**New Attic Grow**

[bubblegumgreen]

Hello Guys and Gals.. 1st post here on this board as I have been out of the game for a few years. I used to be in the game for quite some time and moved, got married and the usual stuff put me on break. Now I'm back and hopefully better than before.

My new grow room will be very stealthy. It is going to be in one of the the attics in my house. What will make it so nice will be the fact that the entrance to the room will be from a linen closet in my Master Bedroom Bath.
So for someone to even see the doorway to the room they will need to go in my master bedroom then in the mb bath and into the linen closet and thru the door in the back.

I finally got my tax return and after months of waiting got 27k back. Paid off any debt and now have allotted 10k for my new grow setup and buildout.

I will now give you all an idea of what we are talking about. I am shooting for a harvest every 30 days. In order to achieve this I will have my main room broken in to several areas. The main room has a peaked ceiling about 8.5' in the middle and will slope down to about 60" on the edge. The main room will be 12' deep and 9'wide. I will have 2 flowers rooms 5'x4.5' on either side of the center peak in the front 5' of the room. On the left side I will have a veg area that is 7' x 3' and on right I will have a dry room that is approx 7'x2'. This will give me a 7x4 small work area in the middle of the back wall of the room. I will have the veg room on left wall, the dry room on the right wall and flower 1 & 2 on the front wall of either side.

I will be using 1 1k watt hps with super sun2 cooloing reflectors in each flower room and 1 4' T5 4 bulb flourescent in the veg room. The air cooled refectors will grab air from totally outside the grow area thru and vent back out the grow area. The rooms will be vented again thru carbon air scrubbers back in to the main 4x7 room in the middle of the growing/drying areas which will also passively feed the flower rooms for intakes. That main area will have a 14k btu portable a/c and heating unit as well as a co2 generator. This way I should have a sealed off area with climates controlled pretty well.

I will be growing in a Aerojet 4 Tray Aeroponic System w/Six - 4'' Net Pots Per Tray for a total of 24 plant sites per 1k watt flower room. I will be using a 30 site clone machine for the cloning/veg room and will take cuttings from the existing clones a few days before turning the lights to reduce the amount of mothers needed to keep.

I currently have 2 small bubblegum clones (from a friend who gets some great yields on some outstanding dank)that I am growing out that I can almost take 2 more cuttings from each. I am starting the rough framing of the room tomorrow so I will have plenty of time to grow out/cut some clones to get up to the 24 needed for the 1st room to get started. I am fine being patient and waiting the month or so that it will take to get the mothers/clones ready and get the room built/fine tuned etc..


This thread and my room will be a work in progress for weeks to come. I am going to take a few shots of the raw space and clones tonight and will try to keep up thru the entire process..


I'm not a nubie just been out of the game for awhile.. I had some outstanding results in the past with 6 plants yielding about 30 ounces w/ one 1k watt light in a 3x5 room growing cinderella 99 scrog. That was my 1st set up with a HOT room and poor vent and no co2. I am shooting for 32oz per 1k watt light each 30 days harvest with this set up. My last set up was only 1 room so it took 90 days per harvest or so.. Now I'm looing for that constant harvest every 30 days with this and better bud/yields..

Any thoughts/advice appreciated...

 

[bubblegumgreen]

After getting home from the office and measuring the space again before picking up supplies for the framing and insulation tomorrow I am going to change the room specs a bit. The Total Area of the room will now be 14x10 instead of 12x9. This will give me 2 5x5 flowering, 1 3x7 veg room and 1 2x7 dry room with room to spare for the co2 and portable a/c unit as well as add a bit more space to my work area/air room. I will now have a 5x9 work area inside the room instead of a 4x7. I know its not alot of area but due to the fact that my home is a very busy place with people always coming and going I need to make sure I have enough area in the work room for trimming/harvesting as I can't/won't due these activities in the main house area.

I am still planning on doing the stealth entry to the attic area. It's the only way I can get it to pass the wife's approval. She's concerned with a room standing out when she is showing people the house etc. With the entrance going thru the linen closet in the Master bedroom bath there should be very little concern as they would need to walk thru the MB into the Mb bath and look at the bottom half of the linen closet where the opening will be into the attic area that will be framed off. The opening will only be 4x2 but will be enough for me to duck down into the open area and into the room.

