Crow River Posted May 21, 2022 Share Posted May 21, 2022 Currently I do micro grows in a wee cabinet in a spare room in the flat. One or two plants at a time maximum. However for the longer term I am thinking to move growing out of the house. I have a lockup garage off site, which with some modifications would give the potential for a dedicated grow room type setup in part of the garage. It has a good electricity supply and there's a standpipe outside for water too. Ideally would like to have dedicated veg and flower areas. Obviously this activity will need to be stealthy so it's not noticed by anyone else. I've read a few threads on here where folk are growing in a garage. I'm aware of the general issues around heating, humidity, and so on. Would be interested in knowing more about how other people solve these problems, or at least reduce them. Also just looking for inspiration. Grow space designs, ventilation, insulation, automatic watering, stealth camouflage, etc. Even basic stuff like size of space. Would love to hear people's thoughts and experiences, if you have pics to share also please do. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geogeo Posted May 21, 2022 Share Posted May 21, 2022 @Crow River hi ,,biggest prob, would be extraction ventilation most garage have flat roofs,, if worst asbestos ,, putting a chimney up would be to noiticeable for prying eye's also do u own the garage or rent it ? anothe factor is price of timber ,insulation , at the moment is sky high .kind regards geogeo 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brysee Posted May 21, 2022 Share Posted May 21, 2022 Security is going to be a problem for sure and anybody can just yank the door open if they get a wiff of what's going on inside 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crow River Posted May 21, 2022 Author Share Posted May 21, 2022 @geogeo, no asbestos thankfully. I've been renting for years but just agreed a price to buy the garage from owner, hence thinking ahead to next year. I wouldn't put a chimney up, too conspicuous by far. Only ventilation currently is a couple of breeze blocks at the back, the sort with holes pre-moulded in them. Was thinking to cut a circular hole at the back for a vent, then cover with a slotted cover plate so it just looks like ordinary ventilation. Yeah price of construction materials is a factor for sure. I suppose rock wool a bit cheaper than Kingspan type, but maybe less effective? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crow River Posted May 21, 2022 Author Share Posted May 21, 2022 (edited) 7 minutes ago, Brysee said: Security is going to be a problem for sure and anybody can just yank the door open if they get a wiff of what's going on inside Yeah. I was thinking to maybe have a double set of doors or something like that for the grow space, to help stop smell leaks. Open outside door, wee vestibule, close outside door, then open inside door. Kind of like an airlock. Could be rigged to the extraction and filter somehow. Door has a decent lock system, opens with an IR control, similar to a car door lock. But I suppose not so difficult for a determined person to force open with the right tools. TBH my main concern wasn't being robbed but residents in neighbouring dwellings spotting (or smelling) something and grassing to Inspector Knacker of the Yard. Site is overlooked by residential buildings on three sides, though one is the other side of disused railway and still under construction. E2A: Another solution could be to have tents/cabinets inside an insulated box/space, so smells are isolated from main entrance. Edited May 21, 2022 by Crow River 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shumroom Posted May 21, 2022 Share Posted May 21, 2022 You should check out @growinggold's shed setup, it's a nice scalable solution Atb 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creativesmoke Posted May 21, 2022 Share Posted May 21, 2022 You could partition off the space you want, use the back of the garage for the plants and have two partitions in this case for security - think belts and braces. So as you walk in your met with a fully partitioned wall of osb with a decent fitting door (mdf) you go through that door and there's a chill space where you mix up the water/nutes, keep mothers/cuts/veg (use a small tent) as well as roll and smoke etc. Beyond that is another wall of osb with a door and that's your 1212. You could vent all of the scrubbed air into the chill area and then just make sure your bringing in some fresh air from the entrance area which you would have to figure a way of getting some air in, preferably filtered otherwise bugs would get sucked in. So fan 1 (6" Ruck) is in 1212 room and it's filtered and the duct is coming out through the osb wall and dumping into the chill area, another fan is pulling air from the entrance area into the chill area with duct going through the osb. That way the very first area as you walk in to from outside has air rushing into the room behind it, so when you come out and its a bit stinky further down the garage either from you smoking or just having bud out the air/smell wont be as tempted to waft away from the garage and into your neighbours. You want everything to be running enough to be dealing with the smell but not so much that its like a fridge in there. Once running you'll start to get a bit of thermal mass going especially if your using 400 or 600 HID. Also consider getting an old motorbike or something to have in the first area with tools and stuff around so if needed you can explain what your not doing.. The partitions can be quite small depending on what your trying to achieve, lets be honest a 600w HPS is only good for 1m to 1.2m anyway. Hope this makes sense i have a stinking cold and 2 hours into oldtimes edibles 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
