Let me start off by saying that the following is just a concept. I'm still thinking it over, and by no means am I close to ready to do anything like this. However, I am trying to plan ahead a bit. So here we go. 
I've been thinking it over for a bit, and wondering what I can do to accomplish a few goals:
a) Space for a few mothers
b) Space for germ/seedling
c) Space for small batch grows (a couple three autos, a single photo, etc)
d) Space for experimentation
e) Space for drying, or whatever else
As it stands, I have available (or will have shortly) (2) 4x4 tents, and a 4x2 tent. That's all fine and dandy. When I started thinking this up, there was only (1) 4x4, but the situation as a whole still persists.
I'd like to have some type of space where I can tinker around, keep a handful of mothers, sprout some seeds, etc. So I got to thinking and knew I had come across some tents that had a grow area and a sprout/seedling/mother area.
I began digging into that a bit, and found that for the cost it just wasn't worth it. The quality wasn't tops, and the design wasn't quite what I wanted. I did find some grow cabinets that were similar, but not for the prices they want for those! So I began thinking and doodling to come up with an initial draft. Here it is:
This isn't a final blueprint, but a simple concept. It provides for a primary grow area that is 4ft wide, 2.5ft deep, and 7ft tall. It also provides (2) smaller spaces which are 2x2.5x3.5. There is a 12" void between the chambers, as well as a 12" void under the floor for ventilation/cables/plumbing/etc.
With the floor void I can snake ducting underneath to supply air intake. As it would be sitting on a concrete floor in the basement, the ducting would remain pretty cool, plus all of the snaking would allow for even further contact of the duct with the floor and help maintain it's cool air state. It would also provide light trapping, which is obviously important.
I will also be able to route plumbing (like an emergency drain, or whatever) for various needs as well.
Having a void between grow chambers allows for the running of ducting, wiring, etc.
I can use the bottom small chamber for mothers. At 2ft x 2.5ft that should allow me 6-8 or so in a bonsai style setup. The top chamber can be for germination, seedlings, etc.
The main chamber would be multi-purpose. I would mount rails in the middle off the left and right sides which would allow me to turn it into a 2-level area if desired. This also allows for room to grow a couple of autos, a unique photo, experiment with styles, etc.
I would probably use a 6" exhaust for the whole thing, along with a carbon filter. Each chamber would most likely have passive intakes through the voids, which would lead to a carbon filter in the wall void which will be attached to the exhaust.
Still working all those details out, but kicking around that idea.
Would have doors on the front and back for access, and some type of access for the bottom void. Most likely from any side. All walls in the grow areas would get the diamond reflective material (which will probably be half the cost of the build. lol)
If it's spring time, I can also double up and use this for my outdoor garden seedlings, which is a plus.
If I were to build something like this, it would replace my secondary 4x4 and 4x2. I could then use those as backups, drying space (if this box is in use) or whatever. Most likely they will sit dormant 95% of the time. I may end up going with an 8ft overall width, simply because lumber is 8ft and that would end up wasting 1ft on some boards. If so I could then have an 18" void between chambers, and then that would make the small chambers 2.5x2.5 and square.
Now of course I don't have 8ft ceilings in the basement, either. They're like 7'10". Might mean the bottom void ends up only 8" instead of 12", but that still leaves the grow areas the same.
If I organize it right, I could have this at the other end of my basement, which would allow me to use wall vents which are already in place, without having to either install a new one or run 80ft of ducting all the way across the basement.
Back to the bottom void. That's a lot of space underneath. I suppose I could section it out a bit, and come up with some way to add a cheap furnace filter to the intake. Certainly would keep the gunk/dust/bugs from being sucked in. I could run 1" pipe from the bottom to each small chamber, maybe two or three for the main area. Those would be passive, then in the wall void I would put the carbon filter and exhaust fan. Add slots/holes at the top of each grow chamber, and there we go. Place the passive intakes opposite the exhaust, and that sets up the cross-ventilation.
The main chamber and bottom small would have vents through the floor, directly to the void. The upper small would need the pipe. Would need to figure out how to do the floor ones, so that light is trapped. A zig-zag or P-trap style should work. Maybe a vertical section of pipe in the floor void, into a 90* elbow, up into the grow chamber, into a 90* elbow, with a final length of pipe. Make kind of an S, or even a U out of it. Would work, but will need to check out the air dynamics of all that.
