Garage Grow: looking for opinions and advice

I have some experience growing but it was 15 years ago mostly outdoor and a couple indoor grows. I have a veg room setup with 400+ true CFL watts which is working great, my challenge is going to be the flowering setup which I plan on putting in the garage. I have most of the equipment but have not started setting it up yet. I have done a lot of reading already but just wanted to see what I might be missing / what might not work / what might be overkill etc. I have attached a schematic of all the elements I could possibly incorporate, I am thinking I will use them all.

It is cold where I live (Latitude 48 my concern is temps getting too low rather than too high. I will likely add a space heater as well for the dark cycle.

There is a large gap under the garage door about 1/2" and some gap up about half of each side of the door (old house). My plan is to set up the 100 cfm intake near the garage door and have the carbon filter exhaust go into the main garage area to help with heating and to allow the ionizer to do its work before the air passively exits. I am probably going to buy 2 large wool army blankets to separate the two areas in the garage. Any thoughts on whether the 100cfm intake near the garage door will be enough fresh air?

I have done some research on pulling vs pushing the air through a carbon filter and from what I can tell pulling the air through is a better idea because you will only be exhausting clean air. If pushing the air through the chances for odor to get out via small leaks in the pressurized ducting is much higher (reducing smell is my #1 priority). I am also thinking of adding a small scrubber outside the tent in the grow area, would this be overkill? The main carbon filter will be on a solid state dimmer mainly for sound reduction purposes.

Don't hesitate to criticize or make suggestions. It is a work in progress at this point and I am open to changing the setup.

Thanks for any input,

Cascadian

G'day Cascadian, without some dimensions (you might want to add some room dimensions to get a more accurate assessment), I'm guessing your flowering room is approx. 6x10 or 12 feet and that should be fine for your incoming air setup but I'm not an expert, hopefully more experienced growers will chime in here... I did want to share some options on your setup though. I'm going from a small DIY closet grow (2x4x6') which is in my cold cellar (I drilled through the 9" concrete to get incoming/exhaust vents, that was fun) to utilizing my whole cold cellar which is 4'Wx16'Lx8'H after an experimental grow in the small closet, which has now converted me to indoor growing I'm also in a cold area through the winter and wanted to minimize/eliminate the expense of heating it as it gets damn cold in that room through the winter. What I'm doing is starting in stages of insulation and will adjust it later IF I find this winter still cold enough to require heating. Phase 1 is building a sub-floor (roots will not like sitting on a freezing cold floor) using 2x4's on end and plywood/vinyl flooring (cheap/works), and framing/insulating one wall with the most outside exposure. Later, if I find it too cold through the winter months I can frame/insulate additional walls until I eliminate the need for heating through the winter months. If you're planning long term use of this space in the garage, it would be relatively cheap and easy to frame/insulate a wall w/door instead of the blankets. Some 2x4's, door (kijiji or Restore you can sometimes get things for nothing or next to it) and a bit of insulation (~$150) would save you a lot of $ down the road if you end up having to heat that space, also reduces your noise... Just a thought. Of course if it's just a temp setup you're better off with your blanket idea, maybe some skids on the floor to keep the pots off the cement floor, cheers.

Thanks for the ideas, sounds like you have nice setup in progress there. The house is a rental so I am hesitant to do any major retrofitting which is why I am thinking heavy blankets. The total dimension of the garage is 12' x 20', the grow area is about 12' x 7' and the 5'x5' tent will be in this area. I hadn't thought about how cold the concrete floor will get, I will plan on putting down some insulation, thank you. For heating during the dark period I am thinking of putting a small heater with a thermostat inside the grow tent. I have a temp meter that stores the high/low temp and humidity for the last 24 hours so should be able to monitor/adjust.

