white or reflective?

[dedodd]

I am building a new cabinet to start my 4th grow from clones. I have seen the inside of cabinets built out different ways and I would like to know which is considered the best inside surface...???

flat white or some type of foil??

The cab is going to be 4x4x7

Thanks for all the help this site has given me!!

 

[SittingBull]

I think you should simply paint it flat white. It's much more forgiving than mylar or foil and involves wayyy less maintenance and COST.
I've used mylar for a couple years, when i first started and totally regret it. I noticed that it tears very easily and gets very dirty and is very hard to keep clean. I instead use flat white paint.

White paint is highly reflective and it won't tear off and fall down or get permanently dirty. With paint all you need is a quick wipe of the sponge with some soap and done. With mylar/foil you may tear it when cleaning, it can be b#@$% to clean, and you may not get it clean because it streaks like a mofo and stays dirty even afterwards. For example - like a window with streaks you cant rub out with Windex.

 

[desert fox]

I like white panda film better nice and thick and easier work with as well as wipes down well. the foil film is a bitch to clean especially if you are planing to foliage feed. If you go with 6 mil panda film you dont need for wood for walls. I will post a picture of my cab as the girls are sleeping now. I used plywood for the floor and roof, 22 2X4s used the scrap plywood for huge intakes for a 8X3X7 flowering chamber. tarping and taping takes some skill and time. I use 3/4 birch, got a 50 pound scrubber 2 mag ballast rest on top, two light fixtures and I can doesn't even flinch on weight of 200 pound guy hanging from it . one thing to consider on your build dimensions is trays that will fit in your cabinet. as I got to get (2) 2x2 trays as I want to go blaunts eventually. to do 4 plants staggered so I can harvest 2 plants at a time. I don't think it was cheaper than a tent but It is surely beefier and caters to my need better.

 

[RB56]

I used aluminum roof flashing. A little more expensive but easy to clean, very durable, fireproof and more reflective than white paint.

 

[Granger2]

If it's more reflective than white paint, it's only slightly more. All the materials mentioned will give good reflectivity. Any difference will, at best, result in only a miniscule difference in yield. Good luck. -granger

 

[RB56]

Other thing to remember is that the distance between the lights and the reflective surface and between the surface and the plants. You start by losing in the reflection and then intensity dropping off geometrically with distance.

Better to be reflective than not but completely agree that the enire effort wll only make a small difference either way.

 

[ydijadoit]

After wrestling with mylar, a stapler and lots of frustration, I only use flat white paint. look for one with the highest % of titanium dioxide you can find. The only place I use reflective wrap is on hydro totes. I use Reflectix for those.

 

[trichster]

Get the thickest Mylar you can get! Tape the mylar where your going to staple. Its really easy to use. White paint is no where near as reflective as mylar. I can use my walls as a mirror! If you get even 10% more light its worth it. My room has white walls that i covered with mylar because the white walls were no where near as reflective as the 2ml mylar. I have always used white walls up until year ago. Thing is to human eye the white walls look brighter then mylar but if you hold your hand between wall and light source the white walls reflect 20% back onto back side of hand where mylar is like 75%.

 

[dedodd]

Thanks to all for the information and feed-back. My grow room is now flat white and seems to work fine. Like I said I am in the process of re-model and thought I would ask. I have lots of flat white paint so I guess that is what it will be. Thanks!!

 

[desert fox]

dddd

 

[Jhhnn]

If it's more reflective than white paint, it's only slightly more. All the materials mentioned will give good reflectivity. Any difference will, at best, result in only a miniscule difference in yield. Good luck. -granger

Agreed. For my money, all of the roll or sheet type reflective materials are pointless if you can just paint, unless you have other goals like insulating or creating an enclosure.

Particularly if you rent, painting may not be a good answer, particularly wrt ornamental wooden doors & trim. Even if you own, you'll hate yourself someday for having painted that door, so it's better to cover it with a removeable material.

The reason that there's a perceptual difference between flat white & mylar is that flat white diffuses light as it's being reflected while mylar doesn't. The actual difference in reflectivity is miniscule.

 

[Granger2]

Trichster,
How did you take those measurements and arrive at those percentages? -granger