Hydro/Aero location - attic vs garage vs 5' crawl space

[Lazyman]

Or, buy a grow tent and put it in your garage, so you can break it down and move it when need be.

 

[Sam the Caveman]

Why the need for sheetrock?

That stuff is a pain in the ass. Heavy, messy, taping seams and spackling, no thank you.

 

[Lazyman]

Well sheetrock is more fire resistant than a vapor barrier or bare insulation batts, and also adds a layer of insulation to keep temps stable and bugs out. I'm looking at getting my 3 car garage sheetrocked this winter, it just leaks too much to be an ideal growing environment (can't air condition or CO2 it)

 

[Sam the Caveman]

I'm planning a grow room in my attic at the time and found a UL listed fire retardant paint. DC333 is rated for up to 35 minutes compared to 25 minutes for sheetrock. Bad part about DC333 is its $70 for a gallon. There is also a paint additive called Flame Guard that provides a Class A fire rating using 2 packs per gallon at $10 per pack, not bad.

I'd rather use a thin plywood vs. sheetrock since your going to have to paint anyways.

The insulation value of sheetrock is R 0.68, so if you are planning on covering your room with R-13 roll insulation, R 0.68 won't make much difference.

Lazyman- Its probably better to use sheetrock for finishing off your garage for building code inspectors, but for building separate grow rooms sheetrock is too much trouble in comparison.

 

[Lazyman]

I'm planning a grow room in my attic at the time and found a UL listed fire retardant paint. DC333 is rated for up to 35 minutes compared to 25 minutes for sheetrock. Bad part about DC333 is its $70 for a gallon. There is also a paint additive called Flame Guard that provides a Class A fire rating using 2 packs per gallon at $10 per pack, not bad.

I'd rather use a thin plywood vs. sheetrock since your going to have to paint anyways.

The insulation value of sheetrock is R 0.68, so if you are planning on covering your room with R-13 roll insulation, R 0.68 won't make much difference.

Lazyman- Its probably better to use sheetrock for finishing off your garage for building code inspectors, but for building separate grow rooms sheetrock is too much trouble in comparison.

Wow thanks Sam, that helps a lot. I was just talking to a contractor who suggested using 3.5" rigid insulation sheets instead of sheetrock, how do you feel about this? He said it's R13 or something, which is pretty decent and sounds like it would be easier to hang than 'rock.

 

[MAZEinaHAZE]

Lazy....i know i'm not Sam.....but i like your contractors idea.

my attic grow room is a combo of sheetrock and plywood....and inside a combo of Panda and mylar

 

[gmanwho]

Why the need for sheetrock?

That stuff is a pain in the ass. Heavy, messy, taping seams and spackling, no thank you.

Well with the garage open pulling in the car, or if someone other glanced over and saw sheet rock one would think its a normal closet or something. Instead of seeing a white poly or black plastic greenhouse looking structure.....

 

[Bulldog11]

Sheet rock is way easier to deal with than plywood. I am a contractor and let me tell you, I can put up sheet rock 75% faster than thin ply wood. Plus, sheet rock is cheaper.

Lets see, sheetrock at 6 bucks a piece with mud and paint, a total of maybe 50 bucks a grow room. Now take the plywood, maybe $15 a piece then 70 paint that may not cover the entire room. That fire rated paint needs to be on thick. So $50 vs $150. I would stick to sheetrock.

Also, with plywood you would have seems also. What do you do there?

 

[oldschoolfarmer]

Thanks for all the ideas. After much thought, I've decided to frame out a stand-alone room in the garage. Essentially it will be a grow cab as big as a bedroom. This should keep the pests to a minimum and make it easer to control ventilation/etc.

My plan is 2x4s, OSB and on top of the OSB, soundboard. The soundboard has a higher fire rating than sheetrock, and will help keep all the noise down (my new system will have 4 ballasts, 6 air pumps and 2 water pumps. Noise is a big concern).

Anyway, I appreciate all of the input and ideas in this thread. If there was a way to send joints virtually...

 

[Bulldog11]

Sounds like you have it down. May I just suggest one more thing? You can buy "fire-rated" ply wood and it has a rating of 2 hours. I normally mount my ballast, plug strips and any other high input of electrical onto this fire-rated board. That way any sparks will not spread. Hope everything works out for ya. Peace, and happy farming