Bought a new home equals new grow

So I have an outdoor shed. The shed is a double door entrance. One window on each front side. The size of the shed in total is 15' wide X 11'long X 12' height at peak 9' tall on outer edges.

The walls will be air sealed and Fiber Glass unfaced a vapor barrier 6m poly. Sealed seams. I will also be using a 2" thermal board on the floor walls and ceiling to compete the insulation to make it fully sealed. If I run a blower door in the room to check the BAS it will be extremely air tight. I do this to homes everyday so it happens to be my fortè.
My intention later are to control the temps to the best of my ability and also to run CO2 if all works well. As I said earlier there's 2 windows so I can place a.c. in each of them. I plan on building a dividing wall right down the middle of the shed. I'd like to have a veg/mother plants with a small tent for clones/starters in one and run a flower room in other.
I've been looking at quantum boards that I can buy DIY builds to start out. I've also looked into COB lighting. I'm just not perfect with diy electrical. Quantum boards seem very easy compared to cob. There's a couple companies I'm fond of from reading boards and such.
So I'll take anyone's help if being helpful and or critical to better my situation and knowledge.
So as for a.c. I live in the northeast. Its summer now. But by the time i get all set up winter should be coming right along. Temps can be anywhere from 10 - 45 degrees at any giving time. During the winter and when the lights are running I've though of setting up fans pulling cold air from outside through a mushroom hepa filter for cooling any suggestions thoughts. I can run heater when lights are out. I just haven't found the perfect answer for climate control in the rooms.
I will keep adding to this as well.

Cool project to follow, so following along.

That looks like a great foundation to start with. Remember, those ACs pull a tonne of power. Make sure you factor in the energy consumption required to produce X amount of flower. That exciting gram+ per watt figure quickly diminishes when you factor in all the other costs of operating and maintaining an optimal environment.

I’m keen to see it come together and learn as much as I can too. I’ve not used Quantum boards and would love to see them operating in your rooms. Good luck, brother!

Here's a thought from someone who has no experience with what you're doing, but I was just thinking it would be nice to have a sink or at least a drain in there, for like doing first aid or triage or whatever else.

I'd recommend not venting anything in the winter. Actually, with 2 ac's you shouldn't have to vent in the summer either with those lights.

So I've just been talking the shed over with other folks that are good with heating and cooling for getting it insulated so well to see what my options are. Just thinking I have two A.Cs if need be. If I dont need AC,s I obviously dont wanf to. But my biggest concern is Heat nd temp dropping to much when lights are not on. Is my room with the lights going to get to 90+ degrees when lights are on and then drop to 60's when they're off. Anyone who knows nothing knows or at least I've been told by many that temp control is very important. I believe it should be no more than 10 degree diff through a 24 hour cycle. Is that correct. Can anyone advise me on there thoughts of how to contain proper temps?? Ty kindly.

As for summer the shed one side may just be for mothers and clones in summer time. Seeing I can legally grow outdoors in my state.

MrSeeDoubleU said:

So I've just been talking the shed over with other folks that are good with heating and cooling for getting it insulated so well to see what my options are. Just thinking I have two A.Cs if need be. If I dont need AC,s I obviously dont wanf to. But my biggest concern is Heat nd temp dropping to much when lights are not on. Is my room with the lights going to get to 90+ degrees when lights are on and then drop to 60's when they're off. Anyone who knows nothing knows or at least I've been told by many that temp control is very important. I believe it should be no more than 10 degree diff through a 24 hour cycle. Is that correct. Can anyone advise me on there thoughts of how to contain proper temps?? Ty kindly.

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That's what I read on ilgm. If I remember 9 degree difference is best and at least 6 degrees will do. So 76 day 67 night is ideal. Some question as to where you measure, but it's not directly under the lights. Also seedlings like it a little warmer by a few degrees.

raggyb said:

That's what I read on ilgm. If I remember 9 degree difference is best and at least 6 degrees will do. So 76 day 67 night is ideal. Some question as to where you measure, but it's not directly under the lights. Also seedlings like it a little warmer by a few degrees.

