Need advice on setting up a basement

[Guest]

Hello all I am considering a small basement grow, just have a few questions

The basement has basically no ventilation, all the windows are small and pretty much boarded up. It smells really musty and old down there.

The basement is unfinished, floor boards exposed, no walls, cement floor.

There is a water heater and furnace down there

Temps are 70-80 ambient, 85 under lights.

Would growing down here work?


Do I need to bring in fresh air? If so, how?

What other advice do you have?


I know in theory a grow down there should work, my only concern is the air quality because it's extremely "musty" down there, smells weird, just want to make sure this won't effect growth or cause the plants death.

 

[yamaha_1fan]

You probably should see if theres any water getting into the basement and find out why its so musty. It shouldnt be that musty unless there is absolutely no air circulation.

If you grow, you will need circulation of some sort. The lights are going to produce heat which needs to be addressed somehow. How many lights are you going to use?

You can seal the room in panda plastic. I am growing in a portion of an unfinished basement with the floor joists overhead and a concrete slab. I sealed the room in panda plastic, will air cool the lights, A/C the room, then bring in fresh air. Later I will put in CO2

 

[Guest]

i vented through a laundry vent in my basement looks normal

 

[Rolling_Stoned]

You could definitely grow there, put some fans in to bring your temps down. I've grown in a musty basement, and was also worried about the humidity while my RH was around 60-75% i never had a problem with bud rot or any other mold or moisture related problems. You could also consider a dehumidifier but they're kind of pricy, but effective. I've used desiccant bags to reduce the RH, but they wern't very effective. Just watch your plants closely to make sure nothing gets a foot-hold. Does your furnace have a vent for the basement? maybe you could run the a/c or central fan with a vent open to the basement to dry it out. Slips has the right idea for fresh air if you decide to go the ventilation route, personally i didn't find it necessary, plus you might have issues with it if you've boarded up the windows IMHO.

 

[Guest]

yamaha_1fan: There used to be a water leak but it's fixed, theres no noticeable leaks now. 2 400-watt lights for now.

Rolling_Stoned: Humidity is 50-60, I have a dehumidifier to bring it down to 30-40. Mostly just worried about the air quality. I dont have central air or AC in the house, only window units. There's no vent for the furance in the basement.


There's no dryer vent or anything I could vent through, the only thing I can think of is to not use my furnace and use the vents that are in the basement. For example I can detach the furnace duct work and use the vents in the floor boards to intake and exhaust. Like I can intake from 1 bedroom's vent, and exhaust into another bedroom's vent. Would this work?

How big fans would I need?

 

[Guest]

You mentioned there were small boarded up windows? Get a can filter and vent there. You can also intake from one as well. Are your water heater and furnace gas? electric? heating oil?

Not a wise idea to use the heating ductwork for other than intended, pretty much self explanatory.

Happy Growing

Peace

 

[Guest]

Well if the furnace is shut off why would it matter? All I would have to do is unscrew the duct piece attached to the vents and then just use the vents?

Using a window could work but what if it rains? Wouldnt the fans suck rain into the fan and inside?

Edit: Not sure about the furnace how do I find out what type it is? I think its gas. I was planning on using electric space heaters in the winter because they're cheaper.

Not sure if you understand my plan with the furnace duct work completely... I wouldn't be messing with the furnace, it's remain off. I'd just unscrew the duct work from the vents going into the bedrooms, the vents in the floor boards. Then I'd use those vents to intake/exhaust, so the furnace would be untouched, the only thing I'd be using is the vents. The duct work will still mostly be attached to the furnace. So if ever the furnace did turn on it'd just blow the heat into the unattached ducts which would heat the basement, I don't see how any harm could come from this. The ducts attach to the vents to just blow the hot air into the desired bedroom, thats the vents only purpose.

 

[Guest]

Just did some quick research,

Calculated my room size, even though Im not using the entire basement (not even close), I still want to get the whole basement filled with fresh air all the time.

So what I plan to do is intake from a vent in the ceiling with a 900 CFM fan.

Then for exhaust, I will use 2 vents in the ceiling, each will have a 600 CFM fan and a carbon filter.

I will most likely run these for 6 to 12 hours each day, staggered at different times of the day.


Would that exhaust + filters completely cover the odor of the grow? It'll be venting into the house so it's a necessity.


If we have any professionals or smart people, who know about using the furnace heating ducts please chime in... I dont see why itd be a problem if the furnace is off but I could be wrong.

I think they make covers for the ends of un-used ducts... it just seals the duct, there's one down in the basement now. I'll only be using 3 of the duct vents so it'll only be about 1/3 of the duct system... I could just seal off the 3 ducts I used with the covers and then it still has 2/3 to use if needed.

 

[Guest]

i just remembered i had a previous topic about using the houses heating duct system, haha too high cant even remmeber my own topics, but yes u can use the heating duct system i just think the furnace needs to be turned off obviously