Diy Grow box or Tent? Advise please

K

kingruar

Member
Hey guys,

I am in a bit of dilemma here,

For my next grow, I am wanting to base in my loft. I have all the provisions for supply and extract and electricity so no problems there.
The issue that I have is the height due to the pitch of the roof. Ideally I wanted a DR90 which is 180cm high. Unfortunately the height is around 5cm too short for the tent. My next option would be the DRS90 which is 160cm high. This would fit in perfectly. The only issue that I have is apparently the DRS tents are supposed to be rubbish from what i read on these forums. I do notice that they have brought out a second version of the DRS, does anyone know if this is better?

Or intend of getting a tent, Make a box to suit the loft space and maybe incorporate the pitch of the roof. I would build a wooden frame, fill the sides with celotex or kingspan (a hardboard lightweight insulation) and design the ventilation and ports from there. I would line the inside with mylar to reflect the light. I would just need to design a door feature so that i can access the plants, this does need to be light tight though. (any ideas)

So in summary, my options are.


Buy a:

DR90 - cut down the vertical poles to suit height of loft and pin back excess material
DRS90 - Will fit perfect, although apparently not worth it due to poor quality (anyone got anything to say about the mk2 version?)
Custom box. - Will suit location to a T (or ^ ha ha) will run the possibility of not having a suitable grow room, (small light leak from door etc)

I am quite a handy man when it comes to this sort of thing so i am not fazed by building or "adjusting" tents, I would just really appreciate the advice of you guys if you have experienced any of this.

The only other thing is height. at 160cm, will I be loosing too much potential for my grow? I don't mind LST or mini scrog to keep the height down. (will probably do this anyway. again advice and opinions please.

PS I do plan on running a Hydro setup in there.

Peace ;-)
 
smokinrav

smokinrav

Well-Known Member
Brother, if you're handy, build it yourself. That is a completely rewarding experience, and the control you get from designing and building your own space is awesome. And will pay off bigtime if, like me, you move frequently and have to rebuild every 4-5 years.

My first built it myself grow room in a basement from 11 years ago. I'm on my fourth custom designed growspace currently.

IM003611.JPG
 
K

kingruar

Member
that looks sick, nice job.
is that 3 sections i see? I maybe only be able to pull off 2 eventual, we shall see :lol:, Its all about subtlety and stealth in my case!

I want my setup to be easy enough to take down, so I will be incorporating this in the design
 
smokinrav

smokinrav

Well-Known Member
Yeah, that was a perpetual harvest with a 400 HPS at the heart of it. I yielded just under a QP every 21 days or so from this room.

Stealth not at all incorporated, :)

Let's be honest about it, there will be no quick break down of the grow room when you are fully involved with flowering plants. You'll need some time to get it all down and away and the smells controlled away from your room.

Don't ask me how I know, lol.
 
K

kingruar

Member
How do you know ;-) ha ha.

Just out of curiosity are you scrog'ing those plants or how many you got going (clone, Veg, Flower) you have my mind thinking all evil ideas!
What size is each finished plant? oooooo
I can still alter my grow room design.
 
Coho

Coho

Well-Known Member
Make a sturdy frame and use 1 1/2 foam board for walls easy and cheap. Wood glue all joints plus screws/nails and liquid nails for foam on the walls. A plus is the reflective walls.
 
K

kingruar

Member
I have an option of inch (25mm) or 2 inch (50mm) available to me, what do you reckon I should go for? 50mm is a lot more expensive but insulating properties will be better.
 
M

mighty g

Member
smokinrav said:
Brother, if you're handy, build it yourself. That is a completely rewarding experience, and the control you get from designing and building your own space is awesome. And will pay off bigtime if, like me, you move frequently and have to rebuild every 4-5 years.

My first built it myself grow room in a basement from 11 years ago. I'm on my fourth custom designed growspace currently.

View attachment 2218826
Click to expand...
Thats a hell of a job.I'm in the planning stages for my first grow room.Did you have to build a lid/door?I dont see any.How much does that cost to run(electric wise)?What about vent./temp.?
 
