Basement Grow Room Building - Noob

[Deftera420]

Hi Weaselcracker, glad you took some time to comment, had a quick browse through some of your threads earlier and can see you have a good amount of experience behind you, also sounds like you've done some bargain-basement-diy jobs in your time too. No electric shocks yet but as long as the grow I plan goes well I will make many improvements. It's gonna cost me £40 to cover the entire room in panda plastic, I really am on a tight budget and would love nothing more than a simple setup, I think I'm doing pretty well considering the only thing in the room I've actually paid for so far is the lights, £30 auction win on ebay, collection from near by... I am stig of the dump lol. Just trying to make the best of what I have. Thanks bud.

 

[Weaselcracker]

Cool. Well keep the future in mind as you build. If your basic structure design is sound then you won't have to tear parts of it up later to add improvements. I'm still making changes on my grow room and I built it about six years ago now. There's always a wishlist.
I hit the dump a lot around here too. Mainly because it's the best store around and usually has what you need when the other two or three little stores here don't.

 

[Deftera420]

Not sure if these led lights will help much where they are, might move them or even use them in a vegging area, not sure but i'd rather they were doing something than sitting around. Had a good vacuum and washed floors as there was a lot of rockwool floating around in there. I think the room might look a little less disorganized once the walls are covered...

 

[Guy Cavallero]

That space looks like it's ready to kick some serious ass. I haven't been growing long enough to know what old school stuff looks like as Weasel explained but it looks like you're ready to grow some bud.

The reason that the rockwool does not burn when you put a torch to it, is because it's made from recycled asphalt. There's nothing in it that can burn. The panda film is 5.5-6 mil, so it's considered great as a vapour barrier, just make sure air circulation is dialed in or you're gonna end up with mold.....especially in your basement. Go bigger on the air exchange/filter in my opinion.

 

[Deftera420]

That space looks like it's ready to kick some serious ass. I haven't been growing long enough to know what old school stuff looks like as Weasel explained but it looks like you're ready to grow some bud.

The reason that the rockwool does not burn when you put a torch to it, is because it's made from recycled asphalt. There's nothing in it that can burn. The panda film is 5.5-6 mil, so it's considered great as a vapour barrier, just make sure air circulation is dialed in or you're gonna end up with mold.....especially in your basement. Go bigger on the air exchange/filter in my opinion.

Thanks man, would like to think i'm not far off starting something magical. As for ventilation and air circulation, I know it's a pretty big space so scrimping in this area is not an option. I have my eye on a fan and carbon filter with 5m of insulated ducting for around £110, I'm thinking that one of these might not be enough for the size of the room but I intend to fully test how well I can control the environment once it's finished and I have sensor equipment.

 

[Deftera420]

Hey Canna, you should swing by and check out my new grow space. Bit smaller but custom like yours. Maybe find some answers along the way...... you've got some great ideas!
My new grow space

Had a read through your grow space build earlier and must say it sounds and looks very impressive, I only got to page 14 so far but picked up a few things already, there are valuable nuggets of info tucked between those pages, will pick up where i left off tomorrow. Thanks again for inviting me and the very best of luck to you and yours bud.

 

[Weaselcracker]

I can see it's a bit late for this and I don't know if you have the option anyway- but the most useful thing I built into my grow was- a drain.

 

[Deftera420]

I can see it's a bit late for this and I don't know if you have the option anyway- but the most useful thing I built into my grow was- a drain.

You are spot on mate, I have a plan for that. Being in the basement is a pain in the arse if you want to water let alone flush, flushing would be next to impossible, a very useful thing I found under the floor left over from previous occupants was a sump pump fully functional too. Getting water down there is less of an issue than getting it out lol. I had forgot about that till you mentioned it bud, would have been a face palm moment if I hadn't thought of that yet lol. Most likely will fit a simple sink and tap into pipe as long as thats easy enough. How did you build your drainage?

 

[Guy Cavallero]

I can see it's a bit late for this and I don't know if you have the option anyway- but the most useful thing I built into my grow was- a drain.

Huge.....my plan for early next year is the running water and drain. Winter caught up with me this year..... although for a month I was living on borrowed time to get this thing functional. LOL.

 

[Weaselcracker]

I added that section of the house specifically for the grow. It's above ground and I made the floor with a bit of a dip in the centre and a drain to the outside.
The grow I did before that was in an attic with 40 plants and we had to carry buckets of water up a ladder you can imagine the fun we had especially when there were floods.

