Spare bathroom.. Need suggestions!!

[down2grow]

Hello all,

Me and a buddy are thinking about turning our spare bathroom into a little growing area. The dimensions of the bathroom is about 4.5ft wide and 6ft deep. There is a toilet and a tub in there and he doesn't want to remove either so that only leaves us the tub area. The tub measures about 4ft wide and 3ft deep. Should we build a cab in this area or just one wall and leave to top exposed? A 600w hps would be plenty for the space. You guys have any recommendations on a good quality 600w system? I can get an Xtrasun ballast, Xtrasun reflector and a Sylvania bulb for $371 at my local hydro shop.

Thanks,

D2G

 

[masterKahn]

Just use the tub like a big flood and drain table. Just fill the tub with pots of pure coco and water via drippers. Hang a big light over the tub and watch them grow!

 

[FreezerBoy]

The benefit to cabs is ventilation control. How will you control airflow? You need to control both intake and exhaust. Leave the door open, the house will reek. Close the door and you'll choke off air exchange and trap heat. Where will you vent exhaust?

My first thought would be: punch a hole in the door for a "central air" type vent grate with light trap and exhaust with a Panasonic Whisperfan (which were actually built for bathrooms) in place of your current bath fan

... add ...
Central air type vents are approx 4"x8" and would feed a 4" fan which limits your lamp possibilities. A 250 would be fine. A 400? Maybe. 600? you'll probably need another intake.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Does the bathroom have a window? IF it does, you can get a 5K btu window A/C from home depot for $99. I have one and they're great. That will take care of your cooling but you'll still need fresh air.

With a 600w lamp and a 5K btu a/c unit, you could run that Panasonic bathroom vent fan for constant air exchange and it'd still stay cool. Most likely need an odor-scrubber on it before it leaves the room.

Sounds like you have a lot of reading/planning to do. Good luck!

 

[down2grow]

Master.. I've actually thought about using coco and the tub as my flood table, but being that this is my first true grow I'll be going with organic soil. Thanks..

Freezerboy.. Wow, I'm flattered you stopped by!! Exhausting the air out of the bathroom vent has been talked about already and my friend is super paranoid about that idea. He also doesn't want to punch any holes in doors or walls. So the only option left is a cab on the tub. I'll type out the idea and dimensions after I get back to Hydro, let me know what you think.. Thanks

Hydro.. Glad you made it on here as well!! I have a good feeling about my set up knowing that you and Freezer are down to help with this. The bathroom does not have AC and no window. I have not read updated info on Pl-l's lately, but if I can get them that's what I'll use for my veg lights. I'm going with a cab on top of the tub. Let me know what you think and thanks for stopping by!

 

[down2grow]

So the dimensions of the tub is 58"L, 29"W and we're going to make the cab 57"H. The flower chamber which will be on the left will measure 40"L, 29"W and 57"H. We will be using a 400w HPS now instead of the 600. My roomie likes the idea of having an everything in one type box like Anti's and Hoosiers. The remaining space leaves us 18"L and 29"W. We were thinking dry room on the bottom and veg room on top. The passive intake will enter the drying area and into the veg area(like "The Cab of the Future") and into the flower area. The fan we'll most likely use is a S&P TD150. Are you still diggin yours Freezer? So the reason we're going with a cab is because my buddy is paranoid about exhausting directly out of the condo and a cab seems more stealth. Nobody will be in that bathroom anyways because it is in the master bedroom. My questions are... Will pulling air from my veg room into my flower room make things too hot in the flower room? If I can't get Pl-l's I'll be using around 184w of CFL's to veg. Is the fan I chose going to do the job? I'll be exhausting from the cab into the bathroom and ambient temp never gets over 80 so the bathroom door will be open for good air exchange. Is there a cheaper alternative to darkroom louvres? DIY louvre anybody? Well feel free to comment. If nobody can picture the set up in their head let me know what you use so I can draw it up and post it.

Thanks everybody
D2G

 

[down2grow]

Totally forgot this. The cab will be made from either 3/8 or 5/8 inch plywood and 2x4's.

D2G

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Add a bathroom door to your list. Do you have some place you can store the original until you put it back on?

Get some darkroom vents and put them on the door so you have a large intake. If anyone ever asks about it you tell them that's the way it is. *shrug*

The only way I see you pulling this off is if you cut holes in the bathroom door for intake then scrub the odors and vent through the bathroom vent. Get a $100 6" can-filter and a $55 Stanley blower fan. 6" starter collar and some 6" flexwall ducting.
Suck the hot air from the top of your cab next to the light through the can-filter, out and up thorugh the bathroom vent.

Either mod the bathroom or don't do this. You need to get some things down solid for a good grow and mincing around will only make it more difficult throughout the whole operation. Remember that most things you're going to change are very easy and inexpensive to replace/repair. Drywall is so simple to fix it's ridiculous.

I'd vent the veg chamber separately and either use a couple layers of carbon sheets or a cheap DIY odor scrubber for those odors... they're not going to be much. The air will mix with the fresh/cooler air coming through the door and get sucked through the flower cab. Then cleaned of odors and pumped out through the roof.

Yes... 138w of CFLs is plenty for mums and clones.... clones don't need much while rooting so plan for a low-light shelf somewhere in there.

