Building room in basement....insulate walls?

[RamCTD1027]

Hey-

I am helping a buddy set up a grow room in the basement of his house. The grow room will be a sealed room with no intake/exhuast, it will have an AC and a ceramic heater to control temperatures, and the walls will be lined with reflectix. The dimensions of the room will be 6' x 10' x 7' in height. My question is, since this room is located in the basement, would you still recommend insulating the walls and ceiling of the grow room? Regardless of insulation, i plan to install a vapor barrier. As long as I install the vapor barrier, can i do away with the insulation? One wall will be a foundation wall, while the other three walls will be constructed out of 2x4s and sheetrock. Apparently, he priced out the amount of insulation necessary for the room and it was relatively expensive. He figured he could put the money elsewhere into the grow.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Ram

 

[greenisgold]

Depends on your climate. I grew in a basement on the west coast and never insulated. Just added panda plastic.

 

[tintala]

my room is in my basement. I have one wall thats drywalled, 1 wall foundation, and one door wall w/ drywall. inside i split the room with a 2x4 frame then stapled up panda plstc to divide the room 1 veg 1 for flwr ,I live in co, and it cold here, so far i havent had a prob with it being too cold, but I DO have a 1000w going half the time. that keeps it at 75 when off it goes to 60. so I dont think you need insulation , but it wouldnt hurt the odor aspect to prevent it from leaking ......

 

[Microwido]

My basement grow I have 2 foundation walls, 1 brick wall and 1 sheetrock wall. I didnt use insulation, but I did use 4 cans of insulation foam to make sure every edge was air tight. If your building the 2x4 walls, make sure to use insulation foam on all the edges, air does gets out.

I had the same idea as you, but soon realized you NEED EXHAUST AND INLET vents with a carbon filter. The plants will starve of C02 if you do not have fresh air or C02 generator. Also they get super smelly, I am 3 weeks into veg and my house wreeeeks of weed.

At bare minumum, you will need to add a Dehumidifier and a Carbon filter to that room. You can choose to ignore this, and then a month into grow see water built up on all the walls, and it smells of weed throughout the house.

FYI!

 

[TGT]

Microwido, you brought up a very good point. A carbon scrubber is mandatory, and also a dehumidifier. Without the dehumidifier you could ruin your home, get mold and have fogged up windows. The fogged up windows will happen if the grow is rather large and this is a sure sign of a grow the cops look for. If you are going to do it, do it right. Also, insulating is a good idea for the reason that it will contain the heat and make it not visible with a heat gun. If you have windows, insulate them before plasticing over. If not you might get condensation build up in the winter months even with the dehumidifier and this can make the plastic fall from the window. Happened to me once. Good luck.

TGT

 

[RamCTD1027]

Thanks for all the points you guys brought up but we have already figured that out. This is a SEALED ROOM so there is AC, Dehumidifier, CO2 generator, carbon scrubbers, and a vaportek 4000. I am pretty sure we have everything covered EXCEPT for the insulation. From what everyone says, it seems like insulating the walls is not 100% necessary. If this room was going to be used for a long time, i would probably insulate the walls but it will only be used for about a year until my buddy moves. I think the money that would be spent on insulation would be better used on something else.....like a large bottle of hygrozyme.

If anyone else has anything else to add, please do so.

Thanks

Ram

 

[bondjamesbond]

only time i insulate is for SOUND......and if your going to be having people in the house / basement that will not know about the grow, i sugest insulate....i ALWAYS insulate the celing if a living space is above....you will be amazed at what you can hear with no insulation at night......so use you best judgement

 

[TGT]

I know you stated you were only using the grow for about a year and you choose not to insulate, but I just wanted to let you know something. You probably already know, but at home depot they have special sound proofing insulation that works great. My friend used it and it is so good he can screem in the room and in the next you can't hear him at all. Just thought I would mention it if you ever did decide to insulate. Good luck on the grow!

