Bad Habit's 7.5'x11' Shed Buildout

[Granger2]

Good job on the door. Much more secure. I have the same door, opening out, and I replaced the hinges for security reasons. Not hard, doesn't cost much.

Did you say that you are going to primer/paint the exterior? That material won't hold up at all to moisture unless it's protected. My room is the same size as yours. Good luck. -granger

 

[Bad Habits]

I wouldn't fool with caulking behind the weatherstripping, that just sounds like a messy mess waiting to happen. If you don't mind aesthetics, and since you have a steel clad door you could always buy a weatherstripping kit (the screw in type) that are meant to be installed on the door frame. You could then measure and cut them to size, screw them directly into the frame with zip screws so that they butt up against the frame from the door and you would have that helping to seal those bottom light leaks.

This is the product that I like to see/use.

View Image

This particular style is made by AM Conservation group and it is a very nice, sturdy product. The aluminum frame is sturdy, much sturdier than the dog shit door weatherstripping products that can be found at the big box hardware stores. If you decide to go this route PLEASE do yourself a favor and don't use that crap, use this stuff if you can find it. Their website is here, http://www.amconservationgroup.com/categories/weatherization-products/weatherstrip/

The door sweeps that you can get at the hardware stores are really good but NOT the door jamb up kits (I don't know why the difference)

If you need to, PM me.

Thanks for the input man

Screwing in the striker plates into the frame today actually completely solved the top light leak, so as of right now only the bottom remains.

Checked out the site, it's a shame you have to request a quote

Since there's only corner that needs to be sealed I might be able to just push the pre existing weather stripping up a bit somehow. I'd bet if I fiddle with it I can make it work. Whether or it stays or not is another challenge tho heh.

Good job on the door. Much more secure. I have the same door, opening out, and I replaced the hinges for security reasons. Not hard, doesn't cost much.

Did you say that you are going to primer/paint the exterior? That material won't hold up at all to moisture unless it's protected. My room is the same size as yours. Good luck. -granger

Thanks for stopping in Granger!

How exactly did you replace the hinges? I looked over it but couldn'T visualize a good way of doing it honestly. If you could point me in the right direction that would be awesome!

RE the exterior - do you really think it would be necessary?

I'm probably going to keep a dehuey running inside at 70% RH. In terms of insulation, the fiberglass has a moisture barrior backing, the prodex is another moisture barrior, the drywall I used was the "moldtough" kind, and I mixed in mildewcide in the paint I used in the interior. Do you think moisture could escape through all that to the exterior sheathing?

I was originally planning on just putting up cedar siding over the sheathing to match my house down the road once I have more disposable income...

Thanks for advice mate.

 

[who dat is]

Thanks for the input man

Screwing in the striker plates into the frame today actually completely solved the top light leak, so as of right now only the bottom remains.

Checked out the site, it's a shame you have to request a quote

Since there's only corner that needs to be sealed I might be able to just push the pre existing weather stripping up a bit somehow. I'd bet if I fiddle with it I can make it work. Whether or it stays or not is another challenge tho heh.



Thanks for stopping in Granger!

How exactly did you replace the hinges? I looked over it but couldn'T visualize a good way of doing it honestly. If you could point me in the right direction that would be awesome!

RE the exterior - do you really think it would be necessary?

I'm probably going to keep a dehuey running inside at 70% RH. In terms of insulation, the fiberglass has a moisture barrior backing, the prodex is another moisture barrior, the drywall I used was the "moldtough" kind, and I mixed in mildewcide in the paint I used in the interior. Do you think moisture could escape through all that to the exterior sheathing?

I was originally planning on just putting up cedar siding over the sheathing to match my house down the road once I have more disposable income...

Thanks for advice mate.

Granger was speaking of the outdoor elements and moisture compromising your regular OSB siding for the shed, not inside moisture getting out. Painting the exterior would certainly help. If you are going to put siding over it I would still put tyvek housewrap over the OSB prior to installing new siding.