Summing up parts (minus lights and exhaust fan) I could build it for about $450, give or take. That doesn't include style specific plumbing, like for a gravity drain to a res, recirculating hempy, or anything like that. Just the box, ready to go.
Carbon filter and fan, add $200ish.
Lights I would already have, so that's good.
Oh, and the lumber calculated was for a 4ft depth, not 2.5ft. (You know, 8ft boards, cut in half is 4ft, why waste it, blah blah blah.)
I could do a 6ft board and cut in half, which would be 3ft depth, so maybe that happens instead.
For the lumber I spec'd out the following lumber:
- treated 2x4 (frame)
- treated 4x4 (corner posts)
- treated 4x8 1/2" plywood (floors)
- 1x4 appearance board (poplar)
- 4x8 poplar plywood (doors/walls)
I would have to put together a real measurement, but that's pretty close. So for roughly $650 before lighting, that's not bad at all.
If one were to also add lights...
The 2 small spaces could do fine with $150 per light, and that's QB style. Could probably get it to $100 or a hair less each if you wanted to go blurple style. (This isn't an LED debate, just throwing it out there.)
The main space would need a bit more. Let's assume for now it's 4x3. Several ways to go about lighting this, but for the sake of simplicity for now, we can go with (2) 250w, 2-board panels from Budget LED for $600 (current price, without any discounts available). We could also go with something from Mars Hydro for a little less.
Lighting is a personal choice, and that should be left to ones own decisions. For heat reasons I'll say LED of some type, and the cooler running the better.
That would put us at $900 for lighting, and brings the top end total to $1550. One can budget it down a bit, or if they already have some of the pieces needed. Myself for example, I could potentially just use the 4" exhaust I have on hand, and not worry about it. It would clear the whole thing well enough. Not on its lowest setting, but even then it's still only sucking up just under 30w and super quiet. No problem. (Could also spend maybe another $20 and add some noise reduction to the wall void to make it even more quiet.) If I were to do all of that, and considering I already have lighting, then I've already reduced the cost by 2/3 down to about $500.
Even at $1550, compare that to the $4k-$5k for an off the shelf grow cabinet. It's 2/3 cheaper, way more configurable, better built, and you can paint/stain/decorate as you see fit.
So that's that. That is the idea I'm kicking around in my head for the time being.
I've been thinking it over for a bit, and wondering what I can do to accomplish a few goals:
a) Space for a few mothers
b) Space for germ/seedling
c) Space for small batch grows (a couple three autos, a single photo, etc)
d) Space for experimentation
e) Space for drying, or whatever else
As it stands, I have available (or will have shortly) (2) 4x4 tents, and a 4x2 tent. That's all fine and dandy. When I started thinking this up, there was only (1) 4x4, but the situation as a whole still persists.
I'd like to have some type of space where I can tinker around, keep a handful of mothers, sprout some seeds, etc. So I got to thinking and knew I had come across some tents that had a grow area and a sprout/seedling/mother area.
I began digging into that a bit, and found that for the cost it just wasn't worth it. The quality wasn't tops, and the design wasn't quite what I wanted. I did find some grow cabinets that were similar, but not for the prices they want for those! So I began thinking and doodling to come up with an initial draft. Here it is:
This isn't a final blueprint, but a simple concept. It provides for a primary grow area that is 4ft wide, 2.5ft deep, and 7ft tall. It also provides (2) smaller spaces which are 2x2.5x3.5. There is a 12" void between the chambers, as well as a 12" void under the floor for ventilation/cables/plumbing/etc.
With the floor void I can snake ducting underneath to supply air intake. As it would be sitting on a concrete floor in the basement, the ducting would remain pretty cool, plus all of the snaking would allow for even further contact of the duct with the floor and help maintain it's cool air state. It would also provide light trapping, which is obviously important.
I will also be able to route plumbing (like an emergency drain, or whatever) for various needs as well.
Having a void between grow chambers allows for the running of ducting, wiring, etc.
I can use the bottom small chamber for mothers. At 2ft x 2.5ft that should allow me 6-8 or so in a bonsai style setup. The top chamber can be for germination, seedlings, etc.
The main chamber would be multi-purpose. I would mount rails in the middle off the left and right sides which would allow me to turn it into a 2-level area if desired. This also allows for room to grow a couple of autos, a unique photo, experiment with styles, etc.
I would probably use a 6" exhaust for the whole thing, along with a carbon filter. Each chamber would most likely have passive intakes through the voids, which would lead to a carbon filter in the wall void which will be attached to the exhaust.
