[whythefnot]

Here I am, in sunny southern California! Let's do this!

I used my guerilla grow harvest from last year to propel me out here, got a place with a few extra bedrooms and bought a whole bunch of grow room crap from craigslist and lowes. I don't have my doctor's rec just yet but as soon as I get my CA DL in a few days I'll head right over and get that taken care of. I don't know what my plant count will be but I'm going to be running 4 lights for this first run, and in the future I'll look into upgrading to 5 or 6 lights.

I already ran the 60 amp 240v line to the spare upstairs bedroom where the ballasts are located. I'm waiting on my contactor in the mail to finish the wiring. I think I'm just going to put the entire circuit on the timer and only use it to run my lights.




Included in the uploads is the closest thing to a 'before' picture I could come up with. I thought I took a better one...
Here are some shots of the current progress:








My temporary compost tea brewer until I carry my 35gal trash bin upstairs:




The other photo is a big pile of Fox Farm and some soil amendments.

[whythefnot]

This house is cooled by a swamp cooler that puts out a whole lot of positive pressure. So in order to make it livable and still keep noses from sniffing I've gone around the room caulking all the holes and I'm going to install weatherstripping to the door tomorrow, and some type of sealing threshold at the door (may have to get creative there). Then I'll hop on craigslist and pick up a portable a/c and have it vent out the window, the same place my (soon-to-be) closed-circuit light system vents/intakes, hopefully creating at least slight negative pressure in the room.

I'm planning to install an odor sok inside the exhaust of the a/c. Does anyone know if this is viable? I have no experience with a portable a/c. Also, I'm going to try to have it intake air from higher in the room if possible, in order to preserve precious co2 and cool air. I don't have a co2 system yet but I'll pick one up on craigslist for $100 or less soon (maybe after I get a job out here), whether it be a burner or a tank system, I haven't decided.

This is an upstairs room with no insulation whatsoever. Whoever put it up never installed the wires to keep it in place. This is a rental house so I'm not going to install the insulation myself, so I'll definitely have to run a portable a/c. The daytime temps in there have been about 88+ lately.

I'll keep updating as things keep changing, really hoping to cash crop it out here in the wild west!

[whythefnot]

By the way so far on this grow room build it looks like I'm gonna keep it under or right around $2000 complete with a/c, co2 and purchased clones. Got to love craigslist

[rubberducky]

From my understanding if u plan on using co2 portable AC's are the most inefficient it will suck all that precious co2 right out of the room.

Can't see from the pic, are those hoods being exhausted out the window or is air being pulled in though there ?

[whythefnot]

Originally Posted by rubberducky

From my understanding if u plan on using co2 portable AC's are the most inefficient...

As compared to what? I have positive pressure in the room, so I have to vent somehow to take that pressure off. I figured a portable a/c would be the MOST efficient way given my circumstances. As I already said, I plan to elevate it as much as possible to allow it to intake the warmer, less-co2-dense air from the top of the room. Please let me know if you have any better ideas.

Yes, that fan is venting out the window, like any grow room fan should. I did mention already that the lights are going to be on a closed circuit. This room is still mid-construction.

[raiderman]

ns op bro.wanna watch this ,subbed.rdr.

[soursmoker]

Im watching the show man, good luck... can't wait to see what you pull off... are the lights being vented out of that window?

[whythefnot]

Yeah, they're vented through the window. After I get my last light in, I'm going to run the duct back to the window for the intake.

I'm going to pick up a dual-hose portable a/c later today that circulates air the same way the lights do (in and back out through the window). I'm in no hurry to get my co2 system in, and until I do, I'm going to hang the intake for the a/c at the top of the room.

I'm in the process of air sealing the door right now, almost done. Man, am I glad I did finish carpentry in addition to rough framing for the last few years. It's really paying off right now.

[choptops]

lookin good i expect you to be well off and dialed in by the time i get out there. hopefully within the next year.

[whythefnot]

I'm eating my own words right now because I picked up a natural gas CO2 burner for 80 bucks while I was in the city picking up that 14000btu dual-hose Amana for the same price.





I also scored my doctor's recommendation while I was there !!! Then I immediately smoked my first legal bowl on the way out. It was great! They had me in and out like nothing! It was an all around great experience.

I got the room very very close to air tight today. Now, when I turn on the vent fan, the pond liner and panda film on the floor rise up about 2 feet in the middle of the room, which tells me (no surprise!) that there is no vapor barrier under the floor. I'm going to seal off the edges of the panda film on the wall with duct tape I guess, then hopefully only a miniscule amount of air will be escaping.



To combat the positive pressure, I'm considering (and open to input on this) punching a pinhole or two in the a/c intake to relieve the pressure from the room. I'm already planning to inline filter the hot air going out right at the window, just to be safe.


Also, I'm thinking about screwing a piece of plywood over that entire window and "professionalizing" my vent holes. I don't like the way it looks now, it just seems like a weak point to me. If I can get that plywood screwed in there with some foam to seal it, and use the metal connectors at lowes (already have 2 8" connectors) I should have no issues.