Thinking about a Ventilation Upgrade in 1500 Sq. Foot House

[St. Phatty]

When I first moved into my house, I was concerned about security, but wanted to grow.

I made a thing which would allow the window to be open 1/2 inch, but locked (bars over the windows.)

That was my inlet, with a little centrifugal fan and a 1/2 inch inside diameter duct blowing this little vortex of air at my plants.

Under a 1K I dare say that wasn't enough ventilation. I had an outlet fan too - 3/4 inch diameter.

I added CO2 and the plants did their best. Decent medicine for me, but I know I need better ventilation grow-wise. It was pretty much a sealed room with a 1K light.


In the meantime I met one of a neighbor who grows (actually gave him this year's seeds that he used, Candyland x Apollo11.) He's also really gifted at home improvement (like that old TV show, Home Improvement, except, this guy does it professionally - contracts out to property managers to be their 'fix it quick and permanently' property maintenance guy.)

So I've been thinking about doing an upgrade, ventilation-wise. This will involve crawling around in the attic to figure out where to drill (where the wiring is not ... the attic is more like a crawl space with insulation, not pleasant if you need to breathe).

Then use that info to drill holes in the ceilings of the bedrooms and closet ... then add ducting & fans.


I have a septic system, and there are a few chimneys on the roof of the house that emit smelly air ... I think they're hooked up to something septic related. Not just bathroom fans, something else.

When I'm on the roof, there's about 8 chimney thingies, but only 2 bathroom fans.

And - the house did not come with an instruction manual.


So the basic problem is, how do you retro-fit an existing house to add ceiling exhaust fans in each bedroom ?

Question #2 ... how do you do it without it looking like a grow-house - in case I ever want to sell it and have an uptight buyer ?

These goals appear contradictory.


I dare say this problem has been solved a few billion times before.

What fittings and fans and ducting might I be looking at ?

Overall, I would like it to be sort of "Cheap Martha Stewart" - keeping it neat, with a bow to the Metro-sexual/ Jerry Seinfeld (OCD clean man) crowd, functional, but not shouting, "THIS HOUSE WAS A GROW HOUSE".

Is that possible, or is it destined to look like something from the Alien Movie series ?


On the "Air Throughput" end I do want to go Full Metal Jacket.
I already have an additional air input, floor ducts blowing air into every room. Took me awhile to discover that home feature.

Anyway, I want it to LOOK LIKE, Grandma added a little ventilation, but perform like, a hovercraft, MAJOR fvcking suction. If I sell the house I could always downgrade the exhaust fan so I don't have to explain why it has such a big exhaust fan.


So this is the part where I go to Home Depot and count my pennies and look at the Grainger catalog and do a few eBay searches and figure out what I can afford.

Already got some high-througput 80 mm, 90 mm, and 120 mm fans from the computer world. A little loud, so I can take one hint - use a bigger diameter fan so it's not so noisy ?


Yes it is kind of a rambling post, I admit it.

So - what did you guys use if you were in a similar situation ?

 

[Red Bear]

just seal your room, connect 6 or 8 inch duct to your window in a s bend (light trap), then hook up a carbon filter to a 6 or 8 or larger fan and duct air out of the room.

your pulling in fresh air, letting it circulate around the bulb or through an air cooled hood and out the room into your house as free heat in winter( run lights at night)

 

[Red Bear]

get a fan rated with enough cfm to replace the cubic volume of the room every 2-3 minutes

 

[St. Phatty]

get a fan rated with enough cfm to replace the cubic volume of the room every 2-3 minutes

1000 to 2000 cubic feet - so maybe ballpark 500 CFM.

In the short term, one of the bathrooms has a faucet that needs replacing in the bath tub.

Since the room has inlet, outlet (air-wise), and a bath-tub that drains, I thought I would take advantage of the parts that do work - and hang a light, 600 watt HPS.


Anyway, a very SERIOUS blower. I saw a beautiful one at the hardware store, about $100, runs off AC, for a 7 inch duct. Way more air-pushing going on than the 6 inch - but it would mean replacing the duct in that bathroom.


No one said anything about Building Codes. Reading the instructions and filling out forms are not my strong suits.

I would like the end result to get a thumbs-up from a building inspector. However, they tend to be big on building codes.

 

[Granger2]

So you want to exhaust the grow room only, or the whole 1500 sq ft house? BTW, forget axial [computer] fans.

 

[St. Phatty]

So you want to exhaust the grow room only, or the whole 1500 sq ft house? BTW, forget axial [computer] fans.

Right now it's 2 closets with MH or LED for light, and setting up for a 12/12 space with a 600 HPS.

So it's grow spaces plural. Just a part of the house.


I'm getting by with buckets of CO2 (fermentation) in the closets.

