Large stealth grow

FauxRoux

Well-Known Member
Hello folks,
I thought some might take some interest in my grow room design as it's slightly different. While as you will soon see I am no carpenter (that right there was my disclaimer....yes you may laugh and heckle at my work, I will only cry where you can't see me). I like many have stealth needs, (and dont worry ladies, YES my wife knows :rolleyes:) however the traditional "closet" simply wouldn't fulfill my needs. So I made the "stealth garage shelving unit".

I concluded that something was needed that would not stand out to anyone whom may need to enter my garage... such as the legally required yearly city inspection despite my legal medical status (thx alot *&%#ing UC Uni system, for those laws)...or anyone walking by my garage with the door open...like if I was working on 1 off my cars.

I had about 5 sheets of 4'x8' ply board and some miscellaneous 2"x4"s a friend gave me, leftover from a hotel that he helped build (and a few of my own boards/odds and ends from previous projects). So I decided a 10' T x 10' L x 2'.6" W unit would fit the bill. Just deep enough for 2 medium sized plants if scrogged right and just small enough to not come out too far from the wall to look odd. Since my work bench comes out 30" and is on the same wall it all fits rather nicely, with enough space left to work on a car.

So to start the frame:
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This is NOT the best way to build a frame...but with the limitation of my materials (and skills) it will due. My reservoir's will be housed here. That is thin carport carpet on top of cement slab. So it isn't absorbent in case of res flood and slopes towards the garage door. The cement also has the benefit of keeping my res temp down.


I braced the feet to the back of the frame and added the floor of the first shelf.
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Here I have added some of the walls. The pieces of siding at the top of the walls are recessed 5/8" from the top to allow me to add another piece of ply for the roof. Since this is a rental I want to leave the walls and drywall ceiling as untouched as possible. Making cleanup easier when I move. Also the ply dampens the noise of my fans and equipment quite a bit.

With walls up (and the notch for the water pipe cut) the unit was slid back against the wall to check the fit....
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Framing for equipment shelves (far left) and roof added. Also if you look closely I have started caulking all the gaps with window/door caulk (kitchen/bathroom caulk has nasty mold inhibitors that can off-gas).
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These equipment shelves will be the only connections to the walls other then a couple 3" deck screws on the far right side through the back wall which will anchor the unit. The AC is top far left and Dehui goes in the middle far left. (after running the system I found the Dehui puts off too much heat in the small environment to be effective, so now it is just extra space for fans and misc. Luckily the AC is waaaay over-sized (at 12,000 BTU) and can handle both jobs just fine).
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Framing for the shelves begins. The top right/left wall will have no partition for 1 long scrog. The bottom left will be veg and is 12" wider towards left wall to accommodate mother/clones/teens. Right bottom will have a removable roof for either a quarantine or seed breeding bay or that can be removed for an additional flower chamber.
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Front of frames so I can properly weather strip the doors for an air tight fit.
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Here's the utility shelves caulked and ready to go.
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And doors.
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My foreman is showing why he makes the big $
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More to come.
 
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FauxRoux

Well-Known Member
Doors and front mostly done.

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And primer/flat white paint.
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Here we have the AC up top. Ive got a 4" inline wired to turn on in tandem with the AC that vents the hot air it puts out straight into a baffle in the attic which vents straight out an eave.
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I installed a drip catch attached to a bulk head fitting so its discharge falls straight into a collection cup.
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Now Ive used a piece of insulation board to seal in the AC.
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Bottom left next to veg and floor is where I put the Controller/ballasts and co2 tank. Nice thing about this was the ballasts were out of the grow space and not contributing to the heat. Since this build I have switched to COB Led's.
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More to come....sorry for the retarded big pics....im lazy
 

thewanderer718

Well-Known Member
Doors and front mostly done.

View attachment 3530409




View attachment 3530410

And primer/flat white paint.
View attachment 3530411



Here we have the AC up top. Ive got a 4" inline wired to turn on in tandem with the AC that vents the hot air it puts out straight into a baffle in the attic which vents straight out an eave.
View attachment 3530412


I installed a drip catch attached to a bulk head fitting so its discharge falls straight into a collection cup.
View attachment 3530413


Now Ive used a piece of insulation board to seal in the AC.
View attachment 3530414


Bottom left next to veg and floor is where I put the Controller/ballasts and co2 tank. Nice thing about this was the ballasts were out of the grow space and not contributing to the heat. Since this build I have switched to COB Led's.
View attachment 3530415
View attachment 3530416

More to come....sorry for the retarded big pics....im lazy
Awesome job so far !!!!! i have a few small stealth cabs around my house now. i am waiting until the new year gonna do a full false room or blow my attic out. i will be checking back with you to see how it works out for you, Good luck.
 

FauxRoux

Well-Known Member
Thx!

ive been using it for a few rounds through 2 inspections....works quite well :hump:

If your going to use an attic just make sure to build a box and it's sealed airtight! Ive seen people vent into attics directly and they mold and rot the roof! Attics are weather sealed from the outside so the moisture has nowhere to go...a bad and expensive scene.

I have more to post, maybe ill get to it tonight.
 

FauxRoux

Well-Known Member
As I don't really have the space for DWC with the HID lighting (although now that I have led's Im considering 2.5gl bucket dwc)...I opted to go with Bato Buckets. Not really a popular option here in the states, I do still encounter them in most commercial agriculture ventures. I picked some up cheap from an old rose grower greenhouse job site I was refitting for tomatoes and cucumbers. The pvc drain pipes are shimmed 1/2" per 4' towards the center pipe.
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Here I have sealed off the lower right bay and have installed the drainpipes with unions. The unions make it possible to dismantle and remove the pipes if need be and to lock the downpipes into the lid of my res on the cement floor. The added bonus of a 5' drop back to the res in a continuous flow hydro system is the aeration of my res and the cooling of the solution as it does so :hump:
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Here I have fashioned lids out of 2" insulation board to help with reflectively but mostly to help keep the ambient humidity down.
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Drip lines installed. General practice is 2 lines per bucket to better soak roots and a backup in the off chance 1 clogs. Not likely as im not using a drip emitter, just spaghetti lines. You can see in the bottom 4" net pot hole I have put a piece of panda wrap around the inner diameter of the insulation lid....to prevent insulation getting wet or any chance of a root growing into it.
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This was the original setup. The vented hoods pulled air from the floor by the res's and pushed it into the attic with a 12" inline fan straight into the same baffle as the 4" AC fan and right out the roof eave vent. This was quite effective and left with scrog about 25"-30" below hood. It was a tight fit but never burned or bleached. It was however expensive as the fans were always on and the AC was on 1/3 of the time. Switching to COB led's has lowered my bill to about 1/4th what it was so far. But the jury is still out on what I will yield as im not quite halfway through my first flower with them. Fingers crossed.

You can also see some of the weather stripping. Between the thick stripping and the slide locks the doors are air tight when locked.
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