Smokin's basement build log

[SmokinErb22]

This thread is where I'll be keeping track of getting my basement set up.

I've got 2 rooms to use for growing, and a 3rd to use as a lung. Low ceiling height (6.5' - 7')

Flowering room 1 is approx 15 x 12.

Flowering room 2 is approx 11 x 11.

Lung area is 11 x 27.

I have no idea how I'll set it up yet. This is where you guys come in. Leaning towards a 8x12 stadium in flower room 1 and in flower room 2 I'm thinking about running some hoods and experiment with hydro or something.

Can't do anything until the wiring is done, which I will document. Obsolete Zinsco breaker panel is my hurdle for the time being. Found a company that makes replacements a bit cheaper....Ubiz, if anyone reading this has a shitty panel like I do.

Anyway gonna get some tandem breakers to free up a couple of slots for a double pole 60a breaker to run a 240v line into the basement for my lights. Is that enough for 6-8kw?

I moved all of my flowering plants to the new location and temporarily set up in the 11x11 around a 600w donut and veg in another area. I'll veg until alll flowering plants are done (3-4 wks) and then I'll hopefully have my stadium up and running.

comments, suggestions, criticism are all welcomed.

 

[DJXX]

sounds awesome ....i can only dream about having that much room...maybe someday..gonna be epic for ya..dj

 

[meadowman]

cool man, sending good vibes!!!

 

[SmokinErb22]

Thanks guys! Haven't had much time to post, terrible phone service way out here and no internet service hooked up yet.

Found some more good news when I took off the electric panel cover.... 2 of my breakers aren't hooked up to anything, so that's gonna save me a bit of time and effort. Ordered a double pole breaker for my box, waiting on it to arrive so I can get to work.

Plants in veg are coming along nicely, just transanted into 3 gal containers today. Nowhere near enouh to fill a stadium, but I got another 25 clones in the cloner, a pack of seeds popped (karma/hortilab sour power testers)

Just keepin ya updated. Look for pics in the next week.

 

[dank.frank]

dank.Frank

 

[noyd666]

 

[vostok]

You never ever get enough space, some pics would be nice!

 

[SmokinErb22]

Alright, since I got my internet I figure I'd go ahead with some pics.

Haven't done too much work yet... but I did run about 90ft of 6/3 wire. Sent back the 60a breaker and am waiting on a 50a breaker to arrive this week. The wire alone cost me $250.... freakin' ridiculous. Figures my rooms would be the furthest point from the main panel in the house.

Here's the main section of the basement. When/if I do a lung, this is where it'll be. Pardon the mess, still getting situated over here. Got an early finishing pheno of Jack O Nesia drying in there too.

Here's the room I'll be building the stadium in. Ran the wire all the way back here and got a master light controller hooked up.

Finishing up some small girls in the 2nd room in a temporary set-up.

Another temporary set-up. Veg area.

Things are gonna pick up real soon. Only just got internet today, I need to order a few 240v ballast power cords, some 1kw bulbs, probably new fans/filters.... just some odds and ends needed to get it all together.

 

[SmokinErb22]

This post is just a way for me to organize my thoughts and start the actual planning phase. Seemed to be the most logical place to put it. I don't actually draw up blueprints or anything... this is just kinda how I do it. Little footnotes, and a bunch of trips to the hardware store.

My maximum available space is 9.5 x 13 in the flower room I'm building right now.

I'm going to build it 8ft wide, 12ft long. I have 6'5' of ceiling height. This calls for 5000w of light, and 1200 cfm of extraction.

One bulb centered at the 6' point, and then a bulb every 20". That should give pretty even coverage.

I'll run 3 HPS and 2 MH bulbs (HPS,mh,HPS,mh,HPS)

"V" shape racks, # of shelves and how much rise are still being researched. Any input on this would be welcome. I'm only just now starting my research on stadiums.

8" wide shelves, means I can run 3 shelves and have a 4ft wide inner diameter (shelf to shelf). That's 2ft of clearance from the bulb, and I don't intend to run large plants, and they all get staked straight up and down anyway.

2ft tall max finishing heights in 2 gallon grow bags. Bags are about 15" tall, so I was thinking 18" rise in the shelving? That'll leave at most 6" overlap, and I trim off the lower/inner parts of the plant.

So floor, 18", 36" shelf heights. Or more likely 12", 30" and 48". Something like that. The latter would have plants finishing up about 6" from the ceiling, at maximum height. I typically aim for 18" finished plants in my SOG set-ups.

12ft long, 12 plants per shelf. 6 shelves x 12 = 72 plants.

I don't have too much for veg. 6 lamp T5 for pumping clones, and a 400w MH. I figure at best I can cover 4x6 area with that.

I'll have to build a couple more cloners, mine holds 25 clones, I can expand it to hold 35, so 3 cloners with 30 each is 90 clones to select 72 out of. 3 of those cloners can be lit up with some CFL's and won't take up room in the veg area.

