Loft Build - From Start To Finish, Newbie Loft Build Diary Options

[Marcos]

i wish I had a loft to do this in .. oh well

[Bobsie]

JJL - yeah help yourself mate. Thats the basic idea of sharing the build.

JahWarrior - yes, the roof is insulated. I put up a layer of loft insulation then held in place with a layer of the chipboard which then has the black/white stapled onto it. This is also in the walls too which are double lined with the chipboard around the joists. So you end up with a layer chipboard, middle of insulation, layer of chipboard then the black/white. All nice and snug

Spobart - cheers mate. Yeah first run went well. Got 18 ounce all dried and ready for smoke from this run.

In general it was a learning process more than anything on this first try.
Improvements for this time we have still gone with 4 plants (2 x Chronic, 1 x Cali Orange, 1 x Bubbleberry) but we have given them a bucket each. This was necessary as I found two in one meant they where a little crowded, you couldnt move the plants individually for lighting and worst of all they needed filling every couple of days as the plants drank heavily towards the end.
Also upgraded from those cheap ass blue airstones you get for a quid. They are a waste of time IMO, they also bounce around the bottom of the tanks causing noise, if you fix them to the bottom you can hear them through the ceiling bubbling away. Worst of all though they get blocked by nutes quickly ruining the airflow as a "waxy" stuff forms on them from the Vitalink nutes.
I upgraded to some high quality ceramic airstones and they are the business. They are heavy so stay in place, end of the grow I just chuck them into a pan of boiling water and they clean nice as new.

Added a oil radiator too which keeps the ambient temprature up during cooler periods and a fan speed control to reduce it a bit. The fan is well above the spec for the room size by a large margin.

This second one is going REALLY well. The smallest of the plants is the size of the largest last time at end of the grow...but they are only 4 weeks in flower . The biggest plant is around 3x the size easily, I have had to tie it up already.

After this one the room is going to be extended or a new smaller one built at the other end of the loft so that I can get my own varieties mothered - we had a huge delay at the start of grow 2 due to reliance on a third party for clones...plus it will be nice to get something different to trade with
Good thing about buying over the top equipment when we started means I can extend really easily. Just run another couple of airlines from the large pump, extend the air feeds to the new part of the room and suck on through it. The carbon filter and fans will easily cope with the increased load from a mothering area.

Also on the basis of my sucess I have been asked to sort out someone elses room (or rather rooms!). He is chucking a fortune in electric and new gadgets each month (I am talking hundreds of pounds here - running several aircon units 24/7 !!!) and getting around 6 ounces across 20+ plants a grow! It's supposed to be a commercial thing for him but he is not even breaking even at the minute.

Will see if I can get some pictures up later of the current state of my grow.

This post has been edited by Bobsie: Mar 9 2008, 11:55 AM

[Rambone]

Nice looking loft build. I too made myself a loft build the other week and am looking to make another one for flowering sometime this week. Your lucky you have so much room in your loft, mine I have to sit down all the time whilst tending to plants. Next house is definately being decided on loft space. HAHA

[grandad]

have you thought about the heat in the summer, just 1 week of high temps will kill the plants, can get up to 40c up there. unless it gets very hot. a good aircon will maybe help.

[Sticky'n'Icky]

dude that is shithot, makes my effort at loft growroom look pathetic ;p

what have you done to protect against them copters?

Cheers
Sticky

[T187]

dude that is shithot, makes my effort at loft growroom look pathetic ;p

what have you done to protect against them copters?

Cheers
Sticky

i was looking on the net the other day and came across this sheeting the government used to protect themselves from heat cameras you can buy it in rolls or in lengths
it is infrared camera proof but icant find it there is also this other stuff called Mylar Lightite ADF Reflective Sheeting try googling it its thin sheeting you could put under ur mylar and it will keep grow room extra warm so might need more extraction if the case

peace T187!!!!

[T187]

dude that is shithot, makes my effort at loft growroom look pathetic ;p

what have you done to protect against them copters?

Cheers
Sticky

i was looking on the net the other day and came across this sheeting the government used to protect themselves from heat cameras you can buy it in rolls or in lengths
it is infrared camera proof but icant find it there is also this other stuff called Mylar Lightite ADF Reflective Sheeting try googling it its thin sheeting you could put under ur mylar and it will keep grow room extra warm so might need more extraction if the case

peace T187!!!!