The CoCo Cave.... my adventures in buiding my new growroom

[Ono Nadagin]

Are you just gonna scrub the intake? Or will you add a HEPA filter?
Good thinking on the temps relating to that rez if you bury it....could always get a cheap heater if it's an issue....or bury it later if heat is an issue....I asked the same thing in the coco thread:


Thought I'd share that 'cause I wasn't sure if anyone caught it or not when you asked about it....

R/O is the way to go with Botanicare nutes anyways.....tapwater is emergency usage only round my way here on out....I saw your visit at my spot....awesome news....I thought about buying some CNS17 bloom just to "take one for the team" lol...but I just can't....hope you try it out and share some input in that CNS17 thread....

Sorry for the long winded ramble....

peace

I am going to scrub the vent air after it is drawn through the box/roomitwill be pulled in from a 1way vent placed on the floor... on the roof there will be another 1way vent so the air can be pulled throgh but only in one direction... above the exit vent I will attach a duct that will run to a scrubber and inline fan(vortex).. these will be put in a rubbermaid trashcan with a lid... it will be sealed with the fan/scrubber inside the sealed trashcan and a vent duct will run out of the other end from where it enters the can... attaching to a duct that will then share the lamp closed air system just before it is blown out from underneath the building... feel free to ask me all the questions you want... I wanted to spill all the beans about what the room will be like but i didnt want to ramble...

As far as burring the rez goes I think i am only going to partially burry it the avg temp under the building is 70ish even when its 100+ degrees outside is the dirt will prob drop to 50-55 at the loewst,I will have to convert the celcius temps you gave... I am a thick American and I dont have a clue about celcius

Yeah I am going full force with the CNS17 I am bound to figure out how to use it correctly before I run out of the gallon I bought of each.. $50($25 each) total for a gallon of bloom and veg... stuff looks like and smells like Elmers glue to my... it isnt sticky thoand isnt as thick

Thanks for stoping by VT

 

[Ono Nadagin]

Wow, what a great thread. I love the excivation situation, I grow in a basment, but I wish I could do that type of thing. Knowing me I'd go ahead and rent the jackhammer, and borrow a few manly friends, and make the damn ceilings 10' high. I hate low ceilings, its the worst thing about growing, imho.

I would suggest you do sink the res, because you can add a heater and get whatever temp you want, or pull it out later, but I doubt you will want to. It is ideal to have your nutes slighly below desired temps then raise them with a heater, so if you get a big heat wave things will remain constant. Which is another benifit of a sunken res- nice constant temps.

Are you planning on pouring cement in there? If not what type of flooring? And are you serious about 35 ft pillars? That seems way way deep, unless this is a 20 story building we're talking about....

GWG

Yeah I may just rent the Jackhammer but i have to try to do it with what I already have around , I have a complete metal fab shop on premiss so I can make me a long shaft blade for an air chisel and I have a large compressed air system for use with air tools and 100s of feet of air hose so I will give it a shot 1st, if it doesnt work my cheap ass will break out the wallet and rent a jackhammer.... And I will be getting friends to help me hall the dirt out once I get it all broke up and down to the level I want, under the guise of helping me clear it out for room for storage... so once it is all broke up getting the dirt out is just a BBQ,Beer and an afternoon away from being finished with teh excavation

Also as I mentioned above I will at least halfway burry the rez it should cool the rezto the ground temp easily yet leave less digging for me but if I need it I can always burry it deeper

I will be using the pillars them self to build the floor off of, suspended a few inches above the new ground level the walls will bebuilt off the floor but will be very thin as to save as much floorspace as possible... I am thinking sheetrock hung on strapping that is mounted directly to the pillars

The pillars do run that deep this side of the building is on a hillside above a river, the pillars were sunk to bedrock...

Thanks for stoppng by GWG

 

[Ono Nadagin]

There is any water exit in the excavation area? I suppose the answer is no, so it would be good to cement all the floor and led a hole prepared with a water pump, in case of any failure.

The overall idea is amazing, and very well planned, but sure it will get a lot of work. But at the end, youll get an awesome grow room!

I believe 8' high ceiling must be enough to work with 600 watters and work confortably yourself.

Most coco fertilizers are designed for R/O water. Levels of Mg, Ca and K are often in the best range for growing in coco, without the need of adding any more of any of them if the ph management is right. Anyway, is the tap water is soft enough, you can use it, its a lot more confortable. A water analysis is the only way to be sure if the tap water is usable. In general, if the tap water has a EC below 0,4, its usable, except in a recirculating system if the Na content is noticiable (then, still the tap water is usable, but its required to dump the res often). Tap water with EC<0,2mS/cm are usable perfectly.

