First Timer Preparations - CFL - Attic Grow Room

newbiegrwer

newbiegrwer

New Member
I built an attic room 9-1/2 ft x 7-1/2 ft x 7ft tall. I framed it like a house with insulation and vapor barrier then lined it with reflective coated foam board on all 4 walls and the cieling. Floor will be painted white. I built an adjustable lighting rail that includes 20 standard sockets for cfl as that will be what I use for my first few batches. I ordered 4 65 watt 4100 lumen 6500 k bulbs to put on splitter on middle of 9 sockets in a 3 by 3 array and plan on surrounding with 24 23 watt 1600 lumen 6500k bulbs on splitters all curtained off to about 15sqft to begin a starter batch. I plan to do a hydro system and have ordered nutrients and aerators and will be putting 4 plants each in their own 5 gallon containers. My first strain choice was the robocrop autoflower by cream of the crop seeds. I purchased a 4in 220 cfm carbon filter fan combo. I also purchased an indoor outdoor wireless thermometer so I can keep an eye on room temp throughout the day. When they kick into flowering I plan to switch all of the 23 watts to 2700k and leave the 6500k 65 watts for supplemental. I got a pocket microscope so I can check the trichromes. And I have a box fan for air circulation and a space heater for the colder months to be used as needed. Oh and I plan to run the lighting either 18 6 or 20 4. Did I miss anything?
 
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newbiegrwer said:
I built an attic room 9-1/2 ft x 7-1/2 ft x 7ft tall. I framed it like a house with insulation and vapor barrier then lined it with reflective coated foam board on all 4 walls and the cieling. Floor will be painted white. I built an adjustable lighting rail that includes 20 standard sockets for cfl as that will be what I use for my first few batches. I ordered 4 65 watt 4100 lumen 6500 k bulbs to put on splitter on middle of 9 sockets in a 3 by 3 array and plan on surrounding with 24 23 watt 1600 lumen 6500k bulbs on splitters all curtained off to about 15sqft to begin a starter batch. I plan to do a hydro system and have ordered nutrients and aerators and will be putting 4 plants each in their own 5 gallon containers. My first strain choice was the robocrop autoflower by cream of the crop seeds. I purchased a 4in 220 cfm carbon filter fan combo. I also purchased an indoor outdoor wireless thermometer so I can keep an eye on room temp throughout the day. When they kick into flowering I plan to switch all of the 23 watts to 2700k and leave the 6500k 65 watts for supplemental. I got a pocket microscope so I can check the trichromes. And I have a box fan for air circulation and a space heater for the colder months to be used as needed. Oh and I plan to run the lighting either 18 6 or 20 4. Did I miss anything?
Click to expand...
Does anyone have any input on whether I'm on the right track? I have seeds on their way and am hoping to get started right after the new year. Would love to know if I'm doomed from the start or if I have a decent chance of getting a great harvest granted I don't screw it up.

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What catches my eye first is the foam insulation, as a safety hazard.
Generally it's considered a bad idea to line interior walls of a grow room with as it burns so well and makes extremely toxic smoke when it does. Or least the type I'm familiar with sure does. Maybe you aren't running high wattage in there but shit happens when electricity is involved and over the years I've had various appliances heat up and/or burn up.
 
DEAN420 said:
Looks really good, nice craftsmanship mate, what hydroponic system will you be using?
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I am planning to put together a homemade dwc with Rubbermaid containers, mesh pots, and aquarium aerators. Haven't decided on a medium yet. Any suggestions between clay pebbles or coco or lava rocks?

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It's not so much the overall heat I'm thinking about- though there may be some off-gassing issues with that foam. Mostly I was thinking of electrical equipment shorting out. Over the years I've had two timers burn out. The first one melted on the wall, filled the room with smoke and left a black streak running up the wall and ceiling. The second one wasn't much different except I had it in a safer spot that time. I also had a 1000 watt bulb burnout and melt so it was dangling from the melted socket by one remaining wire. The plants under it were mostly fried. I wasn't around when any of these events happened and easily could have come back to a pile of ashes or worse. These were basic equipment malfunctions which I don't think I could have controlled. After that I mounted any appliances and electrical connections on to fireproof backing board.
 
Weaselcracker said:
What catches my eye first is the foam insulation, as a safety hazard.
Generally it's considered a bad idea to line interior walls of a grow room with as it burns so well and makes extremely toxic smoke when it does. Or least the type I'm familiar with sure does. Maybe you aren't running high wattage in there but shit happens when electricity is involved and over the years I've had various appliances heat up and/or burn up.
Click to expand...
I did some more research on the foam board and checked out the questions and answers section on the manufacturers website and they said it can be used to insulate ceilings in homes and greenhouses so I'm fairly optimistic for the safety. Thanks though for bringing awareness to a potential safety hazard, I do appreciate it.

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Weaselcracker said:
It's not so much the overall heat I'm thinking about- though there may be some off-gassing issues with that foam. Mostly I was thinking of electrical equipment shorting out. Over the years I've had two timers burn out. The first one melted on the wall, filled the room with smoke and left a black streak running up the wall and ceiling. The second one wasn't much different except I had it in a safer spot that time. I also had a 1000 watt bulb burnout and melt so it was dangling from the melted socket by one remaining wire. The plants under it were mostly fried. I wasn't around when any of these events happened and easily could have come back to a pile of ashes or worse. These were basic equipment malfunctions which I don't think I could have controlled. After that I mounted any appliances and electrical connections on to fireproof backing board.
Click to expand...
I understand your concerns now. I hope I'll be ok with a slightly safer lighting option using the cfls and making sure I am nowhere near over loading the capacities of my electrical components.

