Build Journal: Turning a 7'x7' Shed Into a Grow Room

I think your going to appreciate the 2 x 4 reinforcment in the shed down thd road.

Are you putting a GFCI on the power in the shed, either as a breaker at the panel or receptacle? or is the one you put on the house protecting the shed on the load side?

Are you giving yourself enough room at your receptacles for timers and your other loads?

Looks like your going to have a nice space there. Cant wait to see some green in it.

Greenthumbskunk said:

Ive seen a guy build a cob system that was 360 degree light on here and he was a commercial grower. He said that it wasnt in the same ball park as his hps on yield and quality. As of right now youre limited on what a flat service led will provide as far as area coverage goes. One guy posted a pic of a grow with 1 1000 watt hps bare bulb and has a stadium type of grow 360 all around it and claims he pulls over 8lbs.
I have some leds as well but im using them on veg right now. To me led has its place and it all depends on what youre doing and climate youre growing in. I grow inside during winter and i like hps giving off more heat to help heat my room. Led gives off heat as well but not as much.
U can grow some good weed with led but hps will be a little better.

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Thanks. Lemme get a few good crops in before I go totally haywire I've been looking at stadium threads again, it's really pretty amazing

Short Day

Not much to show, we were cutting insulation to size most of the day, and got to installing at the end. In this picture, you can also see the oval-shaped hole for the AC exhaust vent in the back corner.

To the OP: sounds like you know what you're doing both in construction and in your grow setup, having made solid decisions that fit your needs and ambitions. Don't need me to tell you to stick to your convictions and pay no attention to this kind of nonsense above, but i'm gonna say it anyways because I get really bored of those who speak without experience and merely pass on conjecture or silly stories of "someone said/did/thinks" etc. This empty waffle talk is unhelpful but sadly commonplace in communities like this.

You will pull mad weed with your setup once you tweak it right. I'm running cobs in veg and my efficiency is excellent and plants are very happy once I got this new room right. If I hadn't invested in DE for flower before turning on to cobs i'd have them in there too. These lights are the future for growing in terms of output and efficiency and aren't in the same discussion as previous LED / blurples. Those that have done it can attest to this, its not even debatable.

Good luck with your shed bro, i'm along for the ride.

ruwtz said:

To the OP: sounds like you know what you're doing both in construction and in your grow setup, having made solid decisions that fit your needs and ambitions. Don't need me to tell you to stick to your convictions and pay no attention to this kind of nonsense above, but i'm gonna say it anyways because I get really bored of those who speak without experience and merely pass on conjecture or silly stories of "someone said/did/thinks" etc. This empty waffle talk is unhelpful but sadly commonplace in communities like this.

You will pull mad weed with your setup once you tweak it right. I'm running cobs in veg and my efficiency is excellent and plants are very happy once I got this new room right. If I hadn't invested in DE for flower before turning on to cobs i'd have them in there too. These lights are the future for growing in terms of output and efficiency and aren't in the same discussion as previous LED / blurples. Those that have done it can attest to this, its not even debatable.

Good luck with your shed bro, i'm along for the ride.

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Thanks. All credit for this puppy goes to other people. 100% of what I know about grow room design comes from you and other people on this board and the LED board and my local hydro store. About half of the shed construction design (and 90% of the tools) comes from my buddies who are helping. One of them showed up yesterday with a styrofoam jigsaw blade to cut insulation. Who knew such a thing even existed?

I'm also convinced the COB LED is the future for grow design. The PPFD output vs power consumption is pretty unbelievable, and I'm interested how this efficiency translates into heat output from the light rig. New COBs from CREE with greater efficiency are also here and will be available in quantities soon.

I''ll update the diary later today

This is twilightbud who posted this pic of his setup. I bulb and pulls 7 lbs i think it was. As of today no led or cob can do this.


Here is northernfarmers setup which my stadium is identicle to this excelt my end is enclosed in and i have a light mover.


You do what you want to do. Thats what i do. I have 150, 400, 600 and 1000 watt regular bulbs. I have done cfl, T12, t8 and t5 grows. I also have led's old one and new ones. Matter of fact i have a led panel come in today. They are better for veg for me than mh. I have never seen a cob or led provide more yield for me than hps. Thats because i maximize a bulb not limit it by only using 50% of the bulb surface. If your going to do your set up where your not going to maximize youre space then by all means use cobs. In 10 years these cobs or leds will be using much less power and giving better results. 6 months what your using now is going to be obsolete led wise. Just the nature of progression. My led ufo's that i no longer use are 8-10 years old and severley outdated.
Magnetic ballast are on the way out as well.