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Yeah that makes most sense. Most of what I've read is very similar to that. I believe I'm going to have to build the entire rooms and set up lights and all. Turn them on and watch the temps very closely before I put a single plant inside the rooms. I just want to figure out the heating and cooling. An ac goes down to 60 degrees. The outdoor weather drops to 20-45 deg. F. Around my parts day nd night in mid winter. Will the lights keep it warm enough for the 4-12 hours that they're off.

MrSeeDoubleU said:

Yeah that makes most sense. Most of what I've read is very similar to that. I believe I'm going to have to build the entire rooms and set up lights and all. Turn them on and watch the temps very closely before I put a single plant inside the rooms. I just want to figure out the heating and cooling. An ac goes down to 60 degrees. The outdoor weather drops to 20-45 deg. F. Around my parts day nd night in mid winter. Will the lights keep it warm enough for the 4-12 hours that they're off.

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My guess is no, well you're going to insulate but it looks like a shed is raised off the ground? Even if not my guess you'll need heat at night especially if you go in. I'm not 100% sure on that because it gets colder than that here but I think so. But you could do lights on at night and off at day if you can keep the light out and that will help. Then you might need a room in a room so you can go in and out in the day for whatever reason without exposing them to light. So this brings to question that you want to get controllers for both the a/c and the heat and make sure both are compatable with the controller so like the heater and the a/c remember the temp settings even if the controller shuts one off and on if that makes sense.

I have tried growing with a 600W HID, a 300W COB DIY build and a 300W quantum board DIY build. I'm about to do my first grow with the Quantum and it's already my favorite.

raggyb said:

My guess is no, well you're going to insulate but it looks like a shed is raised off the ground? Even if not my guess you'll need heat at night especially if you go in. I'm not 100% sure on that because it gets colder than that here but I think so. But you could do lights on at night and off at day if you can keep the light out and that will help. Then you might need a room in a room so you can go in and out in the day for whatever reason without exposing them to light. So this brings to question that you want to get controllers for both the a/c and the heat and make sure both are compatable with the controller so like the heater and the a/c remember the temp settings even if the controller shuts one off and on if that makes sense.

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So my wonder is do I get an mini-split heat and a/c unit for the wall. The beauty of doing that I believe is it will control the room within a few degrees of where I want it to. To get separate ac and heaters and so on so forth the likelyhood of controlling the temp without spending an absolute fortune to run them all is just not as feasible. Imo. But here's the problem I'm having with that. Do I install it directly in the middle of the shed because I want it to be split down the center so I can grow perpetual and also control both rooms without buying two separate systems. Idk what's my best option there. This is all still very new on planning/building perfect design. But I want to get it down right the first time rather than buying pointless shit that I dont need or wont use in a year or two or break. Trying to do this right.
I have a good amount of the materials together to put the room together for I slating and such. Need some 2x6 and 8 sheets of plywood but that's nothing. Idk what's peoples thoughts. Please?

I feel you. You don't wanna buy pointless shit, and it may be good to have a little bit of flexibility to change during seasons or depending on what lights you want running at a certain time. I would agree with you that it may be better just to keep mothers/clones beyond May.

You can keep them running at night to help, but I can tell you for sure that it's going to get way too cold in there for your plants in winter. Way too cold. Which is why I personally would stick to HPS + heaters. You are going to need heaters either way. I haven't done a grow like this, but I'm not sure if LED's would keep it warm enough even when on.

I think that if you went HPS, ran it overnight and it was super well insulated, with veg and clone lights helping keep up temps during the day and air circulating inside, you MIGHT just be okay with temps. 8PM-8AM if you want to go check in at night, 10-PM-10AM if you want to check in on them in the morning, for example.

Additional thoughts:

1. you've got that upper area you could grow clones or small vegging plants in. heat and stuff to keep the heat in up there would be good.

2. AC Infinity 6" temp controlling inline fan would help control temps.

3. Do your AC's really fit in those tiny windows? And if so, one would definitely be sufficient for a low-output summer mother/clone setup.