All in all, you have the ability to do it.... just need to knuckle down and figure out exactly what you'll need to put things back the way they were and learn how to do that stuff.



Should be nice

 

[masterKahn]

Cheap doors can be found all over. Take the old door off and put your crappy door on. Now cut that door full of holes for some beefy ducting and fill your tubs with pots of organic soil.

 

[FreezerBoy]

Exhausting the air out of the bathroom vent has been talked about already and my friend is super paranoid about that idea. He also doesn't want to punch any holes in doors or walls.

Cab or room, any exhaust would need to be scrubbed. That's why the Whisperfan link was the one that included a scrubber tutorial. Others have discussed the door scenario. However, I only went that way because I thought you wanted to.

Personally, I think a cab would be easier to control and hide though it will probably cost you overall space and possibly yield. Then again, my 250 has me buried alive. Yeah, we'd all love a Pico sized grow but most of us really don't need 400 watts or more.

My S&P td 100x is doing ... OK. Using the lower 100 CFM setting for noise reasons, a 250 CMH in summer is taxing it to the max. Mixed vents simply can't match a centrifugal for sucking power. For anyone other than "hide in plain sight" types, I'd suggest getting the model one up from what you "need."

What method or substrate will you be using? Once you get medium-tubs-trays at the bottom and lamps-filters-scrubbers at top, head space (as in sticking your head into the cab to see what's going on, especially in the back) becomes non-existent. I neglected to take a pic of the lamp but, here's what's left of my baseball cap. Plastic melted to your lamp is a bad thing.



Start thinking of how you'll get the plants out from under the lamp for inspection purposes.

 

[down2grow]

Freezerboy...
I was thinking about building a cab on top of my tub and the tub itself will not be used. The dimensions of the cab is on post #6. Will it be better to vent and the exhaust the flower/veg room seperately?

Master & Hydro..
If I use go with what you two are suggesting(using the bathroom, no cab), will I need to cool tube a 400w in a 4x5 room? The tub area(58" by 29") will be the only area where there will be plants. I'll most likely build a small veg cab on the tub area so the whole 58" by 29" will not be used for flower. Most likely 36"-40"L by 29"W will be used for flower. Is the Stanley blower strong enough for a cool tube hooked up to that Can filter? Filter>cooltube>fan? I want to start building this but I just want opinions on what's best.

Thanks
D2G

 

[Hydro-Soil]

I'm not knocking the cab idea at all.

My suggestion is to use modify the door so that you can keep steady air exchange in the bathroom. Your cab is going to be 'breathing' off of that so you'll need the air to be as cool as possible.

I haven't had my stanley long enough to be able to answer that question. I can tell you that mine is pushing air through my A/C faster than it can blow by itself and that it does will with a bit of back pressure. It pulls enough airflow to keep my 1K HPS cooled and that's without a reflector or cooltube. That's about it for now.

There's going to be a lot of air-flow through that bathroom door if you do it that way..... are you sure there isn't another spot in the house you can use?

 

[ItsAllOver]

Remove the door. Buy another door for cheap. (stores dedicated to saving demolition stuff help or you can get a new one. They are pretty cheap. Just get your measurements right!) Cut a hole for the central A/C register. Get a grate that is 24"x20". This will be your passive intake into the room.

Drape pandafilm from the ceiling (staplegun is your best friend! really!) over the tub down to the tub's lip. Use magnetic strip tape from lowes to hold the panda film to the tub and walls wherever needed. Or you can use a tarp zipper also from lowes to achieve the same end of being able to access the tub grow area easily. Make sure you get a 24"x20" filter to place near the bottom of the pandafilm entryway for your passive intake into the grow "tent". Build a baffle to keep light from spilling out easily from the filter and your light and airproofing is complete!

A 600w light would be perfect in that space. I have seen them in 2'X4'X8' & 3'x4'x8' spaces, so I know it will work with as small as a 142cfm fan air cooling it. Get a fan/filter combo and blow out through the hole that a light fixture or your bathroom fart an is in. This way you can replace the fan or fixture whenever you're done growing there.

I suggest hydro because you have a tub, and spillage is less of a worry. Is your climate suitable for using DWC? (search on ICMAG) It's a great hydro technique for the beginner (simple) and is just a little labor intensive, but you can come up with clever work-saving ideas for sure. Also if climate is warm and reservoir temps could be a problem, just freeze 20oz bottles and drop them in at the beginning of the lights on cycle. Pain in the ass, but I did it for my first tomato grow. It's all good.

If you choose soil, that's still great. It's labor intensive, too, but you could set up a pump on a timer for watering for 15 minutes a day, and you won't have to worry much.

Last but not least: you've already won half the battle by finding ICMag. Really. Searches in ICMag will take you to victory. You'll become obsessed. We all have!

Damn I just looked above and realized that Hydro-Soil said about the same thing I did. So yea, listen to US! haha good luck!

 

[FreezerBoy]

Will it be better to vent and the exhaust the flower/veg room seperately?

It would be ... simpler, less math intensive. But, I do Venting for Dummies. Those that do Venting for Smarties would be the ones to ask if it's "better."


Ventilation 101 and Understanding Air Flow