You know what you want to do and you and only you can make yourself happy with what you want.

Greenthumbskunk said:

View attachment 3810927

This is twilightbud who posted this pic of his setup. I bulb and pulls 7 lbs i think it was. As of today no led or cob can do this.


Here is northernfarmers setup which my stadium is identicle to this excelt my end is enclosed in and i have a light mover. View attachment 3810931View attachment 3810932


You do what you want to do. Thats what i do. I have 150, 400, 600 and 1000 watt regular bulbs. I have done cfl, T12, t8 and t5 grows. I also have led's old one and new ones. Matter of fact i have a led panel come in today. They are better for veg for me than mh. I have never seen a cob or led provide more yield for me than hps. Thats because i maximize a bulb not limit it by only using 50% of the bulb surface. If your going to do your set up where your not going to maximize youre space then by all means use cobs. In 10 years these cobs or leds will be using much less power and giving better results. 6 months what your using now is going to be obsolete led wise. Just the nature of progression. My led ufo's that i no longer use are 8-10 years old and severley outdated.
Magnetic ballast are on the way out as well.

You know what you want to do and you and only you can make yourself happy with what you want.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the input. Stadium grow is way beyond my skill level right now.

Insulation

Insulation is mostly up now.

First we finished sealing all the gaps and seams, than then put Orca film over the windows and vents. The cavity behind them is filled with foam spray



Then we put up all the rigid EPS, which had been cut the day before. The EPS is glued and screwed in.



Lots of little gaps we filled with scrap EPS or foam



Also, the shelving rails are installed



Still have to do the doors, which are a little tricky.

yo, shecky, my man, well done!
looking brilliant.

3rdcoaster said:

I think your going to appreciate the 2 x 4 reinforcment in the shed down thd road.

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I think so. Especially since the earth likes to shake around these parts.

3rdcoaster said:

Are you putting a GFCI on the power in the shed, either as a breaker at the panel or receptacle? or is the one you put on the house protecting the shed on the load side?

Click to expand...

The one on the house is protecting the shed, like you say.

3rdcoaster said:

Are you giving yourself enough room at your receptacles for timers and your other loads?

Click to expand...

Plenty

3rdcoaster said:

Looks like your going to have a nice space there. Cant wait to see some green in it.

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Me too! Looks like we're about a week late to get started, but ....

SOON!

Blue brother said:

yo, shecky, my man, well done!
looking brilliant.

Click to expand...

Hard work and preparation pay off.

Finishing Up The Insulation

Not much to report from yesterday. We finished up insulating the doors, which were very tricky. Filled up the windows cavities with some 1" EPS and mostly got a good tight seal everywhere. The doors are a little sticky from the friction of the tight foam, but we're going to take it down a bit and tape over the edges. Caulk and foam spray for all the little gaps. We have some extra EPS so we may double up the roof insulation



I put my temp/rh data logger inside overnight and the insulation is pretty effective. Temps drop quickly here at sunset. By 8 PM there was already an 8 degree F difference between the outside and inside, which didn't equalize until 2 AM. This morning, the shed remained 7 degrees F below the outside until we opened up the doors at 10 AM. Humidity control was even better, remaining 12% below the outside all night (rh jumps overnight here). I will do a more rigorous test over the weekend

Frames

No help yesterday, so I made the frames for the scrog screen and lighting rig. The scrog screen is made out of extra 1x2 and 2x2 I had. I was going to do 2x2 redwood for lightness, but just decided to use what we had around. For the legs, I will be using the legs from aluminum crutches, which will allow me to adjust the height easily. They arrived last night, so I didn't get those in yet. The scrog screen is 42" x 60", and I will be using eye-hooks and 1/16" shock cord at 2" intervals to string it up

For the COB frame I used 3/4" x 3/4" x 1/8" aluminum angle. The outside of the frame is 28" x 60". The lights will be arrayed in the three rows you see in the photo so that they form equilateral triangles with 14" sides. That is to say the center spacing between any COB and all its neighbors is 14". As you can see in the scale diagram I created, this leaves 2 dead spots in 2 corners and another at the other end, but I decided flat coverage for the rest was more important. The spacing between lights in a row is 14", the center row is offset by 7" and the distance between rows is 12.25". In the diagram, the black circles are the actual size of the COB-heatsink assembly, and the pink is a 12" representation of the light cone

Slow Progress

Sorry for the lack of posts, been trying to keep up a full time job in the middle of all this and it's starting to crunch me.

