Questions about room insulation

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Astral22

Well-Known Member
Hi, i need some help and i have some questions for those experienced with insulations or any other type of construction work. I have 0 experience in this matter, and i'm from a non-English speaking country, so i apologize upfront for incorrect terms.

Here is my situation:

- I live in an apartment on first floor, i have a room that's around 30m2 and it's split into two areas, one part is my bedroom and other part is my office/working area/gaming room. This is where i want to place my grow tent.

- I have noisy neighbors above me, it's cold during winter and hard to heat the room, so i want to insulate my ceiling. Also i live next to the ocean so it's pretty humid here.

- I can't insulate the floor above me, i can't knock down any walls or ceilings. So the handyman i called suggested to lower my ceiling and install metal frames, fill the void with glass/mineral wool and cover it with boards (gypsum, knauf, plasterboard, drywall.. i don't know how it's called)
Then finish with mold-resistant primer and paint.

- I can't exhaust the air from the grow tent outside, the air will recycle and i will have to rely on my dehumidifier, AC unit and opening windows everytime i smoke a cigarette which is very often :D
I will provide co2 for the plants since i will spend most of the time in that room.

So my questions are:
- How does that ceiling insulation sound to you?
- Will the glass/mineral wool cause health issues if it's covered with boards and sealed?
- Can humidity go through the insulation and grow mold behind it?
- Should any more materials be added, some kind of vapor barrier?
- Can the wool go directly on naked ceiling or should there be some sort of sheet in between?

I won't do this myself of course, i'm paying someone to help me do this. The handyman seems pretty knowledgable, but the more we go into this the more i question his plan. I just want to have some additional info to correct him if needed. He said that humidity and mold will not be a problem, but then again he doesn't know that i want to grow 3-4 plants inside.

Thanks in advance, maybe i wrote too much details but i want to give you a precise idea of my situation.
 
gwhunran

gwhunran

Well-Known Member
Astral22 said:
Hi, i need some help and i have some questions for those experienced with insulations or any other type of construction work. I have 0 experience in this matter, and i'm from a non-English speaking country, so i apologize upfront for incorrect terms.

Here is my situation:

- I live in an apartment on first floor, i have a room that's around 30m2 and it's split into two areas, one part is my bedroom and other part is my office/working area/gaming room. This is where i want to place my grow tent.

- I have noisy neighbors above me, it's cold during winter and hard to heat the room, so i want to insulate my ceiling. Also i live next to the ocean so it's pretty humid here.

- I can't insulate the floor above me, i can't knock down any walls or ceilings. So the handyman i called suggested to lower my ceiling and install metal frames, fill the void with glass/mineral wool and cover it with boards (gypsum, knauf, plasterboard, drywall.. i don't know how it's called)
Then finish with mold-resistant primer and paint.

- I can't exhaust the air from the grow tent outside, the air will recycle and i will have to rely on my dehumidifier, AC unit and opening windows everytime i smoke a cigarette which is very often :D
I will provide co2 for the plants since i will spend most of the time in that room.

So my questions are:
- How does that ceiling insulation sound to you?
- Will the glass/mineral wool cause health issues if it's covered with boards and sealed?
- Can humidity go through the insulation and grow mold behind it?
- Should any more materials be added, some kind of vapor barrier?
- Can the wool go directly on naked ceiling or should there be some sort of sheet in between?

I won't do this myself of course, i'm paying someone to help me do this. The handyman seems pretty knowledgable, but the more we go into this the more i question his plan. I just want to have some additional info to correct him if needed. He said that humidity and mold will not be a problem, but then again he doesn't know that i want to grow 3-4 plants inside.

Thanks in advance, maybe i wrote too much details but i want to give you a precise idea of my situation.
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If you have neighbors above you, you have a insulated ceiling, if this is a "holding in the heat" question. You really only need to insulate for heat if the other side of the wall, floor, or ceiling is outside. If you are trying to block sound then insulating the ceiling might help. There are inline fans with carbon filters attached that pull in air, scrub it, and dump it back into the room. I've never done it that way so I can's speak to it's effectiveness.
 
crimsonecho

crimsonecho

Well-Known Member
once you start running your lights its gonna get warm enough in that 30m2 room no need to insulate if your floor is concrete or cold in general elevate the plants off the ground and if cold is really an issue go with hid lights instead of leds
 
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Astral22

Well-Known Member
I have a 300watt LED, i doubt it will warm up the room much, but if it does it's good for me beceause i'll use less heating :D I have trouble heating the room with a 800watt stone/marble heater
 
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thefullspectrum

Well-Known Member
That a big investment lowering your bedroom ceilings. You own it I presume?

If you really want to spend excess money, get your handyman to build a simple, removable grow room in the corner out of 60-75mm foil covered foam or something. Will be better for maintaining a warmer climate than a tent and a fraction of the cost of your other plan.
 
A

Astral22

Well-Known Member
thefullspectrum said:
That a big investment lowering your bedroom ceilings. You own it I presume?

If you really want to spend excess money, get your handyman to build a simple, removable grow room in the corner out of 60-75mm foil covered foam or something. Will be better for maintaining a warmer climate than a tent and a fraction of the cost of your other plan.
Click to expand...
I understand your point and you're right, that might be a better idea if it was just a grow room. But in my case i also sleep and work in that room, during winter i can barely keep it up at room temperature because all the heat goes through the ceiling, basically i'm heating my neighbors apartment lol. And i can't stand the noise from above, i can hear everything; footsteps, doors, windows and closets opening, voices, toilets flushing, telephones ringing.. Sometimes i can understand what they're talking, i even hear when someone is pissing.

The project already started, lowered my ceiling 20cm, installed metal construction, there's a 10cm of glass mineral wool and 10cm of empty space for better sound absorption, covered with green waterproof gypsum boards, finished with a mold resistant primer and paint. All that for 350€ for me it's an acceptable price if it's gonna lower my heating costs and dampen the noise.

Since my neighbor did renovations he fcked something up, his workers probably didn't insulate the floor properly. First i tried persuading my neighbor into insulating his floor, but he rejected and he told me: "Sue me if you want!" but guess what, both he and his wife are lawyers.. More money and time spent into suing him, he would probably find a way to win
 
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thefullspectrum

Well-Known Member
fair enough seems like a very good price actually.

Glasswool is good thermal insulation but not real good for sound
Rockwool is one of the best for both, and then you can grow in the offcuts :p
 
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Astral22

Well-Known Member
Yeah i asked for rockwool but they didn't have it readily available, it was more expensive to order and they told me it's harder to set it up properly without gaps, so i got this Knaufinsulation Acoustic Roll. It's not the typical pink glass wool, it has some other minerals and it's dark brown. Hopefully it will be alright.
 
solakani

solakani

Well-Known Member
To bring the heat from the ceiling back down to the floor, I would use a cold air return. To install, use 6" duct work run from ceiling to floor. The ceiling end of the duct is an open register. The opening on the floor has a fan to take air flow from the ceiling and blow the warm air across the floor of the room. Calculate the volume of air in the room and be sure to have a fan that will pass 10x that volume in one hour. Ductwork is easy to install if surface mounted. A powerful and quiet fan is the pricey item. Install cold air returns in other areas to ensure that the warm and cold air air is mixed by fan circulation.

Pic shows cold air return in the ceiling. It can be installed on the wall with the return air up to make things easier and save costs.

air.png
 
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