Setting Up a New Grow Space

[The Hemp Goddess]

I am going to be wintering at my sister's place and am going to need to set up a new grow space. These are the tentative plans, but I want suggestions from you all. I will probably be there from the first of Nov until the end of March. Even though the temps are a lot warmer there, we can expects lows near 0F. The property is located on slightly over 2 acres in an urban area, but located on a dead end road. She has a large detached garage that I plan to use. The garage has a 100 amp box and plenty of spaces to run more power, however, there is a 20 amp dedicated circuit that runs to the area I am thinking about using. One of the other cool things about the garage is that it has a drain and a cistern that I should be able to pull water from year round. It is ground water and I will check the ppms and the pH the next time I am down there.

Thinking of framing off the back 5' of a garage that is 24' wide and 30' deep. We are planning on making this appear to be the back wall of the garage. The 5' width is dictated by windows on each side of the garage. I am thinking of using 1/2 of this space and putting 2 4 x 4 tents in there. They would run opposite of each other and one tent would heat the other. I have a 1000W HPS and a 600W HPS. I have 2 6" Vortex fans, 6" insulated ducting, and an existing vent through the roof of the garage.

These are tentative plans and I welcome all suggestions. Money is tight this winter, so I am trying not to have to buy much since all the garage work is going to take a buck or two. It is kind of exciting to be able to set up a new space. I will clone and veg in a closet in the house. I am also thinking that going back to hydro for the winter may be easier.

Let's plan a room.

 

[BackWoodsDrifter]

Got nothin to offer such a talented and experienced grower such as yourself THG but I wish yual the best of fun startin from scratch again. Its always fun learnin from each time and seein the better results at end of new setups. Hope yual be postin pics pilgremess as yual got me settin yur fireside

Have fun

BWD

 

[JustAnotherAntMarching]

THG sounds like you have thought about this alil bit... only thing id worry about is the cold, but you seem to have that figured out....

 

[Rosebud]

You can do anything you put your mind to. I wish i had a good idea, but all my good ideas come from you, ha. Enjoy.

 

[juniorgrower]

That's what I did when I built my new rooms last fall. I put on a 6' wide addition on the back of my garage. Good luck THG.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I have started my lookout for bargains. My first great find--12 4x8 pieces of 1/2" sheetrock for $22 or a 30-pack of Coors Light.

 

[BackWoodsDrifter]

Yup on her way she is!

BWD

 

[Hushpuppy]

Yeah I think you got it set already with isolating the back area and then setting up the tents. I would make sure to insulate the walls so that the temps can be maintained easier. I would definitely go with the hydro rather than trying to make up and keep soil.

The only problem I see is being able to access 4x4 tents in a 5' space without having 2 entrances to the walled off space. You would have to put them back to back and access them from opposite sides. It might be easier(and more cost affective) to seal off the space and make a couple partitions within to separate the rooms

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I'm going to make the space 12' long, although I can make it longer if I want. I will have the tents facing each other with their back against the 5' walls. I will have about a foot between the tent and the back wall to run ducting and cords. There will be 4' in the middle for the door and to give me room to work and move about. I have pretty much decided that hydro is the way to go also--a lot cleaner and neater given the circumstances. We plan on insulating well--I definitely understand the value of that. There seems to be a lot of insulation on CL, so will be checking that out as soon as we are framed up.

Still turning the ventilation over in my puny little brain...don't quite have it figured out...

 

[4u2sm0ke]

sounds like a fun build....what will ya be doing with the concrete floor?...as ya know the winters will be cold?...ive seen folks use 1 inch styrofoam boards....and even cardboard ...cant wait to see this addition ..ya say Hydro...water farm?...I can see you makeing a killer stealth set up...mojo for you

take care and be safe

 

[Hushpuppy]

:doh: I can't believe I didn't think about making a space between the tents and have them face each other. That definitely makes ventilation a bit tricky though since you want to utilise the heat from one to warm the other. Will the garage be climate controlled at all?

 

[HemperFi]

Sounds like you are setting your Sis up with a grow room -- will she keep growing when you go back home in the Spring? I love the 2 tent idea, but I don't know hydro, so I would go dirt, but you are the master, Goddess. I'm sure the new room will be stellar -- good luck. Sheet rock for beer? Very cool

Peace

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

4u--I will probably put rigid styrofoam on the floor--I'll see what I can find. Most likely hydro, although I will probably transport several small plants I have in dirt down there to finish vegging and flower. It will be nice to have water and a drain in the space. Not water farm, but I think I may link the buckets for easy res changeouts.