Looking forward for the grow room finished. Have a good work.

There is a water exit alreay there, a sump pit/pimp in a corner left of where you enter the room, Ill snap a pic next time I go back under there.... in a perfect world there should be no leakage on my system, but I will make use of the sump pit to drain my rez when needed.

I have a R/O unit with 100 gallons of storage capability as well as a onsite well, I should have a water analysis back in a couple of weeks from the University I sent it off to.... I will use both most likely just to save a little bitof $ on water..

Thanx for stoping by

Ono

 

[bonecarver_OG]

excellent

 

[Ono Nadagin]

atm I only have things in veg TUC(The Unknown Chronic.. a loose seed in my seed stash) some G13xhp, G13/hp x DJShorts BBerry, ST/Ortega x C99/ST and I am about to start germinating more in attempts to get my mother stuck up.... I need to find a suitable plant for this grow space it will be SoG so I need a good single cola from clone plant

 

[Ono Nadagin]

Update time!... been 10 days since I have updated the thread, I had to get hold of a good hammerdrill to make the work easier

I just got back from a good days work in the cave... I took lots of pics of the spce to illistrate some of the things discussed so far in this thread.. but I left the camera at the location so I will have to post the pics tomorrow as I am going back to do more digging

So today I assaulted the rock hard dirt with a 3/4hp Bosch industrial hammer drill with a 2' long 3/8" masonry bit..... it cut through it like a hot knife through butter!! I took out 10 wheelbarrow loads of dirt from the space today I would say I have about 7-10 more days like today before the space is to the size we are shooting for... I will have help from the owner of the building tomorrow!!

We will also be moving the hanging water line you see in a couple of the above pics... it is to an outside faucet so it may just get capped and taken down for the time being

So sorry I dont have pics tonight, but I will have lots tomorrow

Stay Safe
Ono

 

[Caligrown]

You're friggin hard core bro!!! That is a lot of work! The cool thing is you are going to have a dope spot to grow in when you are finished. Props to you for not wasting that space.

hang in there.....only 30 hours of digging left hehe. you're the shit.

-Cali

 

[gaiusmarius]

yeah One Nadagin, that is gonna be an amazing grow spot when done. i think you are right to do it yourself, without inviting a bunch of friends. even if it takes a bit longer it will add to your security if only you and the building owner know about it.

anyway, can't wait to see the latest pics....

 

[Ono Nadagin]

ty for stopping by Cali and Gaius

I am just starting to loosen up a bit, I woke up sore as I could be... heh I am becoming an old timer!... I am going to take a few ibuprofen eat me some steak and eggs and pan fried potatos for breakfast and then head n over there and startme some diggin!

And as far as letting ppl know about the indoor grow, yeah I decided against asking for help from friends... most of my friends know I grow and have for years... they just think I am still doing it outside underneath the beautiful Texas sun... and thats how its gonna stay... I hope

Stay tuned I will post some more pics of the space tonight.. but be warned progress is still slow at this point... thats a LOT of dirt to move..... most of the pics are of the vents and sump pit as well as a few of the slow digging process... I should also get a few exciting shots of us moving the waterline

 

[bullseye]

nice nadagin your hard work will pay of soon .keep a check for power cables and drains the buildings or other houses utility lines could be running under your build and the old ones are not normily buried that deep .hope it all works out nice dude.#
bullseye

 

[Guest]

ono this is already very interesting, can't wait to see the outcome stay safe!

 

[Caligrown]

Hey ono.. I know you said you are a cheap SOB but your body is worth the dough. You are probably getting along nicely with the hammer drill but Bosch makes and electric Jackhammer that you can get a spade bit with that would speed things up as far as the digging goes. Can't help you out with the dirt removal though. Maybe a conveyor system. J/K bro

Let's hear some more about how you plant to build the room? If you are going to build a room you might as well seal it and make it Co2 friendly. (and contain odor) All this work deserves the best crop possible...Right?

I was confused about the sheetrock thing. I would recommend avoiding sheetrock because of the paper on the outside that might promote mildew.
If you want to avoid framing out a room I recommend going with that styrofoam insulation that comes in 4x8 sheets. You can use spray glue and foil tape to attach your reflective material and you will have a completely reflective room. A bonus is that the stuff is Insulating,feather light, and easy to work with. You can seal any seams with foil tape and be set. It comes in a variety of thickness.(.5" - 1.5") I think the name is R-Tech.

Did you contemplate a dehumidifier? You have the drain so you could get a combo A/c and Dehumidifier for around 500 bucks. The prices will continue to rise up to about $750.00 through the summer. They go for $380.00 in the dead of winter though.
http://www.iap-home.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=3647&source=nextag&kw=3647

Loving the big things you are doing- Cali

 

[Ono Nadagin]

Whew man what have I gotten myself into

Man this is gonna be one hell of a job!