 

[Guy Cavallero]

I added that section of the house specifically for the grow. It's above ground and I made the floor with a bit of a dip in the centre and a drain to the outside.
The grow I did before that was in an attic with 40 plants and we had to carry buckets of water up a ladder you can imagine the fun we had especially when there were floods.

Omg....im doing buckets for 30 out to my shed.. ...up a ladder is pure dedication lol....

 

[Weaselcracker]

It was bad! The trap door at the top of the ladder was too small to fit a person and a bucket at the same time so I had to hoist the bucket above my head and up the ladder ahead of me. It wasn't pretty..

 

[Deftera420]

It was bad! The trap door at the top of the ladder was too small to fit a person and a bucket at the same time so I had to hoist the bucket above my head and up the ladder ahead of me. It wasn't pretty..

That's pretty heavy stuff man, literally, you guys must have gained quite a bit upper body mass after that lol.

 

[TurboBucket]

So... I'll be the guy that says safety first man. A few dollars worth of actual safety devices can go a long way to protecting you and all your hard work, not to mention your family if you have one. Don't get me wrong I'm all about waste not want not check out my basement build in my signature, but sometimes it's just not worth reusing old shit. It looks like you've made some good progress from the earliest looks but the rockwool seems like an odd choice. Why not use a more conventional insulation source like batting or foam board? The sump is a big bonus, I run all my drains into my sump and then out into collection barrels for application to the flowers veggies or lawn. Any questions ask em up tons ok knowledgeable folks here.

 

[Weaselcracker]

Surprised to hear your thoughts about the rockwool, Turbo. It's non-flammable, easy to work with, and I generally prefer it to fibreglass. Styrofoam is flammable, makes crazy toxic smoke when heated, and environmentally is much more of a mess.

That's pretty heavy stuff man, literally, you guys must have gained quite a bit upper body mass after that lol.

It was one of those things where you know what you're doing is haywire. And you're glad/hopeful someone isnt looking over your shoulder to see it all!

 

[TurboBucket]

Moisture is my sole concern with the rockwool. Water is persistent. Lol
Ohh man I know that feeling.

 

[Weaselcracker]

Oh I see. I think it will be ok. Where I live averages 90% RH most of the time. I build homes and stuff, plus have built a couple grows and as long as the vapour barrier is there it should be fine. He did say he's going to put up some plastic

 

[TurboBucket]

Yuck. No thanks. I'll keep my Winters haha. I do commercial buildings not houses, so for us we have to plan for worst case and sometimes unrealistic scenes. Wet rockwool walls sounds like a nightmare. Sure if the vapor barrier is done right and remains sealed its great. Seems like a trade off I wouldn't be crazy about. But my basement is underground

 

[Deftera420]

So... I'll be the guy that says safety first man. A few dollars worth of actual safety devices can go a long way to protecting you and all your hard work, not to mention your family if you have one. Don't get me wrong I'm all about waste not want not check out my basement build in my signature, but sometimes it's just not worth reusing old shit. It looks like you've made some good progress from the earliest looks but the rockwool seems like an odd choice. Why not use a more conventional insulation source like batting or foam board? The sump is a big bonus, I run all my drains into my sump and then out into collection barrels for application to the flowers veggies or lawn. Any questions ask em up tons ok knowledgeable folks here.

Hi TurboBucket, thanks for dropping by, I've been expecting you lol. I say rockwool was a "choice" more like it was my only choice, surplus gear thanks to my buddy and his connections to the building trade, nice and free... happy days. Those outlet connections on the main beam will be covered with a wooden box, other connections I've made would definitely be better off in water proof junction boxes. Apart from the 32amp fuse breaker on my main fuse box, 13 amp fuse built into my contactor timer, what else could I add "device" wise to my room for safety?

 

[Weaselcracker]

I know you were asking him but I'll drop my 2c before it's off to bed for me.

Fire extinguisher is always good. And a meter like a Kill-a-watt, which tells you what you're actually drawing, is very handy.

It can be a lot to hold in ones head especially if you happen to have smoked one too many before hitting the grow room. Now for me things tend to run like clockwork more often than not. But I remember in the past, staring blankly at things and always tracing wires here and there... Speaking of which- clear labelling is a real time saver - at both ends of the wire and at the device as well. I'd be embarrassed to say much time I wasted following wires before I figured that one out.