Brand new to growing, and starting to plan out my grow. I have a spare room in my basement that is 74" x 69" x 82 3/4" (LxWxH). You can see the room with the pictures I’ve attached. I’m pretty sure the biggest tent that I could fit in the room is a 4’x4’. You can see in the last picture what that would look like with the painters tape blocking off the section, and the blue chalk showing the door path. I was wondering if I would be better off just turning the room into a grow room and not use a tent.
Also for got to mention, as you can see, there is no window, and no way to vent air outside. The door will also have to remain shut. So not sure how much of an issue this will be, concerning fresh air and filter.
My first thought what will you growing? Autos or photos? Light penetration from outside the room, either ambient or when entering / exiting, window? I am thinking about a second space and I haven’t thought through what route will work best.
First grow will be White Widow Autos. Light penetration shouldn’t be much of an issue. This room is attached to the basement bathroom which has it’s own door, so not much light if any should be getting into the room.
One of the biggest issues you’ll face is air exchange. You need to find a way to exhaust the hot air from up high out to another space, and provide a path for an equal amount of air to enter, as low as possible, and preferably on the opposite side from the exhaust. That will be the case whether you go with a tent or make a grow room.
I started out in a very similar way, with a 3 x 3 tent inside a big bedroom closet. After the first grow I took the tent out and converted the closet into a grow room.
What kind of walls are in your room? Wood frame and sheet rock? Block? And what rooms are adjacent to it? It might be as easy as cutting in a few cheap vents from Home Depot. In the pic I’m posting I have three of these vents for air entry into the closet. I cut out the 10" openings in the sheet rock on both sides of the wall, I place 2 x 4 blocking in the bay above and below my hole. In the space outside of the grow room, whatever room that is in your house, you install the vent like in my picture, and I usually wrap the back of it with a dark towel. Inside your grow room you don’t need a grate, I just thumb tack a dark towel over the opening and wash the towels after each grow. That will allow air to flow into your closet. You’ll also need to do something similar for your exhaust, but you’ll have to choose a fan and filter first, and then make a plan from there.
If I were you I’d try to make the whole room a grow space. I’ve never heard anyone complain about having too much space to grow, but I know plenty of us who wish our spaces were bigger!
Actually the more and more I think about this, I think going with a grow tent is going to be the best option for me. Unfortunately wife won’t let me modify the room at all, so no painting or cutting. With the tent I won’t have to worry about some of that, and it will have the structure for me to hang lights.
As @Cap_Ron said, you need fresh air. If the door will be closed and your wife won’t allow you to add any vents, don’t even start. Your plants will die.
@BeerGeekGamer that’s good thinking you wouldn’t have to cut holes into anything or totally restrict your room my girlfriend want let me do that either that’s why we have tents
Even with the tent you’re still going to have to find a way to exhaust the hot air out of the room the tent is in. Otherwise exchanging air between the tent and the room won’t do you any good because you’ll be recirculating the same hot and stale air. I’m certainly not trying to discourage you in any way, and it’s great that you’re excited to get started. I’m sure there’s a way that will be acceptable, but you definitely need to figure that out, it’s critical. Let me know if I can help, even a very subtle thing like taking the door off the hinges, cutting a half inch off of the bottom and putting it back up can work for air intake, but most likely you’ll have to make a penetration of some sort for an exhaust.
I’m very very far from being an expert grower, I’m still a novice actually, but I’ve spent 30 years in construction and I’ve built several grow rooms for myself and others over the last two years. So while I won’t be super helpful to people here when it comes to plant questions, I can certainly help a lot on issues like these.
Thanks for all the comments. I guess I should add that both the bathroom doors and storage room door can be wide open as long as the kids or guests aren’t in the basement. So I’m hoping that, that will be enough for air flow.
