Building a House Around a Grow?

[Catharsis]

Something I thought of the other day and and just thought I'd throw it out there and see what the pros would suggest.

Coming up in the next year I am going to have a house built. I've never grown and therefore have a limited understanding of the kind of space I would need, but just as a thought experiment - how would one go about designing a floor plan with growing in mind?

Obviously you don't want the builder or draftsman to know what you're putting into the plan, so it would be a bit touchy. Would you somehow design negative space into the walls or simply have a room with all important criteria (access to attic for venting, etc) are covered? Depending on the power used the electrical system would need to account for the load.

Say, a 1600sq ft one story home with attic, with a room/space/whatever adequate to supply one person with room to expand. I know a lot of the size factor will depend on lighting, but let's assume at some point it'd be cool to run 2k watts of HPS, ventilation, etc - but initially it could be a very small operation.

I know I haven't provided much information, but this is intentional. I'm really just looking for ideas to think about and work on until this becomes a reality. A well thought out plan will save a lot of headache in the end.

Throw out any and all questions/ideas you would ask yourself if you were building a home with this in mind.

Thanks!

 

[stillsmokin843]

one quick idea would be to make your master bed room bigger with a long walk in closet. making the room deeper than you need and after construction is done you go in and frame a wall in the back side of your room then cut an access hole from your walkin closet to the hidden room you just framed.

 

[Sir_Nugget]

first off, u r over blowing this whole thing... You dont not need any sort of large space to supply a few people with smoke.. In fact you only need a 3 feet by 3 feet, or 9 square feet of space to harvest over a pound every 2 months... a pound should last a few people 2 months... a 4'x8' room should harvest over 3 pounds!.. so u see what im saying, instead of building youe entire house around a SMALL grow.. why don't u buy a HOMEBOX grow tent, and CASE CLOSED.. plz make no more talk of planning a house around a personal grow.. just idiotic

 

[slappyjack]

Install extra roof vents and a 200amp breaker box for sure. Run 240v "dryer" outlets on separate circuits to all floors. Plumb for "future expansion" drainage in places where the grow might be. Grows without drains suck IMO.

If it were me I'd ask them to add 2' extra headroom when they dig the basement. Basements are great because they stay cooler.

 

[Lazyman]

2KW to start is kind of a personal grow to me, but if you wanted to do bigger than you need to be serious about planning for a commercial op.

Best option is a hidden basement. There is no better spot to grow, especially if you can have the architect build in the conduits, vents, drains, water and power you'll need there.

Next to that, well it's all gonna be lots more obvious in a small house like that. Maybe build a 2-3 car garage out in the back 40 and prep that site, but by the time you're done you'll be in it over $50K, but that money would be made back in 2 harvests max.

So the question is, how much do you want to grow eventually?

 

[redspaghetti]

first off, u r over blowing this whole thing... You dont not need any sort of large space to supply a few people with smoke.. In fact you only need a 3 feet by 3 feet, or 9 square feet of space to harvest over a pound every 2 months... a pound should last a few people 2 months... a 4'x8' room should harvest over 3 pounds!.. so u see what im saying, instead of building youe entire house around a SMALL grow.. why don't u buy a HOMEBOX grow tent, and CASE CLOSED.. plz make no more talk of planning a house around a personal grow.. just idiotic

You created a thread about PROPER ENGLISH, please look at your phrases and sentences .. LOLOL you dont not? LOLOL

OP is asking for ideas, not asking to be flame.

OP, if this is going to be your very first grow i suggest you to pick up a grow tent, grow lab, homebox, darkroom ect..
Tents are very forgiving, its easy to set up or put away, you can also control temp, odors.

If you're growing just to smoke, a 4x4 or 4x8 tent with a few lights should create more then enough meds for you and your friends.


The only time when you build a house around a grow is when you go commercial. is this your case?

GL!

 

[Catharsis]

just idiotic

Just a thought experiment, as I said, but thank you for your very spirited input.

If it were me I'd ask them to add 2' extra headroom when they dig the basement. Basements are great because they stay cooler.

A basement would be ideal, definitely. Thanks!

So the question is, how much do you want to grow eventually?

Not sure really. If it ever went commercial, what would be feasible for a sustenance operation? Essentially not something to get rich off of, but to sustain oneself (property taxes, utilities, incidentals, etc.).

EDIT: I suppose monthly expenses would be necessary in order to determine this, but let's assume $1200/mo on top of current income would be comfortable.

You created a thread about PROPER ENGLISH, please look at your phrases and sentences .. LOLOL you dont not? LOLOL

My thoughts exactly.

The only time when you build a house around a grow is when you go commercial. is this your case?

Well, not looking to go commercial for quite some time, and I will get a few grows under my belt before doing anything drastic, of course. At first it would be personal, then the "room to expand" may end up being a commercial enterprise sometime in the future. Really just wanted to see what input people had for doing something like this.