A couple questions...

1) I will be venting the light inline from outside the total growing/work area thru 2 lights/rooms and out of the total work area. I will be using 6" round and a 270cfm fan without an air scrubber for this as the ducting/lighting venting will be air tight and once again come from and leave the open area of the attic. Is a carbon scrubber really needed for this??

2) I will be using a 6" inline 440 cfm fan to scrub the air in my flowering rooms. I plan on using 1 passive air intake into each flowering room. I will be using a carbon scrubber in each flowering room connected to a Y adapter to the fan and dump back into the work area where the passive intakes get the air from. The Veg and Dry rooms will both be utilizing cpu type fans for intake and exhaust back into that same work room. This will work fine as it is constantly sucking the air from the work room scrubbing the air from the flower rooms back into the work room??

3) With the dry room having the flowering intake/exhaust venting into the work area do I need to worry about odor control?? Keep in mind that the air in the work room is the intake air for the Flowering rooms which will get scrubbed thru 2 separate carbon filters and back into that room.. Will that be enough?

4) I will be using a 14k btu portable ac/heating unit which will be placed in the work area where the passive intakes from the flowering rooms and exhaust from the flowering rooms will be. The portable a/c unit has a 4"exhaust that will need to be vented out of the work room into the open attic thru a 4" flex duct. Do I need a scrubber on this as I will already be scrubbing the air from the flowering room and the drying room will be dumping back into the same sealed room??? I can always get a 4" carbon scrubber for the a/c exhaust if need be... Do I??

5) I plan on using co2 and mounting it and dumping it into the work area where the passive intakes will be. So the air in the work room will be cooled and co2 enriched. Do I need to worry about the co2 with the exhaust from the a/c being vented outside the room?? I know it will help the negative air pressure but do I need to add a passive intake into the work area to offset this? If so how much co2 will I be wasting?? Does anyone know of any portable a/c systems that use an intake and exhaust(that i could scrub with a 4" carbon scrubber) so I don't need to worry about a passive air intake into the work room?? I'd prefer to keep this room as air tight/negative pressure as possible so if I can find a system like that I can keep the room pretty air tight with the exception of the intake/exhaust from the a/c that I would scrub thru another 4" carbon filter if need be..

The general idea is cool the lights with air from totally outside the grow area and vent it back out outside in a sealed system. I would then Intake the air from the main work room and scrub out the flowering rooms back into the same room. This way the intake air is temp/humidity and co2 stable without the need of fresh air. Is anyone using a portable a/c system in an airtight room and venting outside with no intake?? Let me know how it is working for you please...In my hvac experience you get less efficient cooling/heating without an air return and exhaust..

Insulation... Being that this will be in an attic over my garage space I will be insulating both the floor and ceiling. I will be using rolled fiberglass insulation in the bay spaces on the roof and floor. On the roof I will be adding 1" foam insulation board over the rolled fiberglass and then white faced fiberboard on top of that (the white faced fiber board will be the walls and ceilings with silver tape duct tape to seal the seams)to get the most insulating possible.

On the floor I will be adding 2 Ft x 2 Ft OSB Insulated Sub Flooring Tile. It will help with the temp as well as the sound as there is a foam insulation below the usb with a sound gap. I am concerned that with the garage being below where I host poker/dart tournaments there might be sound from the pumps, ballasts and fans above.. I can't have that and prefer the added peace of mind that comes with that. Also with the insulated usb board being 2x2 it will be much easier to install and get into the attic. The fiberboard that i will use for the walls comes in 4x8 sheets and will need to be cut down to get into the area as I will need to load supplies thru the small attic opening which will be drywalled over once the grow room is complete leaving only the opening form the linen closet which will be 2.5' wide by 4' high and no room to get in and out with too big of supplies. I am essentially fully hiding the room after installation with the exception of the small opening in the Master Bath Linen closet.

Anyways thats what's up thus far. I'm going to get the insulation and framing supplies tomorrow and will start the build from here. I will try and post pics of the 2 clones that I have right now as well as teh raw grow space..

Thanks for your help guys!!!

 

[bleezyg420]

YouTube - Headbands 1st Marijuana grow slide show ft. Rebelution heres my attic grow in the old pad.

