Tips for Low-Impact Indoor Growing
Not only does building a growroom require a good deal of alterations to the building, but growing cannabis can often be a messy affair. Major emergencies like broken reservoirs can spill massive amounts of water into your home. In like fashion, daily duties like mixing nutrients and spraying plants can eventually do lasting damage to buildings.
To help you have better peace of mind with your garden, we put together these tips for low-impact indoor growing.
Option #1: Build Separate Spaces for Growing
The most surefire way to protect your home when growing indoors is to erect a separate structure that keeps the garden contained. In fact, building a separate structure not only insulates your home against damage, but also gives you more control over the cultivation environment.
Room Inside a Room
Building a room inside a room is a great way to lower the overall impact that your cannabis grow. The idea is to construct a basic frame that fits inside of the intended grow space – such as a basement or garage. Growers enjoy this option because it is highly customizable for any size or space.
Most people opt to build their room frame with 2x4s, then cover it with thick 6 ml black plastic sheeting. To make an entryway into the room, use a zipper door such as the Peel and Stick Zipper from AC Infinity. The combination of a plastic sheeting and zipper door will keep humidity contained, while also ensuring there aren’t any light leaks.
The benefits of erecting a room inside a room are multifaceted. For starters, you don’t have to worry about putting a single hole in the walls or ceilings of your intended grow space – simply drill directly into the frame to hang wall fans, inline fans, and carbon filters.
Even more, the frame and plastic sheeting will keep your home protected from messy materials like soil and nutrients.
Grow Tents
Grow tents are another extremely popular option for building a separate grow space. Grow tents are generally used for small gardens and can be placed just almost anywhere in your house. In recent years, grow tents have gotten immensely popular due to their convenience and affordability.
With grow tents, you simply purchase a pre-fabricated kit that sets up in minutes. Importantly, grow tents have all the ports needed to run electricity inside the tent, as well as expel air through the exhaust. The frame of the tent will support all grow equipment while the bathtub floor should contain most water spills.
Grow tents share most of the benefits of building a room inside a room, however, they are much more affordable, as well as easier to use. Grow tents save you from having to drill any holes in walls and ceilings, while also keeping water, spray, and other materials contained. The only major drawbacks for tent growing are customization options and scalability.
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Option #2: Take Precautions to Protect the Building
If you opt to grow indoors without erecting a separate space for your garden, there are other precautions you can take to insulate your home against damage. Spending a little extra time to think through your operation could save you some serious heartache in the future.
Wood & Tarp Bathtub Floor
A great tip for protecting your home against potential spills in the garden is to build a wood and tarp bathtub floor.
To start, build a simple square or rectangular 2×4 frame that is just smaller than the total square footage in the grow space. Next, get a tarp that is at least 10 mils thick and slightly larger than the wood frame. Position the tarp on the ground, then center the frame on top of it. Finally, roll the edges of the tarp over the wood frame to create the bathtub floor and staple it in place.
With edges 4 in high, the bathtub floor will keep the ground safe from any spills.
Wood Stand for Hanging Lights & Drying Flowers
If you are concerned about putting holes in your ceiling and walls, a wood stand is a great work around for grow lights and drying racks.
The easiest way to build a wood stand is with 2×4 target stand brackets. Using these brackets, cut four 2x4s to the height you want the stand to reach. Next, insert the 2x4s into the feet of target stand brackets and stand them up in the room. Finally, run another 2×4 between the two stands to create one solid frame. The length of this connecting 2×4 will dictate the length of the stand.
When finished, the frame is essentially a large wooden sawhorse that can be used to hang grow lights without having to drill into the ceiling. It also works great as a giant drying rack during harvest time.
Window Exhaust Ports
Another good idea for lessening the impact of your indoor garden is to put your exhaust ports in the window. Often, growers opt to exhaust their gardens into the attic, or tap into HVAC ducting in the wall. In either case, you have to cut large holes in walls or ceilings.
Start by opening the window to the approximate size of the ducting – most times this will be 6-8 in. Next, cover the window with a piece of plywood to control light leaks. After that, cut a circular hole in the wood that is the same size as your ducting. Finally, attach your ducting to the hole so it vents directly outside.
Window exhausts also allow you to immediately remove hot, humid air from your home – eliminating the chance of black mold outbreaks.
Summary
There are several precautions you can take to protect your home when growing indoors. For many people, the peace of mind that comes with building a room inside a room is well worth the extra expenses. In like fashion, tent growers enjoy the unparalleled convenience and protection that come from these prefabricated kits. If you aren’t inclined to build separate space for your garden, you should take other measures like wood and tarp bathtub floors.
No matter if you use a grow tent or buildout a room, it’s always recommended to grow in less impactful areas like garages and basements. In the end, these areas of the house are simply better suited water, dirt, and other messes that come with indoor growing.
AC Infinity is the foremost name in air delivery systems, designing and developing the latest innovations in cooling and ventilation technology. They offer a suite of quiet inline fans that automate the growing progress and track key metrics. Visit acinfinity.com or contact [email protected] to learn more.
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