Hushpuppy--The garage temps will not be regulated, hence the smaller 5 x 12 room with lights running opposite each other. I am thinking the heat from the lights will be enough to keep the space at 60 without auxiliary heat. I am going to run the 1000W at night and the 600W during the day.

Hemper--not sure the sis is cut out for growing, she is kind of lazy and procrastinates a lot. But I am thinking that I will probably winter there from here on out, so will use it every winter. She is not using the space--it is just collecting junk now. I will take pics as I go along. It will be a project and I would like to have it done in a month or less. Yeah, I though sheetrock for beer sounded like a good deal.

 

[4u2sm0ke]

I see your idea Godess and dont think you will need additional heat..as long as ya good and insulated....I have a question.

if you have two tents on separate 12/12...and using the lights to heat the ambient room???...how will you regulate the dark hrs temps?...Dam Im excited for ya...did ya get that sheet rock?...how about the Beer?..and is the door to this room going to be exterior grade?..okay maybe more than one question...okay last one..:rofl:

when ya planning the first run?:lama:

 

[Hushpuppy]

Hey goddess, I have been thinking about yer project and have a couple ideas. If the garage isn't accessed much by the big exterior door then you could heat the air in the whole garage. shouldn't take much to bring it up to 55-65f then draw it into the grow space where it would be heated further with a heat exchanger from the exaust air. The exaust air exiting would pull air from the garage which could pull in air from an external vent. the mixing of the external air with the heated garage air would allow you to heat that air some while still drawing in CO2 replenished air.

Or you could exaust into the garage which would heat it some to cut down on the secondary heat source. Then have the garage set up to exaust from up high so that the lighter warm O2 would exit and pull in the cooler CO2 replenished air that would be warmed by crossing the room to the grow space.

I also found that using the small votive candles in containers (for safety) adds considerable heat and CO2 to my grow space

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I have some small plants in dirt still in veg that I will throw into 12/12 down there as soon as I can. The next run, will be Mandala strains in hydro. I will start one tent and then start another a couple of weeks to a month later.

I will use an exterior grade door. I have discovered the Habitat for Humanity Restore. They have a lot of used stuff for decent prices. I can get a used, okay quality prehung exterior door for around $25.

It actually would take quite a bit to heat the entire garage, even though we use a mandoor most of the time. I don't want to insulate the entire thing (LOL--don't have the money to insulate the whole thing)--it's 750 sq ft. It is older and not too tight. I even worry about the exhaust air from the one tent being enough to heat the other tent. Temperature extremes can get tricky to deal with. It gets over 100 in the summer and under 0 in the winter. I am sure setting up the ventilation is going to be hit and miss/trial and error at first...wish I could afford some kind of CAP controller.

I am going down Thurs to start some preliminary stuff--clean out the space, check out the water source, figure what I need for the electrical, probably buy studs and insulation. I'll take pics.

 

[bwanabud]

I can see potential problems, how are you going to control tent temps....when changing air 3-4 times an hour, with zero degree air ?

I fight the same problem here, being in a unconditioned (heated or cooled) space can be a serious problem. Insulation contains exiting heat, doesn't buffer cold from entering the air space.

Is it a concrete slab, that you will be sitting on ? Standard builders foam, 3/4" is R5 at best.....once you walk on it, and crush it down....it will lose that insulating ability. Best to frame a sleeper joise system in, insulate it with R11 & add plywood.

It can be done, but not on a tight budget

 

[NorCalHal]

Can't wait to see the pics, it is hard for me to "envision" the space.

 

[Hushpuppy]

My building is also very "airish" and I had to insulate it to control the temp swings. Now, even though I am still pulling in air from outside, I still am able to control temps better but my space is a lot smaller too, only about 225sqft. I would suggest, if it is possible with funds and all, to build it a little bigger then put the tents inside it so that you can heat the outer space as fresh air comes in before it goes into the tents.

Here is something I did this summer for keeping my resevoirs cool. I think it would work for heating as well. I used 1/2" flexible copper pipe formed into a coil for my heat transfer coils, but If you could get yer hands on 4 smaller radiators(car AC radiators or heater cores would be best) and place 2 of them in individual boxes where you can have exaust air coming through and warming the water within them. Then pump the water back to the other radiators outside the tents with a small fan blowing on them to transfer the heat back into the air, all you would need to power is the pumps for moving the water. This would allow you to utilise the heated air without having to set up an elaborate ventilation system. Just an idea to toss out

 

[tastyness]

THG-
I'm a HUGE reStore fan.
Home depot is their corporate sponsor so anything you return to the big orange usually ends up in a reStore.
I used to volunteer at my local store and loved it.