 

[bubblegumgreen]

Nice video/pics.. I noticed that you did not have any insulation for the room on the rafters etc... What area do you live? Is heat/cooling not an issue/concern??

 

[nilram04]

Hey Bubblegum,

I just started to think about growing in my attic also, so I will be watching your progress carefully. Thnaks for taking the time to post your grow journal. I live in the deep southern U.S. and during the summer it gets way too hot to do an attic grow. An a/c unit would blow my setup and operating expenses big time, so I am going to focus my grow in the milder months November thru June.

I plan on easing into my grow room over the next two years. My wife wont let me grow until then, but I figure that if I start with the fundamentals like insuilation and wall coverings, I can do it gradually as budget will allow. Plus, and while you may snicker at this point, I need to cultivate my personal stealthiness. I'm currently terrible at it. I get excited and tell her too much. She does'nt want to know about it. The grow I mean. I want to tell her to smoke up and don't worry about the cost of weed anymore!

My first step is to insulate the roof. The floor is insulated with blown celluluse and decked. I plan on using rolled fiberglassand then cover it with something, but what? Sheetrock, paneling or what about foam insulation boards. They are lightweight easy to cut and handle plus some have a reflective metal covering on them that would reflect light.

 

[bubblegumgreen]

I plan on using rolled insulation in between the roofing joists and then covering that with 1" foam board for extra insulation as it is the attic roof. I will be covering the wallsand ceiling with that fiber board that has the white on one side and brown on the other. I have read that the white side is 95% refective. Its easy to install and I can just nail/staple it up with my air gun and then tape he seams with the silvertape metal duct tape for an air tight fit. I would reccomend that rather than drywall but its up to you..

 

[bubblegumgreen]

"I plan on using co2 and mounting it and dumping it into the work area where the passive intakes will be. So the air in the work room will be cooled and co2 enriched. Do I need to worry about the co2 with the exhaust from the a/c being vented outside the room?? I know it will help the negative air pressure but do I need to add a passive intake into the work area to offset this? If so how much co2 will I be wasting?? Does anyone know of any portable a/c systems that use an intake and exhaust(that i could scrub with a 4" carbon scrubber) so I don't need to worry about a passive air intake into the work room?? I'd prefer to keep this room as air tight/negative pressure as possible so if I can find a system like that I can keep the room pretty air tight with the exception of the intake/exhaust from the a/c that I would scrub thru another 4" carbon filter if need be.."

Anyone?? See questions above..

 

[bleezyg420]

Nice video/pics.. I noticed that you did not have any insulation for the room on the rafters etc... What area do you live? Is heat/cooling not an issue/concern??

it was a huge concern, luckly it was the winter.... not even feasible in the summer, I have recently moved and have a much cooler closet, THANK GOD

 

[bubblegumgreen]

Hey guys..

Still under construction in the attic for the new grow. It's taking some time and that's something that I don't have alot of lately. It's taken bit as I had to raise the floor up with 2x8's to get over all of the conduit etc that is running in the attic above my garage. I knew it would be awhile before I was ready to take the 25-30 cuttings needed for the 1st crop and then another 25-30 for the 2nd that will start 30 days after. I have the raised floor done and threw a 2nd layer of insulation in between the joists of the raised floor,my garage is already heated and insulated so this was more to assist in the blocking of sound from pumps fans etc to below as I host many poker games. The side walls are framed, insulated, lined with plastic and then osb board was installed for the actual walls. I will spray the floors and ceiling of the entire room white when I am done and then tape the seams of the osb with much white duct tape. I have just started on the ceiling and will soon be working on the back walls of the 2 flower rooms as well as the back walls of the dry and veg rooms. I still need to do the front wall that covers the entire space but that will be one of the last things for access reasons.

The moms are growing in a walkin closet under a 4' 4bulb Tek Light and doing pretty well. Only 1 of 3 of the initial cuttings took. I really did not pay much attention to them as I still have time before the 1st crop goes into veg. The one that took is in a small clay pot. I have since taken 3 more cuttings and those are in the mock dome waiting for roots. Its been 3 days since I took those..

Check out the pics.. Any thoughts let me know..