I realized most of the info is on the schematic and I didn't list it in my post so to make it easier here is the equipment:
600w HPS (I also have an old 400w HPS)
6" 434 CFM fan
10" x 22" 450 CFM carbon filter
5' x 5' grow tent inside the grow area
(2) 100 CFM duct booster fans
4" 150 CFM carbon filter (yet to purchase)
Ozone generator
ONA Gel

If you are using a 400 ish extraction fan and a 100 cfm intake for the 5x5 tent you might as well not even bother with the small fan just pipe it for passive intake also you'll need some big ass pipe if moving the total amount of air to keep noise down, so yes you will need rheostat. Watch what you get, light dimmers not a great idea lol. Also you are still moving a lot of air for that size of tent. An air change every 20 sec should ensure fresh air lol. I can only assume the blankets are for hiding the grow tent right? Unfortunately if using for insulation they wont do much. I use an 8x8x8 shed. Insulated really well and use insulated bubble wrap kinda stuff and steel studs to divide area. Are tents well insulated? I use a 150 cfm whole house hepa/charcoal with passive intake and no problem when charcoal is fresh lol. I'm a landlord and would be very pissed if someone was growing in a rental but none the less. Tell landlord you would like to block off the back to make a work area with a bit of heat. Tell him it will be totally removable. Make the whole back your veg and bud area! Just a thought 😊. I think I'd be a little inquisitive if I saw blankets lol.

Thanks for the tip on not needing the 100cfm fan in the ducting, that makes sense and will make things easier to set up. I do have a solid state speed control to slow the fan down, I'm planning on using 6" insulated ducting to help with the noise. I will also likely be building an insulated box around the fan to further reduce noise.

The blankets are for hiding it if the garage door has to be opened and for some noise deadening and heat insulation (gets cold at night where I am). They are heavy wool 4lb blankets but I am starting to think I need to find a better solution. I have never seen the landlord in 4years, which is the only reason I am risking it. If he wanted to inspect I could have everything hidden or out of the house in a couple hours. I am in a state that allows for medical and have my card etc.

Great suggestion on putting up an insulated wall but given I am in a recent mmj state that alone could raise some suspicion. A lot of people are starting to grow.

good luck on the garage grow, make sure those babies are warm on those cold nights

Thanks, I will be sure to keep them at bare minimum 60-65 degrees.

I was just looking around the HD site and found 4x8 sheets of sound deadening board for $11ea. One of the reviews said the material would hold a sheet rock screw securely so I am thinking about using that to make something that would work much better than the wool blankets and would allow me to dismantle it pretty quick if I had to. Just have to figure out how to put a door on it.

Thanks for the help and feel free to share any other ideas.
I will update when I am a little further along with the project.

I just use a curtan. but perhaps just a sliding piece of plywood would work. Again steel studs work great and are easily removed, once the sheeting is applied it is very rigid. the bubble wrap is also availabe at HD and it is like $50 for a huge roll (4'x130') i think. It has a silver and a white side and blocks the light completely, just a thought! Heat will be needed but all I use is just a little ceramic heater on low setting and I have heater and ventilation controlled by temp. I typically dont exhaust when temps drop below 73 in area but smell is not a huge concern for me. It does get a tad stinky with out exhaust running lol. My heater is set to come on at 65 but could probably go colder, not sure if plants would suffer. I do run Co2 but again only when exhaust is not on. good luck with the build keep us posted, it always cool to see something come together! Oh and yes don't push the air through the filter. pull it through. There are a few issues with pushing and yes one being leakage, but a few more critical issues. Also keep your pipe lengths to a minumum and if possible use rigid pipe or insulated. Will probably need to insulate the intake where it enters the warmer space as well. it'll sweat.

Phase 1 is building a sub-floor (roots will not like sitting on a freezing cold floor) using 2x4's on end and plywood/vinyl flooring (cheap/works), and framing/insulating one wall with the most outside exposure. Later, if I find it too cold through the winter months I can frame/insulate additional walls until I eliminate the need for heating through the winter months.

Click to expand...

Depending on outdoor temps you may need a vapor barrier on the exterior wall after the insulation goes up, your will get a shit load of moisture if covering it with somthing. The subfloor is great with vinyl but just pieces of blue styrfoam under the pots works ok, vinyl would be nice though, again depending on temps you may also get moisture under the floor so vapor barrier on top of concrete would be a good ideal before the 2x4's I think. And again (honestly I dont work for the bubble wrap guys LOL) its a vapour barrier that works as a wall covering as well. Not a great pic but that is the bubble stuff on the wall and as said its white on the other side, not sure what is best to use out though.

waterdawg said:

Depending on outdoor temps you may need a vapor barrier on the exterior wall after the insulation goes up, your will get a shit load of moisture if covering it with somthing. The subfloor is great with vinyl but just pieces of blue styrfoam under the pots works ok, vinyl would be nice though, again depending on temps you may also get moisture under the floor so vapor barrier on top of concrete would be a good ideal before the 2x4's I think. And again (honestly I dont work for the bubble wrap guys LOL) its a vapour barrier that works as a wall covering as well.View attachment 2846867 Not a great pic but that is the bubble stuff on the wall and as said its white on the other side, not sure what is best to use out though.

