Planning New Grow Room

[Equanimity]

Hello friends


I've been growing for almost a year and I want to celebrate by creating a new, bigger grow area.

I currently have the cabinet from my last grow in a room on it's own along with "the nursery" which is a crappy pine wardrobe that my seedlings germinate in and a small amount of vegging takes place.

What i'd now like to do is evolve to the third stage; a room of it's own.
The old cabinet will be dismantled and all it's flat, even wooden bits will create the 'stage'.
The stage will be an area of 5ft by 7ft of wood reclaimed from the cabinet; it will then be topped with a waterproof tarp and nailed to the floor.

The next part will involve making a lighting rack.
The lighting rack will be suspended from the ceiling by way of a pulley system.

The rack hold:

One or (possibly) Two HPS lamps in cool tubes.
Both Ballasts.
The Carbon Filter.
The extractor fan.
Two desk fans blowing downward (placed somewhere away from the ballasts and lights!)​

This will be connected to a portion of aluminium tube that i'll purposefully allow to sag in order to facilitate raising and lowering the light.

The window in the room will covered with a bamboo roller blind, then, a large piece of foam with circle cut in it. There will then be a plastic "end piece" glued tight to the foam and the alu duct will attach to this.

The lighting rack will be the most difficult part; both getting it to stay suspended without falling down and arranging the 'modules'.

Below is a diagram of the room followed by two diagrams depicting the two lighting rack arrangements i've been able to come up with.

Room Layout (before lighting)

Light Scenario A

Light Scenario B

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[Weaselcracker]

No advice but whatever tiny thoughts that came to mind.
I don't know your building skills at all so it's kinda hard to know where things are really at.
The ceiling will have to be strong to support the weight. Some are, some aren't. Have you thought about light getting in through/out of the window/ vent? Solvable with a light baffle contraption if it's an issue...I would tend to want to go with a sheet of plywood over the window- easier to attach to. Scenario B looks better to me for the ducting run airflow.

I told you they were tiny thoughts. Sleep deprivation kicking in. Will check back

 

[Equanimity]

The vent hose could possibly be bent to defract the light, also the blind should help.

As for the ceiling; i'll knock on wood until i find a beam and use it.

 

[Weaselcracker]

If it's an attic above you the ceiling might be very flimsy. If it's a living space/floor above you or structural beams/rafters then it should be okay if you spread the weight across multiple points. You probably already know this of course.

 

[Weaselcracker]

Anyway- that was just my first thoughts- to make sure that the support from above is very safe and foolproof, and that the plan with all the bends in ducting will cut down a lot on Cfm air flow. Spray painting inside of duct black and a couple bends stops light though. The one time I grew in an attic I put down a tarp, then a layer of new poly (plastic), then covered all that with a layer of cardboard to protect the poly, then another new tarp. It never leaked. Looks like a nice setup with the luxury of space to walk around in.

 

[Equanimity]

Some modification might be required as i'm leaning toward an LED as second light, with just one hps.

The pulleys will be made from hooks and such designed for punch bags (like, for boxing), so if i keep my weight below that of a punch bag i'm elected.

the pulley rope itself will be made of three steel core washing lines plaited together; i've found plaiting makes things strong.