 

[bubblegumgreen]

Ok so I started with 2 clones from a foaf. Ofthe 2 one is doing much better than the other which you will see in the pics. The nicer is much darker grean and much bushier. I took 3 intial cuttings, 1 from the nicer plant and 2 from the weaker of the 2. Only 1 rooted and it was from the nicer plant. I must admit that I paid very little attention to them and kept the rockwool tooo wet. That clone is in a small clay pot and is just starting to start new growth. It has 5 nodes in about 4 inches and looks to be a good mom to be.

I have since taken 3 more cuttings from each plant. The ones from the worse of the initial moms I just threw out. The others have been in 1.5" rockwool in my mock dome for now the 3rd day and look to be doing well as you will see in the pics.

My goal is to have 5 moms in the veg room and when it comes time to be putting the 1st batch in the 1st flower room I will be using the 30 site Ez Cloner instead of rockwool cubes as I will need 20 nice clones and want to pick the best looking for each. So I am hoping 20 nice ones out of 30. Should be easly doable.

The 2nd mom is darkening up and improving lately and I have since transplanted both into new pots. if it continues to improve I might keep it if not if will just sit in the room with the 20 aero plants and flower in its soil pot.

Check out the pics and let me know what you think..

These are 2 days old. I will post pics in a few days of the moms in the new pots and see how the 1 clone that rooted is doing in its little pot as well as the 3 new cuttings I just took..

take care..

 

[splif face killah]

you're gonna need anti thermal detection like a mothafucka! and a lot of ventilation, but it looks like a sweet fucking spot.

 

[bubblegumgreen]

Ok.. These pics are only a day later but you will see I have since transplanted the original moms and added a heat mat to the cuttings..

I'll update again on Mon or Tues..

 

[bubblegumgreen]

you're gonna need anti thermal detection like a mothafucka! and a lot of ventilation, but it looks like a sweet fucking spot.

The veg room and both flower rooms will be passively fed from the main room/ work room that will temp and co2 controlled. I'm planning on a can fan/filter combo in each flower room that will pull thru a filter then the light hood and dump back in to the main room. The veg and dry rooms will just have cpu fans in them and passive intakes. I'll be running a portable a/c to keep the maim room at 70 which shoudl keep the flower rooms down to 80 or so which will be perfect with the co2.

I'm hoping the insulation air gap and osb will shield out the heat.

Any advice??

 

[Phinxter]

if you have a mother thats not so strong and the cuttings off of it not doing so well you may want to think about killing it off or flowering it without using it as a mother.
copying bad genetics will only give you bad genetics and in a bigger grow you cant afford to have a lazy bitch as a mother plant.
just my 2 pennies

 

[bubblegumgreen]

I completely agree. I'm not going to kill it of tho. I'm probably going to keep it and just stick it in the room when i get my 1st batch in flower room # 1. If it improves and gets very healthy i might try it out and see what happens with a couple clones out of the 20 I will need..

 

[splif face killah]

The veg room and both flower rooms will be passively fed from the main room/ work room that will temp and co2 controlled. I'm planning on a can fan/filter combo in each flower room that will pull thru a filter then the light hood and dump back in to the main room. The veg and dry rooms will just have cpu fans in them and passive intakes. I'll be running a portable a/c to keep the maim room at 70 which shoudl keep the flower rooms down to 80 or so which will be perfect with the co2.

I'm hoping the insulation air gap and osb will shield out the heat.

Any advice??

im not in a place to give advice, but i would say you have a lot of heat to combat, you say the garage is heated, then you got the fact that you're in an attic, so you got heat beating from above and below as well as the heat from the lamps...maybe consider night cycles, thats what i do in the summer, helps a lot.

as far as thermal detection shit, i know very little, but that would be my primary concern. i've heard that a 1000w hps looks (and stands out) like a fat pimple through a thermo-cam.

like i said though, dope spot you got. where are all the rooms going to be, are the flowering plants going to be in the center where is tallest?

 

[bubblegumgreen]

Yes the 2 tall rooms, 1 on either side will be flowering rooms. the small 2.5'x6' bump outs on the left and right will be a Veg/Clone room and a dry room..

 

[-=4:20=-Guy]

Looks like you have a nice big play area there. Check out my room my circulation works almost exactly as you are planing.

 

[CannaBoss]

are you writing your masters thesis on this? jesus christ...
looks good though, nice space.

 

[bubblegumgreen]

Looks like you have a nice big play area there. Check out my room my circulation works almost exactly as you are planing.

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