Asking all the RIU experts on this one....

JSJ

JSJ

Well-Known Member
So here is the deal, I just opened my yearly profit sharing check, $3,500. Time for grow V2.0.
I would love to spend all of it on making a kick ass grow room, but as it stands right now the old lady already feels 10th in line behind my 9 lil ladies in my closet, so $750 is getting blown on her. That still leaves me $2,750 for V2.0.
What I have right now is a 276W CFL hood for seedlings and clones. I have a 574W CFL hood for vegging and a 400W HPS mag ballast and socket out of a floodlight for flowering. I already purchased a new digital pH tester and solutions along with Jorge's Indoor/Outdoor Growing Bible and Greg Green's Cannabis Growing Bible. I expect all of that to be on my doorstep within the next few days.
From there I would like to build a kick ass perpetual grow room. I have an 8'x8' area in the center of my attic to work with. Right now all there is to that area is 2x 4'x8' sheets of plywood ontop of the rafters to give me a solid floor to work on. The rest of the attic is totally open from end to end with 2x vents, 1x on each end wall.
So give me some great ideas to build this perpetual grow proper like.
J
 
chuck estevez

chuck estevez

Well-Known Member
what are the temps in your attic during the summer? you probably need to spend most of your coin on a decent a/c if your going to try an attic grow.
 
RIKNSTEIN

RIKNSTEIN

Well-Known Member
JSJ said:
So here is the deal, I just opened my yearly profit sharing check, $3,500. Time for grow V2.0.
I would love to spend all of it on making a kick ass grow room, but as it stands right now the old lady already feels 10th in line behind my 9 lil ladies in my closet, so $750 is getting blown on her. That still leaves me $2,750 for V2.0.
What I have right now is a 276W CFL hood for seedlings and clones. I have a 574W CFL hood for vegging and a 400W HPS mag ballast and socket out of a floodlight for flowering. I already purchased a new digital pH tester and solutions along with Jorge's Indoor/Outdoor Growing Bible and Greg Green's Cannabis Growing Bible. I expect all of that to be on my doorstep within the next few days.
From there I would like to build a kick ass perpetual grow room. I have an 8'x8' area in the center of my attic to work with. Right now all there is to that area is 2x 4'x8' sheets of plywood ontop of the rafters to give me a solid floor to work on. The rest of the attic is totally open from end to end with 2x vents, 1x on each end wall.
So give me some great ideas to build this perpetual grow proper like.
J
Click to expand...
chuck estevez said:
what are the temps in your attic during the summer? you probably need to spend most of your coin on a decent a/c if your going to try an attic grow.
Click to expand...
If it was me, I'd spend the 2,750 on her and 750 on my grow, but that's just me, cuz my woman's the best drug I"ve ever had and she's worth it...lol
 
JSJ

JSJ

Well-Known Member
Agreed. At this point I am thinking of framing in 4 walls around the 8'x8' perimeter and sheeting them with insulation foam board, as well as the actual roof rafters. This will give me a totally enclosed, sealed, insulated room. From there a small portable a/c unit will be placed inside. Estimated cost $350, forward balance, $2,400.
 
G

growingforfun

Well-Known Member
RIKNSTEIN said:
If it was me, I'd spend the 2,750 on her and 750 on my grow, but that's just me, cuz my woman's the best drug I"ve ever had and she's worth it...lol
Click to expand...
You an I are not the same, I have a killer room and I'd still split it a lot like this guy. A light spinner, 4 digital ballasts, a/c , dirt, nutrients money is about gone. :)
 
JSJ

JSJ

Well-Known Member
RIKNSTEIN said:
If it was me, I'd spend the 2,750 on her and 750 on my grow, but that's just me, cuz my woman's the best drug I"ve ever had and she's worth it...lol
Click to expand...
lol, it was already agreed on when I started all of this, that receipts were to be saved and however much I spent on this, I would spend an equal amount on her. Looks like she is getting our entire tax return when it comes in!!!
 
M

mrblu

Well-Known Member
id go with 1 1000 watt hid for flowering in one part of the room and set up a partition for a 400 watt light for vegging.a good fan with carbon filter, humidifiers, couple oscillating fans, a big roll of black white poly. do you have enough height in the attic? or you going to be doing alot of LSTing? you could possibly do a sog or just veg for 3-4 weeks and harvest a few every few weeks.
 