growinggold Posted May 21, 2022 Share Posted May 21, 2022 This is my build, in the back on heavily overlooked garden. I also have a family n cant grow in in the house like I did do.. http://www.uk420.com/boards/index.php?/topic/419111-the-rolling-gold-diary/#comment-5587710 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crow River Posted May 21, 2022 Author Share Posted May 21, 2022 35 minutes ago, growinggold said: This is my build, in the back on heavily overlooked garden. I also have a family n cant grow in in the house like I did do.. http://www.uk420.com/boards/index.php?/topic/419111-the-rolling-gold-diary/#comment-5587710 Love that space, fantastic! Something like that would probably meet my needs just fine. It's nice to grow in the flat but I'm so restricted for space. Was considering upgrading to a wardrobe but reckon moving the whole shebang to the garage is more realistic. How are temps in the shed? Do you grow in winter at all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crow River Posted May 21, 2022 Author Share Posted May 21, 2022 @creativesmoke, thanks a lot for the advice. Partitioning off the back of the garage, or at least 1/2 to 2/3 of it, sounds about right. Good suggestions regarding space usage. Definitely like the idea of a wee chill space to do prep and vape a few samples (don't smoke any more). I don't own a motorbike, but I do have a modest collection of bicycles and lots of parts, so there'll always be an excuse to be down there. I can camouflage the partition with shelves full of parts and stuff on the outside, so at a glance nothing visible. Quite like the idea of venting warmer air into the chill space, and presumably some sort of passive intake there to bring fresh air in from the wider garage? If the vent is well filtered then hopefully no worries about smell. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creativesmoke Posted May 21, 2022 Share Posted May 21, 2022 No worries, just to add as well start building it as soon as you can because it does take a while to get things right and its nice to build it freely without having plants around or trying to rush it. You could make it look like your spraying / restoring some bike parts in the other areas if need be and then once the time is right move the girls in. Test the extraction setup with your buds and vape and you'll get confidence in what you've built and your good to grow. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu914 Posted May 21, 2022 Share Posted May 21, 2022 @Crow River I did a conversion on my shed, details in my profile under 'topics' 'shed build' might give you some pointers. Nearest neighbours are within feet and know nothing, it's well hidden, totally silent and with no smell escaping. Tag me if I can help bud...good luck... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crow River Posted May 22, 2022 Author Share Posted May 22, 2022 (edited) @stu914 cheers. For the life of me I can't find your shed build thread mate. Did find a few other grow room builds mind you. Have you got a link you can share? Edited May 22, 2022 by Crow River 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crow River Posted May 22, 2022 Author Share Posted May 22, 2022 @creativesmoke, thanks mate. I'm in no rush just now. Still growing in my wee cabinet in the flat. This is a project for later in the year. Been doing some research into OSB construction, insulation, etc. Will get some measurements sorted out when I'm next in the garage. Space will be limited by the clearance for the front door mechanism. Also the electric meter and fuse box is on the back wall, towards the right, so that will limit me a bit too - need to leave it outside the box... My instinct at the moment is to use tents in the space, rather than grow directly in the room. More flexibility, can be disassembled and packed away quickly if need be. Maybe rather than one big flower tent, two smaller ones, again more flexible if growing different strains, can run autos and photos simultaneously for example. Or experiment with different lighting schedules. Given energy prices now (and more increases coming in October) will probably stick with LEDs rather than HPS/MH lighting. Less of a fire hazard, though extra heat required. Even with loads of insulation, reckon I won't grow in the dead of winter. Will be too cold, cost a fortune to heat the space. But if I grow say, March to October then air temperatures will be a bit milder. Near the coast here so doesn't get as cold as a few miles further inland. I suppose humidity control could be an issue if venting into the "chill space". However I've developed some tricks with my wee cabinet to dry the air coming from the extraction before it vents, so could do something similar but scale up a bit. Anyway once I've done some measurements I'll be able to sketch out some initial design ideas. Maybe share them on here and if folk have time they can give feedback. Peace. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu914 Posted May 22, 2022 Share Posted May 22, 2022 46 minutes ago, Crow River said: link Sorry bud I'm rather old and tech escapes me...click on my profile, activity, then topics and it should come up...maybe one day I'll learn how to link.. Tag me if you still can't find it... Cheers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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