Still working all those details out, but kicking around that idea.
Would have doors on the front and back for access, and some type of access for the bottom void. Most likely from any side. All walls in the grow areas would get the diamond reflective material (which will probably be half the cost of the build. lol)
If it's spring time, I can also double up and use this for my outdoor garden seedlings, which is a plus.
If I were to build something like this, it would replace my secondary 4x4 and 4x2. I could then use those as backups, drying space (if this box is in use) or whatever. Most likely they will sit dormant 95% of the time. I may end up going with an 8ft overall width, simply because lumber is 8ft and that would end up wasting 1ft on some boards. If so I could then have an 18" void between chambers, and then that would make the small chambers 2.5x2.5 and square.
Now of course I don't have 8ft ceilings in the basement, either. They're like 7'10". Might mean the bottom void ends up only 8" instead of 12", but that still leaves the grow areas the same.
If I organize it right, I could have this at the other end of my basement, which would allow me to use wall vents which are already in place, without having to either install a new one or run 80ft of ducting all the way across the basement.
Back to the bottom void. That's a lot of space underneath. I suppose I could section it out a bit, and come up with some way to add a cheap furnace filter to the intake. Certainly would keep the gunk/dust/bugs from being sucked in. I could run 1" pipe from the bottom to each small chamber, maybe two or three for the main area. Those would be passive, then in the wall void I would put the carbon filter and exhaust fan. Add slots/holes at the top of each grow chamber, and there we go. Place the passive intakes opposite the exhaust, and that sets up the cross-ventilation.
The main chamber and bottom small would have vents through the floor, directly to the void. The upper small would need the pipe. Would need to figure out how to do the floor ones, so that light is trapped. A zig-zag or P-trap style should work. Maybe a vertical section of pipe in the floor void, into a 90* elbow, up into the grow chamber, into a 90* elbow, with a final length of pipe. Make kind of an S, or even a U out of it. Would work, but will need to check out the air dynamics of all that.
Summing up parts (minus lights and exhaust fan) I could build it for about $450, give or take. That doesn't include style specific plumbing, like for a gravity drain to a res, recirculating hempy, or anything like that. Just the box, ready to go.
Carbon filter and fan, add $200ish.
Lights I would already have, so that's good.
Oh, and the lumber calculated was for a 4ft depth, not 2.5ft. (You know, 8ft boards, cut in half is 4ft, why waste it, blah blah blah.)
I could do a 6ft board and cut in half, which would be 3ft depth, so maybe that happens instead.
For the lumber I spec'd out the following lumber:
- treated 2x4 (frame)
- treated 4x4 (corner posts)
- treated 4x8 1/2" plywood (floors)
- 1x4 appearance board (poplar)
- 4x8 poplar plywood (doors/walls)
I would have to put together a real measurement, but that's pretty close. So for roughly $650 before lighting, that's not bad at all.
If one were to also add lights...
The 2 small spaces could do fine with $150 per light, and that's QB style. Could probably get it to $100 or a hair less each if you wanted to go blurple style. (This isn't an LED debate, just throwing it out there.)
The main space would need a bit more. Let's assume for now it's 4x3. Several ways to go about lighting this, but for the sake of simplicity for now, we can go with (2) 250w, 2-board panels from Budget LED for $600 (current price, without any discounts available). We could also go with something from Mars Hydro for a little less.
Lighting is a personal choice, and that should be left to ones own decisions. For heat reasons I'll say LED of some type, and the cooler running the better.
That would put us at $900 for lighting, and brings the top end total to $1550. One can budget it down a bit, or if they already have some of the pieces needed. Myself for example, I could potentially just use the 4" exhaust I have on hand, and not worry about it. It would clear the whole thing well enough. Not on its lowest setting, but even then it's still only sucking up just under 30w and super quiet. No problem. (Could also spend maybe another $20 and add some noise reduction to the wall void to make it even more quiet.) If I were to do all of that, and considering I already have lighting, then I've already reduced the cost by 2/3 down to about $500.
Even at $1550, compare that to the $4k-$5k for an off the shelf grow cabinet. It's 2/3 cheaper, way more configurable, better built, and you can paint/stain/decorate as you see fit.
So that's that. That is the idea I'm kicking around in my head for the time being.
T-Nuts! T-Nuts and bolts will let you disassemble and move the cabinet.