 

[Granger2]

What who dat is said ^^^^. Hinges-get the ones that you can't tap the pins out of. Replace them one at a time and you won't have to remove the door. Good luck. -granger

 

[Bad Habits]

Fully insulated the door wall and mudded it in. Tomorrow plan on painting it and hanging orca film everywhere else. Can't wait to get some equipment in and run some temp tests...

Granger was speaking of the outdoor elements and moisture compromising your regular OSB siding for the shed, not inside moisture getting out. Painting the exterior would certainly help. If you are going to put siding over it I would still put tyvek housewrap over the OSB prior to installing new siding.

Gotcha. The shed is at least a few years old and is holding up fine so far. It does have a gable roof that is shingled so no rain ever actually touches the side sheathing. I will keep that in mind though if I do decide to put the siding up...

What who dat is said ^^^^. Hinges-get the ones that you can't tap the pins out of. Replace them one at a time and you won't have to remove the door. Good luck. -granger

Word. So the hinges are still on the outside of the door then? When I initially inspected the hinges it appeared you couldn't tap them out with a flat head screwdriver/whatever and a hammer, but I'll take another look at them tomorrow. I thought you meant you found hinges that somehow stayed on the inside of the building.

 

[JointOperation]

anyways.. good luck.. but honestly.. grab some panda film.. and some Velcro.. and put that infront of the door to make sure no light comes in the door when u open the door and shit.. and if the door has any leaks in the end.. its also a good idea so if anyone tries to break in.. and look to see whats in there.. they wont be seeing as much shit if u know wat I mean..

awesome grow tho..

 

[Bad Habits]

So I finished mudding and painting the door wall today. Pretty boring stuff so didn't bother with any pics...

Also went and put in my equipment order at the grow shop, there goes another 2 grand lol. Picked up the Ideal Air portable 12k AC unit, will install that tomorrow and start building some shelving.

Also gotta cut down some plants starting today so busy busy busy.

anyways.. good luck.. but honestly.. grab some panda film.. and some Velcro.. and put that infront of the door to make sure no light comes in the door when u open the door and shit.. and if the door has any leaks in the end.. its also a good idea so if anyone tries to break in.. and look to see whats in there.. they wont be seeing as much shit if u know wat I mean..

awesome grow tho..

Ya my new plan is actually to frame like a foot and a half in front of the door (on the inside) with PVC and cover that with my leftover orca film, black side facing towards the door. Then install 2 lite tight zippers. One shelving unit will be enclosed (one I plan on flowering test strains in) and the other shelving unit will be open air, so the inside of the shed will be very bright. That way when I open the door I will step in, close the steel door, then unzip the orca film and go to the inside. Boom no light going out

 

[Bad Habits]

Rough sketch of the flowering cab so to figure out how much wood to get at HD... there goes another $100 or so bucks

Here is the veg side done:

Both the top and the bottom will have two 8-bulb T5's on adjustable hangers over each 2x8 tray.

I have the trays set at an incline of 2inches from front to back, using the rule of thumb for gutters on houses that you want a decline of 1/4" per foot for adequate water flow ability. Problem is the shed isn't square/level AT ALL so had to use a bunch of shims (pictured at the top of the vertical 2x4 support beams) in order to get the trays level so the water would flow down evenly and collect in the middle drain output. This took way more time than it should have... Building on chit that isn't level is a nightmare lol.

Since I run coco DTW, the plan is to have a discharge from the top tray that is a small hose which will drain into the bottom tray. The bottom tray will be connected to small rubber or vinyl tubing which will run to a condensate pump which will pump it out of the shed and then into a T'd irrigation hose which the AC and dehuey water from my flowering room in my house also discharge into.

The condensate pump has 3 intake holes, but I will only be using 2. I will have my deuhey passively discharge into one of my trays, and the trays from the left and right shelving units in the shed will both pipe into the condensate pump. This will make more sense once I'm done and there are pictures.

 

[Bad Habits]

Starting the flowering side cabinets:

The basic idea is the same as the veg side shelving, however it will be completely sealed with plywood and rollup doors made from reflectix and velcro (credit to ichabod cranes tutorial )

Here you can see the veg side on the left and what will be the flowering side on the right, plus my million fucking tools scattered You can also see the 12kBTU portable AC unit in the middle which I haven't hooked up yet.