In the short term, the existing ventilation in the one bathroom would be good enough.


In the longer term ... well basically I'm thinking out loud about the longer term modifications that would improve grow-room ventilation.

I think I need to crawl around in the attic, and to shop for good fans, and drill the holes in the (I think) ceiling, and trap the ground squirrels that I think are residing in the attic ... etc.


500 CFM gives me a good goal.

I don't want to build an elaborate ventilation system that is asking to be red-flagged if I sell the house.

Seems like I might need to spend some time at Lowe's looking at ceiling vents that give me a bulkhead to bolt a duct to.


Also there's the option of piggy-backing on the bathroom fans, and just route air into the bathroom to be sucked into that fan.

 

[MrBelvedere]

When it's time to move just hire a pro drywall guy to patch and paint whatever holes you end up cutting. Tell him a ceiling fan used to be there if you are in a non med state... No one will ever have a clue what was there before. Good luck.

 

[Granger2]

We need more details about where these grow spaces are [same room?], where the Bathroom is, etc. -granger

 

[amanda88]

Heres the famous ventilation thread that made it to icmag ..found as a reference to solving many arguments on air movement, ...

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=112862

this.. with input from your diy buddy, will be of great assistance

 

[Red Bear]

get a centrifugal inline fan from a grow store or online, 7" from home depot wont fit any reflectors which are usually 6" or 8".
i have set up a temporary grow in many a bathroom and wal in shower the drain is there the fart fan is on the door is shut 400 or 600 watt should be fairly okay temp wise.
why do you want to modify your house? just get a grow tent. unless your trying to fit more than about 4 1000 watters, grow tent.

 

[Red Bear]

i had an 8x8 grow tent with 4000 watts all on one 8" fan in a bedroom once. quick take down no one would ever know it was there. just figure out light traps and stealth window box intakes and vent into your living space or preferably outside through another window or chimney through a carbon filter, if you move take your gear and tent and plants with you

 

[stoned-trout]

seal room with ac and co2 setup....venting blows yeehaw...here in cali I used to draw air from under house and vent into attic in a closet...put ozone unit in attic and small vent fan other end of where ehaust from grow enters..allows ozone to work best...yeehaw

 

[St. Phatty]

seal room with ac and co2 setup....venting blows yeehaw...here in cali I used to draw air from under house and vent into attic in a closet...put ozone unit in attic and small vent fan other end of where ehaust from grow enters..allows ozone to work best...yeehaw

I was able to produce decent medicine using the near-sealed-room technique. But not my best.

Once I was walking, actually in La Jolla California SoCal, doing one of those I'm-stoned-so-I think-I'll-walk 14 miles - buzzes.

I was looking up the canyon, which was green, verdant, buzzing with life. Well, plant life at least.

And the wind was blowing.

That was one of my most memorable experiences beholding the Lungs of Nature, on the flora side of things.

Plants can live without ... and the knowledge is useful for when we get a contract from NASA to crowdsource the next big space mission by providing indoor grow support (space ships are very indoor) ... but to make big beautiful stellar plants, world class indoor ventilation helps.


Anyway, thinking out loud ...

A. Go to 1 2 or 3 hardware stores. Look for nice vent covers.

B. Crawl up into the attic, lay traps for ground squirrels. This may require several trips Don't worry I always catch and release

C. Deal with the dust. Wet rag/ holding my breath.

D. Look at existing ducting in the attic. To be honest, I think that would be easier if I drew a picture on the computer (3D), because the attic is just plain filled with ventilation. I would rather spend hours getting a fix on things from the outside, and drawing all those square outlets on the roof. And minimize the crawling-in-the-dusty-attic-looking-at things time.

E. Check for electrical anything.

F. Basically drill the hole.

G. Attach nice cover on bottom (indoors of the house).

H. Attach DiY bulkhead on the attic side.

In the past I have made a plywood square with a hole cut out for 4 inch laundry ducting. I glue it to the plastic ducting with the spiral metal thing.

Anyway, then I just need a blower with a matching bulkhead.


Obviously there's an i, j, k etc.


Z. Side project - venture some sheets of plywood - create some use-able space in the attic.

 

[stoned-trout]

some houses have vents on top of roof or sides already.. mine had side vents ..fan cost like 300$ was solar run with backup..i cut 8 inch hole in floor of closet and made a filter pad bracket as in cali we have crawl spaces under some houses instead of basement..still cool air,, and I have hardwood floor so closet in back was best without old lady killing me ... ,,closet already had top ventilation as house was built that way with vents in all closets,bathroom and in kitchen...hooked up 8 inch lines and done deal...ozone gen easily took care of any odors...took off closet door and stored nutes and such in it...dispersing grow air high up makes it hard to track down even if smell control fails ..depending on conditions/area...