TGT

 

[bondjamesbond]

I know you stated you were only using the grow for about a year and you choose not to insulate, but I just wanted to let you know something. You probably already know, but at home depot they have special sound proofing insulation that works great. My friend used it and it is so good he can screem in the room and in the next you can't hear him at all. Just thought I would mention it if you ever did decide to insulate. Good luck on the grow!

TGT

are talking about sound board, or a special fiberglass insulation? ive seen the sound board, but never a special insulation for sound....have a link?

 

[Albert Hofmann]

Thanks for all the points you guys brought up but we have already figured that out. This is a SEALED ROOM so there is AC, Dehumidifier, CO2 generator, carbon scrubbers, and a vaportek 4000. I am pretty sure we have everything covered EXCEPT for the insulation. From what everyone says, it seems like insulating the walls is not 100% necessary. If this room was going to be used for a long time, i would probably insulate the walls but it will only be used for about a year until my buddy moves. I think the money that would be spent on insulation would be better used on something else.....like a large bottle of hygrozyme.

If anyone else has anything else to add, please do so.

Thanks

Ram

ALWAYS insulate when you have exposed studs...it is extremely cheap, helps deaden sound, and will make your room easier to control and much more predictable. By my estimation, you have about $40 worth of insulation that you need...you can barely get a liter of Hygrozyme for that

 

[Albert Hofmann]

R-13 home depot 40sqf bundles $8.97 you have 224sf of wall 5.6 packages... sorry $53.82 plus tax for 6 bundles, I was off by a couple bucks. Even iff you do the ceiling it will be less than $150

 

[TGT]

are talking about sound board, or a special fiberglass insulation? ive seen the sound board, but never a special insulation for sound....have a link?

Its sound proof fiberglass insulation. Unfortunately I don't have a link but it is available at Home Depot.

TGT

 

[darthvapor]

You could use old crumpled up newspaper inbetween the walls. Its what they used before fiberglass. You could use packaging styrofoam anything you can get for free.

 

[NiteTiger]

My grow is in my basement/garage, using plywood and 2x4s for the walls. I'm also using heaters, a/c, and air cooled lights to control my temps.

I have a huge pile of insulation taking up room - just never needed it.

 

[yamaha_1fan]

I insulated my whole room, walls and ceiling The only walls that are not insulated are the concrete foundation walls. I figured I am trying to create my own little environment down there and I dont want my cold air getting out or the hot air from outside getting in. Or the cold from outside when its 20 degrees outside.

Just seems like insulating gives you more control

 

[RamCTD1027]

Thanks for all the help guys.

As far as the sound proof fiberglass insulation sold at home depot, i believe its called Homosote (spelling????) and its sold in 4'x8' sheets for around $27.00 a sheet. We did look into that stuff but chose not to go that route.

After reading Albert Hofmann's post about R-13 insulation, I did go to home depot and found exactly what he was talking about. When i priced out insulation, I figured it would cost around $300-$400 to insulate the whole room plus ceiling. Now that Albert pointed out the R-13 for $9.xx for 40 sq ft, I will be insulating the whole room and ceiling. I am concerned with keeping stable temps in the room; however, i am more concerned with noise. This room is in the basement and nobody usually goes down there, but it is directly below a living space, and with 2 6" vortexs and 1 4" vortex fan running, we need as much noise protection as we can get. I am hoping with two layers of sheetrock, insulations, 6 mill poly, and a layer of reflectex, we will be able to control all the noise.

Again, thanks for all the help.

Ram

 

[yamaha_1fan]

My flower room is right below my home office and living room, near the front door. I have a 25k btu A/C running, 2 6" vortexes (more to come), 1 or 2 box fans and 2 oscilatting floor fans. Plus my water pumps are monsters, 2400 or 3600 GPH.

Oh and in the veg room next to it I have more small pumps and a 6" vortex

I think if the kids and dogs are gone, and I put my ear to the floor, I MAY hear something. All I have is the sub floor, insulation, and panda film.

Put a little waterfall in the living room to mask any sound that penetrates