I seriously go crazy with caulk on everything. Is anybody else like this? I usually double seal seams of things I wanted light/element proof with caulk - so in this instance I did a line on top of the plywood and another line on the underside as well:

I have already gone through about 3 contractors packs of caulk so far doing this buildout... :

 

[Bad Habits]

For the shelving units in the shed I decided I wanted about 3" of extra space on all sides of the tray for extra horizontal growing space, because when you think about it plants pretty much always exceed the dimensions of their trays. Thus the dimensions of each shelving level would be 2.5'x8.5'. This would allow for a 2.5' aisle between the left and the right shelving, and 2.5' of exra space behind each shelving unit for the AC/Dehuey/storage stuff.

On the veg side of the shed this was pretty easy because it was "open-air" style. However on the flowering side this proves to be a bit more difficult because plywood etc at HD is only sold in 8' sections, thus the need to extend out a little extra. Here I am framing in that bit extra on the flowering side:

 

[Bad Habits]

Air Flow for the Flower Cabs

Air Flow for the Flower Cabs

This is what I came up with when designing the airflow system for the flowering cabs:

On the bottom level there would be two 6" passive intakes on the edges. Between the 2 levels there would be a 2' section of PVC, a 45 elbow extending into the 2nd level, another 45 elbow to turn it the other way, and another 2' section of PVC. At the top of the 2nd level in the middle would be a 6" exhaust fan, which would draw the air through the cabs as shown in the picture.

Well I originally was planning on having the cabs butted up against the opposite wall on the shed, so I cut the 1st passive intake in slightly the wrong place unfortunately... Still can put the 2nd one in the correct place and hopefully this doesn't screw up the air flow too much.

Cutting the holes for the ducting with a hole saw:

After installing, a view from the bottom of the lower level:

As you can see on this level all the intake holes face towards the middle, as also shown in the 1st illustration. The T-5 fixtures will hang on adjustable hangers right below the PVC. You can also see one of the 6" passive intakes near the bottom with a bag taped around it temporarily until I install the bug screen (haven't installed the 2nd 6" intake yet either).

Now here is a view from what will be the top level of the flower cab.

Note how the PVC on this level opens at the opposite places as the lower level. Right above the PVC will be the horizontal cross supports which will hold the other 2x8 tray, identical to how it is in the lower level of the veg side previously shown. The top level will essentially be a mirror image of the bottom level if you can imagine that.

In this pic you can also see how I enclosed it will plywood which was previously just 2x4 framing. The open space in the middle will be where the 2 roll up doors will be.

Oh yeah, and the reasoning behind the PVC.... the 2 flowering levels will be on a flip because of limited power supply in the shed. When 1 level turns off the other level turns on... thus the need for each level to be completely light proof from each other.

Don't know a lot about light traps and ducting but from what I researched on here lot's of light traps take a considerable amount of space. I wanted to waste the least growing space possible. So I decided on 3/4" PVC pipe. It basically doesn't get in the way of anything at all since the T5 fixtures need a few inches for the adjustable hangers, and the trays need a few inches below them for the angled supports in order for water to drain adequately. I've read you always want 2x the intakes as outake. So I have a 6" exhaust fan, and thus will have two 6" passive intakes in the lower level. For airflow between the two levels decided to keep it the same 2:1 ratio (although I'm not sure if this is correct or not... ??? ). So I came up with 16 PVC holes... 6" divided by 3/4" = 16 ??? At least that's the math that made sense to me. Hope I'm not a complete retard and didn't screw it up LOL.

 

[Bad Habits]

Framing the 2nd level of the flower cab and put in the cross supports which will hold the tray:

Was gonna use L-brackets to hold up the cross supports, but completely neglected to realize there wouldn't be room to drill a screw in from the bottom Just let it sit on the L-bracket and angled some 2" screws in from the top instead. That seems to hold it in just fine.

Used these cool little frame support things from HD. You nail it in from the top, put the 2x4 in and then there's holes to screw into the 2x4. Good to use when there's no where to screw 2x4s together if that makes sense.

Plywood on the top and the back. Taking a little break then gonna go caulk all the seams...