 

[Lazyman]

In that case, you can keep doing your personal grow pretty much anywhere, a spare bedroom can turn out 5-7 pounds every 60 days with 4KW and a small veg room. It takes more herb than you think to live off of though, with mortgages, taxes, utilities, and the costs of running a commercial op. Plus in November/December you won't sell shit, everyone is bathing in weed in Cali for instance. I would quadruple your costs, and plan to grow more than that in case you lose a crop or two, no sense doing a big setup and losing it all because you couldn't make a couple payments.

 

[headfortrinity]

From the master bedroom you have a nice walk in closet that opens up to his and hers changing rooms of course hers is bigger than his. Cutting venting into the attic and dropping electrical through walls is not a problem if you have sufficient attic space. A drain would be nice too, maybe his and hers toilet rooms? that would account for a drain and water inlet, also an exhaust fan (fart fan) outlet. a nice size in hers maybe 8' x 8'?

 

[Albireo]

Just having mostly completed my own house (diy) I will says this, put the grow in your garage or basement (if it will be storage). I have a 8' x 9.5' room in my detached garage. I have kids, which means grandparents, friends, sitters, ect. who are all over the house. Then there are appraiser, tax accessors (who come over without notice), inspectors. I split my garage into shop spece and storage space. Most everyone has seen the storage area, so I put a locking door on it and built a room in it. No one asks to see a storage area twice and no reason for any of the parties I listed above to be there either.

 

[redspaghetti]

If you're not looking to go commie yet, i suggest you set up a small op, with that you can get the feel of growing and the experiences ( trials % errors ).

Once you have enough experiences and know the basic steps of growing, make the op a lilttle bigger, also depends on what you're using to grow ( hydro, soil, ect.. )

There are a lot of good informations on here, check out the design/equips forum, and micro grow. That should give you some kind of ideas, a lot of people on ICmag are very supportive and informative, if you have questions just ask. Once in a while you get a deadbeat like the guy above ( best to ignore him )

I've learned so much from this site and i wish some day i could pay back.

 

[DankNugz420]

if a basement is possible this is THE BEST option... have PLENTY of power run down on MULTIPLE circuits... tell them you have a tanning beds, washer/dryer, refrigerators, etc etc

if thats not an option just have one of the spare bedroom built with the space idea from above... LOTS of power and 2+ circuits to spread the load out.

 

[Sam the Caveman]

If he lives around here, asking for a basement is a very strange request, as no homes around here have basements. If that is the case, just tell your builder you would like a climate controlled storage area, so you can empty the one you have now.

redspaghetti- "deadbeat" comment was uncalled for, he didn't say anything deadbeatish

 

[Littleleaf]

When you build have them put in a safe room with a hidden door and you set. This day and age they won't think twice about it.

 

[SpasticGramps]

first off, u r over blowing this whole thing... You dont not need any sort of large space to supply a few people with smoke.. In fact you only need a 3 feet by 3 feet, or 9 square feet of space to harvest over a pound every 2 months... a pound should last a few people 2 months... a 4'x8' room should harvest over 3 pounds!.. so u see what im saying, instead of building youe entire house around a SMALL grow.. why don't u buy a HOMEBOX grow tent, and CASE CLOSED.. plz make no more talk of planning a house around a personal grow.. just idiotic

LOL. KYS.

It's what I did. I had to move because of my job and build a new house so I expanded the attic a little.

 

[redspaghetti]

If he lives around here, asking for a basement is a very strange request, as no homes around here have basements. If that is the case, just tell your builder you would like a climate controlled storage area, so you can empty the one you have now.

redspaghetti- "deadbeat" comment was uncalled for, he didn't say anything deadbeatish

I got a little carry away with the deadbeat comment, my apologies. I just cant stand people calling names and flame when the guy was just asking for advices and opinions.

If you have nothing nice/constructive to say then stay out of the thread

GL on your grow OP!

 

[mexilandrace]

get it made with a courtyard in the middle that is surrounded by your house.

instead of a back yard have a courtyard in the middle so you can do outdoor with no way anyone would see it.

 

[Sir_Nugget]

on a second, less insultive note, it would be awsome to have a fake book case that pulls out, covering up a closet sized grow, lets say, 3' x 6', that is borderline production, and would nearly pay for the cost of the house.. BUT, the cost of integrating something like that would be a lot, compared to if you just put a 4'x8', or 8' x 8' tent in a spare room, and ran it all water-cooled style with a chiller.. if you have money to drop on pro gear checkout the ice-box heat exchanger setup

 

[Deaner]

Did someone say secret room?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DHNhrhyu8I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS5II_LavsQ

 

[perpetualnewb]

atrium