4. get a nice vacuum in there so that you can efficiently bring in and pull out air in the summer. A nice sealed room will also help with energy when you have to run an AC in there and as another member said, not dump air outside.

definately I would do the mini splits,one on each side,I have something similar and have installed over two dozen of them in the past 25 years(mostly grow rooms),thats just my opinion,pretty easy temp control with these .Or you could set up an airhandler,with coil on your little loft area(with compressor outside)that would give you more options if you wanted some custom ducting to direct airflow.That might require a couple zone sensors,it all depends on how much you wanna spend and if this is gonna be permanent or you want future options

MrSeeDoubleU said:

So my wonder is do I get an mini-split heat and a/c unit for the wall. The beauty of doing that I believe is it will control the room within a few degrees of where I want it to. To get separate ac and heaters and so on so forth the likelyhood of controlling the temp without spending an absolute fortune to run them all is just not as feasible. Imo. But here's the problem I'm having with that. Do I install it directly in the middle of the shed because I want it to be split down the center so I can grow perpetual and also control both rooms without buying two separate systems. Idk what's my best option there. This is all still very new on planning/building perfect design. But I want to get it down right the first time rather than buying pointless shit that I dont need or wont use in a year or two or break. Trying to do this right.
I have a good amount of the materials together to put the room together for I slating and such. Need some 2x6 and 8 sheets of plywood but that's nothing. Idk what's peoples thoughts. Please?

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That is a good question. Can you duct a mini-split from say up high to split bi and then one out to each room, and returns from each room up to disperse in the loft? An lots of circulation everywhere.

Awesome questions. Awesome feedback. The heating is probably my biggest and #1concern. So my thoughts are this area will only be utilized for full start to finish harvest grow during winter months. I can legally grow 12 plants outdoor in my yard. Which I plan on having a nice garden come the season next year.
As for the hps I think that is my best option because I have the height and I also need the heat! If I do hps I will do the open hoods/reflectors because I have no height or heat restrictions. I'm not worried about insulating it. I'm almost positive I'll know better when I complete the build but I'm almost positive it will be good floor to ceiling. I'll have R-26 on walls and floor. R-37 on the roof/rafters. Fully sealed.
My other thoughts are use the majority of the room for flowers. Also if I put a small tent 4x8x8 in the room itself it should stay relatively close to what the rest of the room is at temps wise. I'll run that tent for mom's and clones veg. Small inline fan to pull what is going on in room into tent. Use LED quantum board/s in tent for heat or burn worries with anything else since will want to keep mostly zipped up.
I'm thinking 8-8a.m. is my best time frame because it def gets coldest at night. Though cold during the day the thermal heat from the sun hitting the she'd but also the lights and I'll have a heater inside for when lights are off to keep it consistent.
Millions of ideas and thoughts running around in my head about this. I know I'm all over the place. Haha.

That's gonna rock!

you may still want vented hoods for more heat control. you can always pull off the glass if you decide. even in fall or spring you could have high temp issues.

great123 said:

you may still want vented hoods for more heat control. you can always pull off the glass if you decide. even in fall or spring you could have high temp issues.

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I've found them. I'm def going with vented hoods. It's just not a smart option for future endeavors.

the project begins the labor intense process. So the ideal sealed room means seal up every possible fucking inch of your room. So any nail heads that come through the wall are being foamed with spray foam any seam in plywood where the studs are along them as well because the studs are nailers. I want no outside air getting into my space without me allowing it to do so. Also I'll be putting R-19 unfaced FG in each bay. I will then put up 6mil vapor barrier plastic. Then I will put (R-13 - 2" polyiso board ) on top of that as well. Then seal every seam and joint in between. Walls and ceiling will be completely locked in place. The room still needs ventilation on the roof. So I put prop vents up the roof from soffits to ridge. I will put continuous soffit on outside for low ventilation and cut the ridge and put ridge venting on peak of roof for the hot roof to breath. Still allowing for no outside air to penetrate my room. Just so I dont have any issues with moisture with hot and cold meeting.