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If in doubt then you can always mount your electrical stuff on to something like drywall or heat-board. Yes, of course you should be fine and I'm sure you will, it's just the consequences of some small electrical fire lighting up the foam which would be disastrous.
Enough said though- just thought I would mention it.
 
Weaselcracker said:
If in doubt then you can always mount your electrical stuff on to something like drywall or heat-board. Yes, of course you should be fine and I'm sure you will, it's just the consequences of some small electrical fire lighting up the foam which would be disastrous.
Enough said though- just thought I would mention it.
Click to expand...
And thanks for doing so. I didn't mean to come off defensive. I always appreciate input no matter what I'm doing. Thankyou for giving my thread some attention. Any advice on the hydroponic set up I plan to build? What do you grow in?

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Hey man. No worries at all- I didn't think you sounded defensive - and myself I'm just trying to walk the line between helpful and annoying. The subject of the flammable foam insulation hazard comes up fairly often in new grows.
I can't help you with the hydro I'm afraid. I'm growing in soilless - sunshine mix. :thumb:
 
Hey Newbiegrwer, I read through and am subbed up now per your request on my other thread. Oldergrower is also on that thread and expect he will pop in and give you a wrist slap if you've done anything wrong on the electrical. Let me say good job on the room, I wish I had that many sq ft. :) Four autos can get well out of hand. I have three right now, would of been four if Q2 hadn't committed suicide, and they leave little room to move in a 5x10 with a couple of fans, etc.

I didn't see any mention of a ph tester or ppm pen?...calibrating solutions for both? PH adjusting agents, up and down? Smoke detector? Fire extinguisher? Yes I have both in my grow room, And another smoke detector inside the tent wiretied to a top rail. If you use hydroton clean it throughly before usage. Make sure your air pump is above your water level otherwise you might have a siphon effect in a power outage and come home to a mess. I do a complete reservoir change every seven days, some people don't. Your choice but I suggest it, especially for first time dwc growers. With more experience you will learn to read your plants and reservoir and can go longer, but until then same day every week is a good rule of thumb. If you are using tap water you will want to let it sit out for a few days to allow the chlorine to evaporate from it. The fan and filter may not be large enough if you get a real stinky strain, but being in an attic you should be able to vent high enough and outside that odor probably wont be an issue. And finally flat white for the floor, and if you wear shoes in there it will get dingy. My suggestion for that is Kilz between each grow to keep the floor white.

Wow, I think that is all I can come up with for you right now. I'll probably have something pop in my head tomorrow when I'm elbow deep in tractor maintenance. :biglaugh: I look forward to watching your grow, and don't hesitate if you have any other questions. I'm happy to help.
 
Rifleman said:
Hey Newbiegrwer, I read through and am subbed up now per your request on my other thread. Oldergrower is also on that thread and expect he will pop in and give you a wrist slap if you've done anything wrong on the electrical. Let me say good job on the room, I wish I had that many sq ft. :) Four autos can get well out of hand. I have three right now, would of been four if Q2 hadn't committed suicide, and they leave little room to move in a 5x10 with a couple of fans, etc.

I didn't see any mention of a ph tester or ppm pen?...calibrating solutions for both? PH adjusting agents, up and down? Smoke detector? Fire extinguisher? Yes I have both in my grow room, And another smoke detector inside the tent wiretied to a top rail. If you use hydroton clean it throughly before usage. Make sure your air pump is above your water level otherwise you might have a siphon effect in a power outage and come home to a mess. I do a complete reservoir change every seven days, some people don't. Your choice but I suggest it, especially for first time dwc growers. With more experience you will learn to read your plants and reservoir and can go longer, but until then same day every week is a good rule of thumb. If you are using tap water you will want to let it sit out for a few days to allow the chlorine to evaporate from it. The fan and filter may not be large enough if you get a real stinky strain, but being in an attic you should be able to vent high enough and outside that odor probably wont be an issue. And finally flat white for the floor, and if you wear shoes in there it will get dingy. My suggestion for that is Kilz between each grow to keep the floor white.

Wow, I think that is all I can come up with for you right now. I'll probably have something pop in my head tomorrow when I'm elbow deep in tractor maintenance. :biglaugh: I look forward to watching your grow, and don't hesitate if you have any other questions. I'm happy to help.
Click to expand...

Hey thanks. A lot of good info there. I actually bought a gallon of flat white kills a couple of days ago so I'm right there with you. On the electrical I installed a 20 amp breaker and have it dedicated to the room. The fan is rated at 220 cfm and the room is 560 cf and I read somewhere on a different brands description on htg to properly remove odors to move the room every 5 min. I will definitely be purchasing a pH pen and ppm pen and the pH up and down additives. I'm afraid a smoke detector wouldn't do me much good as I wouldn't hear it but will definitely be getting at least 1 extinguisher. Have you seen the automatic type?

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