to stay on 16 hours per day. Easy and simple. I've found that sometimes simple is the best.

AlabamaJack said:
thats a great sized room Paul...question is, are you going to use if for germination or a grow room or both?....
Click to expand...

AJ, I'm planning on doing both in there. One side of the room I'm going to but the wire shelving unit that I used last year as a germination station. Then I'm either going to buy another couple of these shelves and place them around the room for growing, or build some growing stations in the rest of the room. I also have plans to build a work station where I can sit and do my potting.

915river said:
Very nice all you have to do build like box where you put your plants on the top of that door you use for plants inside the box put all the way around reflector paper or aluminum foil so it will reflect the light of your lights direct on your plants all the way around also when you lower the ligts will have the heat from bulbs.
Click to expand...

Thanks 915, the picture of the door was just a temporary setup from last year and am unsure if or how I may utilize it in the permanent setup.
 
its a perfect size room. My first thought was to keep your heating in control you really want to look at insulating really well to keep all the costs down in the long term. Its small enough to do that well.
Don't sacrifice safety though...a lot of insulation burns nice.

keep us posted, regular updates & eat the offspring :hell:
 
Thanks for the replies and I have decided that I'll take an "in progress" picture. As I have mentioned, I still need to paint the floor to give the room a finished look, but that shouldn't be too hard. Then it will be build and install time. :lol: This picture shows the longest wall which is 12 feet. The wall on the left is an interior block wall (9 feet) that I'm thinking of installing a 58 inch base board heater. I spoke with a customer service guy today and he helped out with the heater selection very well. With his recommendation, based on the size of my room, location and over all use that the 58 inch base board heater would be ideal. He also said that they have a digital programmable thermostat for the heater, which would be great to give the plants a daytime and night time temperature variance. However, I'm also looking at a forced air wall mount heater that also looks great and I like the idea of having a fan to move the heat around. I'll call that company Monday and check them out. I've still got plenty of time, I'm figuring on having this room done and ready by the end of October.

DSCF2748.jpg
 
It looks great PF, it's amazing what a lick of paint can do, it looks less like a torture chamber now, I think it was the chains holding the light that made me think that.
 
Hehe...not to mention the unfinished block and brick walls. Ya that room was dark. I think it use to be an old coal room, back in the day, judging from the opening of the other window.
 
Amazing what a lick of paint can do to a dark room,really nice set up you have/will have there,would like my outdoor shed painted and ready for a small scale hydro unit..but its finding room for bikes etc.. nice one anyway ;)
 
great project...I am looking forward to your progress...do you have a rough drawing?...a "floor plan?"
 
Looking good pepper.With the heaters you might want to look at ceramic wall heaters.They don`t use as much power as baseboard units.They also are not flammable.They can also be controlled with a thermostat . Best of luck.
 
If you size your lights properly and insulate the walls with 2" isocyanurate, waste heat from the lighting should make more than enough heat.

How much outside wall do you have?
 
AlabamaJack said:
great project...I am looking forward to your progress...do you have a rough drawing?...a "floor plan?"
Click to expand...

I'm currently working out some layout ideas in my head and playing around with some on paper. However, I haven't nailed anything down yet...

Pepper Ridge Farm said:
I'm jealous real nice looking grow room. You could hang a big HID light in that room and have peppers year round.
Click to expand...

I haven't thought about using HID, however after all I spent on shop lights last year, I doubt my wife will allow me to buy any more this year. :lol:

hixs said:
Looking good pepper.With the heaters you might want to look at ceramic wall heaters.They don`t use as much power as baseboard units.They also are not flammable.They can also be controlled with a thermostat . Best of luck.
Click to expand...

Great idea...I'll look into that, thanks.

willard3 said:
If you size your lights properly and insulate the walls with 2" isocyanurate, waste heat from the lighting should make more than enough heat.

How much outside wall do you have?
Click to expand...

That is exactly what I'm thinking of doing, at least on the walls that are above the frost line. I have a total of 13 feet of exterior wall space, but only about 2 feet is above the frost line so it isn't really that bad.
 
Hey PF,

If you're gonna have a room that's like summer in winter, make sure to leave enough room for wall hook with a hawaiian shirt, a deck chair and a surf magazine!;)

Looks good. Not living in a country that freezes, my only advice on heating would be to weigh up installation costs against running costs over, say, a 5 year period.
 
I can just picture you sitting in there all winter watching your plants grow! (very therapuetic!)
I was wondering would some sort of fan help the plants by cirulating the air? Just a thought. Good luck and keep us up to date with your pics
Tori:)
 
Pepperfreak said:
I haven't thought about using HID, however after all I spent on shop lights last year, I doubt my wife will allow me to buy any more this year. :lol:
Click to expand...

How many shop lights/size/type (i.e. 4 foot dual bulb T-12s) do you have Paul?

here is a little diagram you can use for your layout plans...

PaulsRoom.jpg
 
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