K

kingruar

Member
Hey guys,

I am in the process of finishing my box.

I was going to go down the tent route, but all the hydro guys around my area simply said build your own if you can.

It was a tough decision. I liked the way that I could take a tent down quickly, but it stood out more and I was not up for the hassle of breaking zips and having exposed ducting out all the time.

It has taken me a while mainly deciding in construction methods and materials, being cost conscious but keeping quality high.

I used 35mm x 20mm wooden battons for the frame, covered with 3mm hardboard. I placed rockwool insulation in the inside and then covered with mylar.

I was going to use kingspan, but it was incredibly expensive. The reason for the insulation was to leopard constant temps in the room and to minimise heat signatures on my roof, even though its only a 400w light. I am not taking any risks.

Box is looking good and definitely the right choice. Will start a journal in a few weeks with pics. Would start now but I have a wee trip coming up.
 
K

kingruar

Member
So here it is, my box.

Start



Frame with buckets inside to get an idea of scale



Sides on



I couldn't afford kingspan, so used rockwool



Stages of insulation and finished edge



Trying to decide to hang in fan inside or out ................... mmmmmm decisions



For anyone curious, this is the blue side of a dual spectrum light, before the re kicks in.



Dual spectrum light all fired up



Still need to properly set up cables and need to do a little light proofing. Just needed to see how it all looked inside the box.




Any comments greatly appreciated.

125mm (5") fan, SMSCOM temp controller, 400w digital ballast and sunmaster dual spectrum.

I tried the light on with no ventilation running and temps got to a lovely 41 degrees celsius and with the controller running and the fan, brought temps down to a nice 21 degrees celsius. so all i need to do is just fine tune the fan controller.
 
4 2 0

4 2 0

Active Member
Looks good, personally just because of the fire hazard, i would never use insulation only sheilded by mylar, i would cover it in plywood first. and building it yourself is much more rewarding eh? i just finished my 4x4 box, it is a brick, i cant imagine having a weak tent compared to this, and i used weatherstripping to seal my door and make it light tight, worked well. Good luck with your grow.
 
K

kingruar

Member
4 2 0 said:
Looks good, personally just because of the fire hazard, i would never use insulation only sheilded by mylar, i would cover it in plywood first. and building it yourself is much more rewarding eh? i just finished my 4x4 box, it is a brick, i cant imagine having a weak tent compared to this, and i used weatherstripping to seal my door and make it light tight, worked well. Good luck with your grow.
Click to expand...
The insulation is actually fire proof so that gives me peace of mind. also don't know if you can see but in the far left corner is the fresh air intake.
 
Sweet'nHeavy

Sweet'nHeavy

Member
Wish I wouldve found this thread earlier. I would've built the entire thing out of rigid foam board insulation. It already has a reflective side insulates and is super easy to workwith and has enough structural strength tht people go out to burningman and build hexayurts out of them. Just a heads for next time. That way you dont lose the insulation r-value when u compress it in the areas you had to. Also all you'd half to do to make it smell lightproof is use the same ul-181 ducting tape to seal the edges of the box/room. The tape would replace any nails you'd need to buy as well since that's what would hold it all together. Just an idea for next time.
 
K

kingruar

Member
Hey sweet n Heavy thanks for the reply,

I just couldn't see kingspan or cellotex working for me this time round i wanted to put a face on this box as its in a liveable room, i felt that kingspan would have just stood out too much. But thanks for the heads up. I use it at work quite a lot and would agree with you about its natural strength. Maybe next time round. We shall see :-P but until then..........

I hope this one to last me a while, unless I get greedy and want a bigger one then I will either expand on what I have or standby for the rigid insulation!
 
lahadaextranjera

lahadaextranjera

Well-Known Member
Nice DIY job - well done. Ur gonna be good at this - u think logically.

Are u gonna get a reflector and hang the bulb the other way?
 
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