 

[Bad Habits]

Started hangin a few T5s today...

Ran into a bit of a challenge. The sunblaze T5s come with a wire hanger you use to hang it. Problem is, you lose a good 5+ inches vertically from it because it has slack in it you can't really tighten down. I also want my lights to be adjustable so I'm using sunlight supply light hangers. Because theres 2 hooks on a pulley for those, that's another 5-6 inches. So combine those you lose damn near a foot of precious vertical height, and considering each flowering level is only 4' that's obviously a no go...

1st thing I did was cut off one of the hooks from the light pulley, as I'll just slip the cord onto the hook which will be in the ceiling supporting the pulley. Didn't get a pic of this yet, but it will make more sense once I do. That saves about 2 inches.

Now for the height lost from the wire on the light... Well I decided slide zip ties through the heat vents on the side of the fixture. By doing this, I created a loop which is exactly on the side of the light, thus eliminating another 6 inches of wasted vertical space.

Hung the first one up:

Now here's the problem. Because of the weight distribution the light always tips to one side, which I suspected it might. Temporarily I placed a 2x4 on top on one side of the light to even it out (you can see it in the top of the pic). This only seems like a temporary solution though, as whenever I adjust the light I would have to get a custom-size 2x4 to put in to even the light out... Need to brainstorm a solution to this problem.

In the last pic you can also see I installed one of these on the passive intake vent:

They were meant to be put on inline fans so I had to fiddle around with it to slip on the duct as the velcro is reversed where it would be for the fan. There is a round carbon insert you put in first, then you slip the screen over the vent. Seems like it should work well enough.

When I was initially designing the room I thought the flowering cab was going to be back against the opposite wall, and I cut out the passive intake holes first. Well the cabinet placement changed so I ended up having an intake hole where I didn't really need it. Decided to keep it there just incase down the line I decide I don't want to recirculate with the carbon scrubber+dehumidify and decide to go no dehuey and just exhaust the scrubbed air out, having the extra intake will help. I also only ordered 2 of the bug screens, so for this 3rd one I just used some old window screen and installed it on both the front and back of it:

All screwed caulked in from the outside:

For now I'll just stick a duct cap on it on the inside and let it be.

T5 on top level of flowering cab (with 2x4 holding it level again):

For the flowering cab I plan on using 6 3000k bulbs and 2 6500k bulbs on each fixture to have just a little bit of mixed spectrum. Also the 3k bulbs come in 25 packs so rather than buy the extra 7 I decided to go this route since the fixtures come with the 6500k bulbs lol.

Flowering with T5s... haha kinda makes me laugh honestly. It is what it is though because I don't have enough money right now to hire an electrician to route more juice to the shed, and don't have the money to install a proper AC unit on the shed that would be capable of cooling a few thousand watts of HPS.

 

[Bad Habits]

1st, here's what I was talking about yesterday with the light hangers:

Took the cut off wheel and sawed off the releasable hook it comes with. Threaded the string through the new hook and screwed into the plywood ceiling and attached it will a washer and nut on the top. Saves a good 2 inches or so of vertical height.

Installed the 12k BTU AC today:

I took a small packing crate and nailed sound board on the top and bottom, which should reduce/eliminate noise from the unit if there is any (don't think there is though after 5 minutes of use). Also think it's a good idea to have it raised off the ground a bit just incase the room floods for some reason.

Now I know a lot of people talked shit about this model, and understandably so. The ONLY advantage it has over a window banger is it's a closed loop so no smell from the shed will get outside, and I don't have to build a custom box for a window banger to achieve the same effect. And it's a plug and play model.

After researching the unit I saw people say the shorter the ducting hoses the better, so I ended up cutting off quite a bit of it and got it about 7" from the wall:

unfortunately the studs in the wall made it impossible to duct out perfectly straight, so had to bend it a bit which was a pain in the ass to get it to fit onto the vent hoods on the outside.

Duct ports on the outside with bug screens installed with water proof tape:

Thought it was kinda weird that the exhaust and intake hoses are basically side-by-side...

Ughhh I really need to get this project wrapped up. Got plants ready to be uppotted and thrown under bigger lights...