8" of floor space for each 2 gal container in veg means I need 6x8 veg area to veg 72 plants packed tight. (6 plants x 12 plants).... so this means I either need to acquire a fair amount of veg lighting or..... run it perpetually. Fill up half, then fill up the other half ~5 weeks later. That sounds much easier to maintain, actually. Perpetual it is. Well not really perpetual in the sense I'm harvesting weekly/daily, but you get it.

 

[dj.scotfree]

Nice work Smokin'! Nice amount of room to play with 2.. pulling up a chair bro! Peace~ DJSF

 

[SmokinErb22]

Well, first mistake. Cost me a few $$, but nothing major. I could have gotten away with 6/2 wire... I thought I needed 6/3 for 240v operation, but nope. Paid the extra money, and I'll I'm doing is capping the neutral wire or hooking it up to the ground bar. Either are acceptable. Oh, well.

Paint and racks are up next.

 

[overbudjet]

Does all your component run on 240v. ? Fan/pump/dehu/etc. run almost on 120v. (North America)so you may need this third wire .

 

[SmokinErb22]

The wire I ran will be for lights and AC only.... already have a 120v circuit in place for fans, pumps, etc.

Just finished putting on the first coat of paint. Found a couple of gallons of flat white paint the homeowner left behind so.... here's a little before and after. Starting to look more like a grow room now.

I also went out and picked up some 14' 2x4's and 12' 2x8's for my racks. Gonna start getting these to length after I smoke a bowl or two.

Then it'll be onto the 2nd coat of paint and getting the racks installed.

Really gotta get around to figuring out how I'm gonna run ventilation. My windows are tiny. I need TWO 12" fan/filters for exhaust. I think the window opening is only a 10" square. Plus I'm not really sure how to use a lung, yet. One thing at a time, though!

 

[SmokinErb22]

Got the racks built. Only thing left to do is put 'em in the basement and nail in the shelving. Once the 2nd coat of paint dries, anyway. Been a long day. 8 hours at work, and then 6 straight hours painting and building racks here. I'm exhausted.

Gotta remember that the boards are 1/2" smaller than the given dimensions. IE, a 2x8 is actually 1.5 x 7.5. Not quite sure why I forgot to account for that when building them. It's just the 7.5" part that's a *slight* issue... but nothing some angle brackets and screws won't fix.

After some feedback from Mister_D, I decided to lower the shelving just a little than originally planned. I think the bottom shelf is only 6" high, 24" for the middle, and 42" for the final. That'll leave a full 12" of "dead space" at the top for heat collection rather than just 6"

Didn't want to put 'em on the floor just in case the basement floods (it shouldn't).

 

[SmokinErb22]

Now to figure out ventilation. Off the top of my head, i can think of 2 real options. I did my best MS paint to help y'all understand... I think it's pretty clear?

The number of arrows does NOT indicate the number of ducts, but rather just to show where the airflow will be coming/going. The exhaust points are pretty accurate, 2 windows in flower room, and 1 in veg room.

 

[SmokinErb22]

Got one of the racks built. I'm not a construction guy, but I think this'll do. Could probably use a few more braces, but its pretty solid. Not exactly squared up, but that's due to me not accounting for the 1/2" difference in lumber's actual size from listed size. I KNEW about this too, just didn't account for it in my "blueprints"

I may need to lower the shelves a few inches as well. There'll only be a 6" space up top over the canopy on the upper level of plants if they hit 20" tall. I lowered everything from my initial design (which would have everything 6" higher) , I'm still not sure why its sitting so high... probably just my stoned brain when i was doing calculations.

But for the meantime, I'm gonna try to leave it like it is, and see what happens. Worse case? Sawzall, hammer, nails, and another hour of labor.

 

[admiralcornport]

what about sealed with co2? not sure if you considered that.
I don't have an opinion either way.

I'm a couple months behind you with a similar situation. So I'm def gonna keep me eye on this.

 

[admiralcornport]

good try on the stadium, but I think you're gonna have to rethink it.

 

[SmokinErb22]

Why? If you're seeing a problem I'm not, please say so. I'd hate to fail over something overlooked so early on.

And I've considered sealing it up... one day. I cant afford C02 right now and have 22k btu of cooling power plus a central air blowing in there.

Leaning towards exhausting back into the main room and actually using it as a lung. Lungs don't HAVE to be sealed - they just need fresh air on a regular basis. I've got a few 4" inline fans that I was planning on using for bringing in fresh air into the lung every night when its cool. I don't see ~100 plants depleting 3900 cu ft of air of c02 in the daylight hours.... especially with the central air bringing in fresh air in.

The only problem I see with the stadium is just the height. The upper plants may end up sitting in some collected heat near the ceiling. They'll have a 6" gap from the top of the colas to the ceiling... I wanted closer to 12" gap. Everything is higher than I thought it was going to be. And I'm still somewhat confident that the exhaust will be able to handle it, anyway. Planning on going for around 2000cfm of extraction. But at worst, I cut the upright posts down another 6" and hammer the shelves back on.

 

[DJXX]

looks great...gonna be a beauty playground...DJXX