Click to expand...

Absolutely, need the vapour barriers (I've seen a few options at Lowes/Home Depot, all relatively cheap), particularly on any outside or cold surface areas (concrete floor). I'm building it to standard building codes, including all electrical (last thing I want is my babies going up in smoke... without me initiating it - lol). Found this other stuff sold at Home Depot/Lowes called Reflectix which will go over the walls and act as both an insulating barrier and reflective material, it's like Mylar but about 5/16" thick, it's typically used on external walls for insulation, it'll cost me about $80 to cover all the walls and provide insulation/reflection, stuff looks ideal, a bit pricey but I'm not cheaping out, doing it in steps for budgeting (I do have a perfectly good interim cabinet so no rush/panic) and planning to be in this house (own it) for a few years.

Thanks again for all the ideas. I am just updating what I ended up doing. I found some foam insulation at HD 4'x8'x1" ($11) one side has a foil reflective surface, it is called R-tech by Insulfoam. It is doing a good job of containing the noise as well as the light and heat. Though it still seems to be getting a little cold at night (dropping to 64deg with lights on and heater on very low setting). I will be trying to plug the gaps with towels or other insulation soon. I had to cut off the insulation to get the 6" duct inside but outside the tent it is insulated.

The blankets would not have worked so thanks for saving me the hassle of figuring that out myself.

Here are a couple pics:


I just wrapped the fan in a couple towels and set the fan on 2 folded up towels, it seems to be silencing the fan good enough with the R-tech barrier.

A side question is how long should I wait to switch to 12/12? Yesterday I transplanted the 6 in the back from 2 gal smartpots to 3.5 gallon pots and the 5 in front from 1 gal pots to 2 gal smartpots. I am thinking at least 3-5 days to reduce shock?

Edit: They are also switching form being under CFL to HPS, will that cause shock itself? Should I wait longer to go to 12/12?

This is my first grow in 15 years. Just shooting for healthy plants not max yields on this go round.

Looking good, sounds like you're on the right track in thinking about giving them a bit of time to settle/adjust before triggering 12/12, I try to ease them into any change, re-potting, lights, flowering etc., never hurts and reduces the chance of hermies I've found. Most hermies I've had outdoors happen after some sort of shock…

Cascadian said:

Thanks again for all the ideas. I am just updating what I ended up doing. I found some foam insulation at HD 4'x8'x1" ($11) one side has a foil reflective surface, it is called R-tech by Insulfoam. It is doing a good job of containing the noise as well as the light and heat. Though it still seems to be getting a little cold at night (dropping to 64deg with lights on and heater on very low setting). I will be trying to plug the gaps with towels or other insulation soon. I had to cut off the insulation to get the 6" duct inside but outside the tent it is insulated.

The blankets would not have worked so thanks for saving me the hassle of figuring that out myself.

Here are a couple pics:
View attachment 2877851View attachment 2877852View attachment 2877853

I just wrapped the fan in a couple towels and set the fan on 2 folded up towels, it seems to be silencing the fan good enough with the R-tech barrier.

A side question is how long should I wait to switch to 12/12? Yesterday I transplanted the 6 in the back from 2 gal smartpots to 3.5 gallon pots and the 5 in front from 1 gal pots to 2 gal smartpots. I am thinking at least 3-5 days to reduce shock?

Edit: They are also switching form being under CFL to HPS, will that cause shock itself? Should I wait longer to go to 12/12?

This is my first grow in 15 years. Just shooting for healthy plants not max yields on this go round.

Click to expand...

Wrapping your fan with towels as a silencer. Pretty nifty there buddy!! I am just getting the time to go through your posts! You have quite the green thumb my friend! Hope you stick around for my future grows! Your suggestions and advice are greatly appreciated. As well as having someone to show off my setup and babies as it sucks keeping something so great. All to myself. But I pretty deadset on not wanting anyone to know. For obvious reasons. When you get some time, maybe you could do a favor and fill me in on the details of your super soil. Amounts measurements and ingredient list. I saw you start to talk about it but not in depth. I am really wanting to up my soil for future grows to minimize added nutrients during grow period.