Heya Bullseye thanks for the advice, my partner in this says there is nothing there but dirt.

User Name.. Thanks for stopping by.. pull up a chair.. might want to bring a sack lunch tho... this isnt gonna go as fast as I thought

Cali you were on to something, its it wearing my ass out... and the tools. The hammer drill is now in need of repair she drill but she no hammer no more




So I might still rent a jackhammer but for now I am going to dig a big hole

heh I wish we had a conveyor system... right now I just carry out the big chunks and dump them into a wheelbarrow on the other side of the entrance and the little stuff was getting carted out also but now it gets dumped into a 5 gallon bucket and then spread it around the edges of the foundation and in various low spots inder here there

Ok I have to tell ya my partner in this is the master craftsman, and when we talked about it he said we were going to use a Hilti power hammer to anchor 2x4s to the pillars abd build the decking up that way and then he said he would hang a strapping on the pillars above the decking and hand sheetrock on them... I talked to him about what you said and he said it would work well and he said they make it with a reflective foil layer on it, he said he was thining of shetrock because it was much stiffer and the walls wont be framed as to save more space for the grow between the pillars.. but now he agrees with you and thinks the insolation will be strong enough..

We will be getting a dehummidifier and the lights will be on a sealed system for the use of co2... a small window unit will be used to cool... it may take a grow or two in this space but we would like it go fully automated at some point in the future...

Hereare some pics as I promised

this is the ole for the sump pump it is not in place at the moment ...


Here is a pic of a few wheelbarrow loads of large debris waiting on me to catch my breath and load em up and cart em out


I hope you guys can tell we have made some progress, it doesnt really look like we have made much progress... I am now guessing we have only moved 5-7% of what needs to be moved.. if we are lucky Before the hammer drill moved south for the winter I got the top 8-12" of most of the area chipped into bits I can pick up or shovel up....




Another shot of a few loads wating to go out


the moisture in the ground here is from a leak under the basement slab of the foundation, it has been repaired but it will take years to dry out completely

 

[bonecarver_OG]

hilti kicks ass. and they are fun.

put on safety glases

pre-treat those 2x4's with anti-humidity and anti fungal paint. the concrete lets humidity pass slowly - so it could make the back side of the 2x4 stuck to the concrete to mould.

anyway seems like u guys are having lots of fun!

peace

 

[Caligrown]

It looks like you are making some progress OnO. You get the jackhammer and spade bit and you will kiss that bar and that pick goodbye. It is like shaving off the soil and you have much more leverage to pry the clumps out with the JH.....Carry on...

Good point about the concrete bcOG! You could also paint the pillar with latex paint and I think that would solve that issue.

BTW- I'm sure your technical advisor would know this but if you have trouble with the pillar blowing out when you go to anchor into it there is an epoxy from hilti that will do the trick. You would need to get that roto hammer fixed first though because the system requires you to drill holes into the concrete. Do not use the kind you pound in and tighten down with a wrench. Those are more prone to cracking and weakening the concrete.

The reflective insulation is awesome!!! My area discontinued it but it would have saved me a bunch of hastle. You will be VERY happy with it. Just wear sunglasses in your growroom

I recomment the solarmax bulbs...Cheaper than competitors and 147,000 lumens....Peace -Cali

 

[bonecarver_OG]

the hilti epoxy is as awesome as the nail-gun - u want something stuck - i wont let go!

actually its better for anchoring in concrete since there isnt a initial blow that can crack anything - just use a masonry bit - fill the hole with epoxy - stick in ut bolts and just aply wood beams to the bolts..

the latex paint is a good one too - thats what we use at work too im not builder.. but i do a lot of concrete work - sculpting today is like that. like building/enginering

its fun ...

 

[Neptune]

wear a dust mask, I just did this, it took a year of on/off work.

Now I understand how people escape from prison.

 

[Ono Nadagin]

Heya thanx for stopping by guys


A small update on the digging, I took out another few wheelbarrows full of dirt this weekend...

I did not get to spend as much time on it as I wanted as I had to prep a rent house after the old tennants moved out and before the new ones moved in and it took my whole weekend... stay tuned It will get done but the digging will just be slow

 

[gaiusmarius]

yeah i can imagine it will take a while, but it will be so worth it in the end.
keep up the good fight,with the dirt .....

 

[Neptune]

Can you hire mexicans?

(not to be disrespectful)

There are usually loads of folks looking for work in my city, just drive by the lumber yard and pick a few up, pay them well, provide lunch and pacifico. You can get it done in 2-3 days.