 

[v1sual]

Looks real good ! I would love to be able to renovate a shed like that.
But yea you should definatley try to separate those intake, exhaust vents to prevent it from recirculation the same air.

 

[JointOperation]

and watch out.. if that shit leaks.. and creates a moldy room that could fuck up everything.. ive had a buddy grow in his basement.. that gets really moist and shit.. and he got mold in his basement.. then some in his grow room.... and eventually got a lung infection from working in the room and smoking the bud..

maybe grab something to line all that wood.. spray sealant ? something.. so that if u have a leak anywere in anything.. u wont have wood rotting out on you.. causing u issues. and eventually rotting bad enough to cause issues in the grow..

gotta remember.. us growers work in environments that can get you sick as fuck.. Bat Guano.. and other organic additives that we mix into soil. and breath in.. can reek all sorts of havoc on our bodies...

just an idea.. but that thing is fucking bad ass man... great work.. that's some dedication right there lol.

 

[FunkBomb]

That is one hell of a grow shed you've built there. Keep up the good work.

-Funk

 

[Relentless]

awesome man. im subin in.. would love a shed grow some day

 

[Bad Habits]

Thanks for the responses guys! I've been real busy the last few days trimmin up a crop, so I had to put the shed on hold. Been workin on her today and makin steady progress.

Looks real good ! I would love to be able to renovate a shed like that.
But yea you should definatley try to separate those intake, exhaust vents to prevent it from recirculation the same air.

Thanks for dropping in! Unfortunately there really is no way to separate the vents at this point. the intake/outtake holes on the dehuey itself are right next to each. The only way to really separate them is to take the hose, expand it, then duct it in separate locations. However that means more exposed ducting, and I've heard from another member here that the ducting gets extremely hot and actually releases some of the hot air it's supposed to be exhausting out back into the room, thus ultimately lowering the total "true" BTUs of the unit. So I tried to make the ducting as short as possible.

But yeah I'm actually running a heat test right now with the AC set at the lowest point (62) with 4 of the T5s plugged in (however I will have 6 going at any given time in the end, just haven't unboxed them all and hung them all up yet). Hope it works alright... keepin my fingers crossed.

and watch out.. if that shit leaks.. and creates a moldy room that could fuck up everything.. ive had a buddy grow in his basement.. that gets really moist and shit.. and he got mold in his basement.. then some in his grow room.... and eventually got a lung infection from working in the room and smoking the bud..

maybe grab something to line all that wood.. spray sealant ? something.. so that if u have a leak anywere in anything.. u wont have wood rotting out on you.. causing u issues. and eventually rotting bad enough to cause issues in the grow..

gotta remember.. us growers work in environments that can get you sick as fuck.. Bat Guano.. and other organic additives that we mix into soil. and breath in.. can reek all sorts of havoc on our bodies...

just an idea.. but that thing is fucking bad ass man... great work.. that's some dedication right there lol.

If what leaks exactly? The AC exhaust?

But yeah man I definitely feel ya on the mold part. I've seen a buddy completely destory a grow house with black mold, shit is NASTY!

Thankfully that's what I have the dehuey in there for... I can set it for whatever I want which should keep it in check. I was hoping to keep it around 70% though for the veg to really take off...

Theres mildewcide in the paint on the walls, so I'm not worried about that but one thing I didn't really take into consideration is the 2x4s and plywood I used to make the shelving/cabinets. At 70% RH am I in danger of those growing mold on them??? Realistically it's too late to paint/treat them with anything at this point

That is one hell of a grow shed you've built there. Keep up the good work.

-Funk

Thank you Funkbomb!

awesome man. im subin in.. would love a shed grow some day

It's an honor to have you in here Relentless! I love your work.

Possibly the only thing that would make this shed better (besides more electrical capacity for bigger lights and AC) would some of your genetics!

I am praying I Can get ahold of some in the next drop. They were all gone before I had a chance on this last one!

 

[Relentless]

Thanks man. Its much appreciated. From what I can tell, I love your work too hehe

I think everyone will have a decent chance of getting something this time.. crossing my fingers they get there okay..

Keep up the good work!!