Sir.Ganga

Sir.Ganga

New Member
JSJ said:
Agreed. At this point I am thinking of framing in 4 walls around the 8'x8' perimeter and sheeting them with insulation foam board, as well as the actual roof rafters. This will give me a totally enclosed, sealed, insulated room. From there a small portable a/c unit will be placed inside. Estimated cost $350, forward balance, $2,400.
Click to expand...
If you have to use your attic then I would spend a little extra cash on the actual build. Use a 2x6 construction for your walls that way you can use a thicker insulation increasing your R value in your walls, Insulate your floor and ceiling will also help when its cooking out there. Oversized fresh air intake and exhaust will increase the flow rate. Finding a good portable a/c with a btu rating of 12,000 or higher is what you are looking for and its a guess if it will work, depends where you live. Another idea maybe to run your lights at night in the summer months to try to compete with the heat.

Heat will be your biggest issue so finding ways to deal with it is how I would spend some of that gold.
 
Figong

Figong

Well-Known Member
I'd say run with LegallyFlying's idea.. drop 450-600 into that, and have CO2 for your room for 10-20 bucks a month overhead (natural gas) .. just a small facet, but a nice one.
 
SS68396331

SS68396331

Active Member
I just bought the Xtreme Nano 600w dimmable blalst. I am very impressed with it. I got the ballast, a really nice 600 hps bulb and the hood for about 300. The 1000w version is there if you want it but in a space such as yours it might be a little much on full blast. These digitals will work nice. Quiet and cool. I am sold and will likely not go back. They come in a real nice shiney box too..lol. But on the business side they are made in USA and carry a three year warranty. I was a skeptic because of the weight of the ballast but it is cool. Fires the six hundred really quick.

Peace
 
SS68396331

SS68396331

Active Member
That DI gave me a flashback Harley. 2nd Bn, E Co, 2066 San Diego 1986. Looks like Sgt Vaughn, one of my DI's.
 
JSJ

JSJ

Well-Known Member
Got a decent materials list put together over the weekend. Wanted to ask a few quick questions before going to the hardware tonight. I made a small change by lengthening the room 2 feet to give it a footprint of 8'x10'. Inside of that box I will have a 4'x4' flower room, 3'x3' veg room and another 3'x3' shelf area for clones/seedlings. For air movement I am thinking of hooking up 2x active intakes with 8" 500cfm fans pulling from my bedroom down below. All of the rooms inside will have passive intakes(from main room) with active exhausts. 4'x4' room 8" 500cfm fan. 3'x3' room 6" 250cfm fan. Clone room 4" 80cfm fan. Does that sound like I should move enough air through there??? Thanx guys for your input.
 
Sand4x105

Sand4x105

Well-Known Member
Number one thing for any climate, insulate...
Insulate your roof rafters, then enclose them....with a light weight plywood above your grow...
After you build your [two rooms] outside walls insulate/more/more
And the ceiling of your grow room... yes I know, you already inclosed your rafters, and it's a cost...
You'll thank me later...
Build a room and insulate it where, even if it is 105 f outside... your room will stay at 75 f....without an AC!
AC last resort, and an added cost if you insulate correct, will not be needed...
After room/walls are done, check your ambient temp again inside your grow area, without your lights on... 75f ?
 
333maxwell

333maxwell

Active Member
If it were me I would spend a few hundred on tidying up the stuff I already have, tell my ol lady I spent all the money on the new stuff, then spend the extra 2 grand on hookers and booze and maybe a gold fish. I dig gold fish..
 
JSJ

JSJ

Well-Known Member
Well trust me, insulation is big on my materials list. I am going to stuff the roof rafters with fiberglass insulation and then face the rafters with 1" insulation board. I am also going to leave a gap between the top of my room and the center ridge of the rafter, hopefully that will help evacuate the hot air off the top of my room. All the outside walls will get sheeted with 1" insulation board and then I'm going to fill in between the studs with insulation. My main question now, in a totally sealed room 8'x10'x7' at center, will my fan setup mentioned above get enough air flow going thru there??
 
A

althor

Well-Known Member
air-cooled hoods for your HID bulbs. The hanging light fixture is going to be one hot ass bitch.

I would also be very concerned about pulling insulation particles with any type of airflow. I hate insulation, it is the only thing I have ever encountered that I react badly to. I can roll around in poison ivy without a single spot of red on my skin but I get near insulation and I end up with rashes.
 
JSJ

JSJ

Well-Known Member
As a reference I set my digital thermo up in the rafters on Saturday. High of 60* that day, attic rafters were 102*. Yesterday I did the same thing, high of 47*, attic rafters were 82*. There is going to be at least a 40* increase as of right now. I bought but haven't hooked up the 2x exhaust fans. Hopefully that will help out a lot. Also all of the insulation that I bought, I will have R-23 on the rafters. So with that and the exhaust fans I would like to think it would drop the temps by half at least.
 
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