So we're about 2 weeks behind schedule which sucks. But everything is shaping up nicely. End of last week we finished up final sealing details, like foaming all seams on the inside and siliconing the seams on the outside.



Also finished dressing the A/C exhaust vent



We insulated the peak with holes cut out for where the lights attach to the roof peak.



Speaking of which, the lights are all assembles and working. Ready to hang



Finally today, we started putting up the Orca Film like wallpaper. Finish that up in the morning

White

Like, seriously, white.



As you can see, we ran out of Orca film for the whole ceiling. We wound up using spray adhesive. I'm still tasting it.

Still have to tape up the seams a little. Tomorrow shelving and then we start working on the canopy

Getting Close

We're getting really close. I will be finishing up the interior this weekend and the canopy will be finished on Monday.

Here's the interior of the shed now. That's the scrog screen frame in the middle, which is the largest item that sits on the floor. To the left is the shelving/hook/basket setup where all supplies will be. To the right is the is the shelves where the A/C and heater will be.



Here's a closer look at the lighting rig. Those bamboo skewers will be cut down to 18" which will be my distance between the lights and the canopy.



Closer look at the basket kit:



Closer look at the shelving. That's the flat-panel heater and circulation fan under the shelf. You can see the insulated A/C duct sticking out of the back wall.



A closer look at the scrog screen and the frankenstein legs. It's adjustable crutch legs stuck into some electrical conduit which is drilled into the wood frame.



Finally, we started on the frame for the canopy. The back legs are attached directly to the foundation beams on the right and will be attached to the fence on the left. Only the front right leg is sunk into the ground with a little concrete mold.

Completion

We are very near complete, just some pump issues to work out this afternoon. Sorry for the irregular posts, I've been jamming hard sunrise to sunset to finish this up. Later in the week when I've had more sleep I will detail the final steps and go over the finished room details as well as the final budget which I will post on Google Docs.

In the meanwhile, enjoy the view of the Arlo wireless camera I set up in there

Done, Part 1

So the shed is now complete and end of last week I started germinating. Sprouts are sprouting, and all looks good for the moment.

So, a look at some of the details now that it is all tricked out

First the shed from the outside. A couple of new things to note here. The shade canopy is up. Only the front right leg is sunk into the ground with concrete mold, the rest are either attached to the foundation on the right, and the fence on the left. As you can see, there is a 4" gap between the left and right edges of the tarp and the edges of the roof, this is so rain will fall from the tarp to the roof to the gutters down below. As you can see, it is a narrow side yard, and I did not want rain water going into my house' foundation or into my neighbor's yard over the fence. The gutters lead to the drain we installed in the back of the shed at the beginning.



On the inside, we have a standard recirculating hydro setup. 3x3 tray and stand, 20 gal tank, water and air pumps. I used some scrap pressure-treated to keep electronics off the floor in case of accidental flood.



For irrigation, I chose to go with a circular supply design and 2 GPH pressure-compensated emitters. This will hopefully keep pressure even throughout the system.



OK, out of image attachments for this post, continued on the next

Done, Part 2

Continued from previous post

I chose a coiled power cord for the lighting rig so it would go up easier.



Instrument central: controllers and power. See photos for details



The temp and humidity controllers have sensors with long wires which I have strung under the lights so I will be measuring the temp and rh from the canopy. The hanging blue doo-hickey is a temp/rh data logger, and the one struck in the germination tray is a light, soil temp, soil moisture and soil salt sensor.



Continued in next post

Done, Part 3

Continued from previous posts

Temp Central: AC/Heat. Note the insulated exhaust duct for the AC, and the strap keeping the AC tight to the wall. The panel heater and circulation fan are under the AC.



Humidity Central: The Vornado Evap40 died already, so I have a smaller unit in there temporarily.



I dressed a lot of the cables in white wire loom conduit to keep it protected, and elevated off the ground in case of accidental flood



And that's about it. Happy to answer any questions if I missed anything.

In a day or two, I will finish up the budget and post to Google Sheets.

I will likely update this thread from time to time with grow pics, but not regularly like a grow diary.