# Built a new room, What did it cost?



## St_Nick (May 11, 2019)

Hey folks. New growers often ask for advice what to buy and why do I need that or how can I go cheaper or I can cobble something together better.   Well,  I have tried it all and built this room based on that knowledge.


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## St_Nick (May 11, 2019)

First off, you need to Determine the size of the room you are going to build.  I wanted to be able to flower out 6 to 8 plants and be able to produce about 3 oz. per plant.  I also wanted to be able to veg in that room and still have room to work.  Prior knowledge tells me that 8' by 10' is doable and 10 x 10 would be ideal.  I took a spare mudroom  (tiny) with 2 windows in it and used that for my starting point.  I purchased a roll of Panda film which was 10' by 50' from Amazon for $36.  I covered the ceiling first by using long staples through 1" squares of cardboard, through the panda film and into the ceiling.  It has been up for 4 months now and hasn't moved a bit. After finishing the ceiling I moved on to the walls. Same thing, I stapled the film to the walls all the way around the room.  I actually put an angle in the corner of the room containing the door so that the room door could open and close without disturbing the light inside the panda film room.  I know that's kind of confusing but I'll try and get a picture Monday or Tuesday to explain a little better.  Then I put a Panda film zipper in that area so you can enter and leave the room.  Essentially what I did was turn the whole space into a 8' by 10' tent, which has a 7' ceiling.


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## St_Nick (May 11, 2019)

I also need a place to veg and clone and that is capable of holding enough little girls to fill that flower area.  I determined the best way to do this was a 2' by 4' by 6' grow tent and I placed it in the corner of my panda tent room.  The tent was $69 dollars and is all metal poles and corners.  Stay away from plastic parts and remember that you need to have the height to hang your lights and not burn your plants with the light before you ever get them to flower.


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## St_Nick (May 11, 2019)

The next thing I needed to address was environment.  Cannabis is the pickiest weed I know and environment iskey to a good grow.  I purchased a 6" fan and a 6 x 18" phresh charcoal filter.  I hung the fan from the ceiling and hooked the filter to the intake side of the fan and the output side is vented outside through the wall using an outlet like for a clothes dryer only 6" in diameter.  I purchased a dehumidifier and a humidifier and hooked them to a controller to ensure the humidity stays on track. The humidifier was $40. and the de-humidifier was $149.  All from Amazon.   
    In my area the temperature ranges from 90's in the summer to 20's in the winter so I purchased a thermostat controlled 10,000 BTU portable ac unit (reconditioned from Walmart) for $249.oo.  For heat I purchased a little ceramic heater for I think around $40.  Lastly I have two 16" pedestal fans and a little clip on fan for the tent.  Probably about $60 for the 3 of them.  Now I have an environment that can be controlled and modified as the weather changes.


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## St_Nick (May 11, 2019)

Lastly,  You have to have light to grow indoors.  Years ago I grew with flouros, then I went to HPS and MH, then I tried t5's and nowadays I do LED.  From an efficiency standpoint, LEDs are hard to beat.  I can't afford top of the line like Fluence or Spydr and I don't have the ceiling height for spectrum king or a similar fixture.  I have the budget for  good quality Chinese imports so that is what I will use.  Back in the HPS days a good rule of thumb was 40 to 60 watts of light for each square ft. of growing area.  So I'm sure someone will jump in here and argue but in MY opinion,  when it comes to second tier grow lights, meaning the good stuff coming out of china, that 40 to 60 watt per square ft. rule is still one I try to live by and it has served me well.  There is a catch though.  Those guys don't know how to tell the truth about their lights so you have to look a little harder.  Look at the wall watts and by that I mean the actual amount of power consumed by the light.  For example, in my case I chose VIPARSPECTRA lights and more specifically the 900 watt model.  I purchased 4 of them, and am using 3 in the flower area and 1 in the veg. tent.  This model draws 405 watts from the wall.  My actual grow footprint is 4 ft. by 8 ft. and that equals 32 sq. ft.  These lights give me 37.5 watts per sq. and that is working very well so far. Since they are switchable between veg and bloom, running one in veg only gives the optimum light for vegging and at 300 watts of output is ideal for that enclosed tent, which is a  total of 8 square ft. and with this particular light at that setting is providing 38 watts of light per sq. ft. right in the low end of the range and  ideal for tender young plants.  So far I have the light hung from the top of the tent and I am seeing no stretch and no signs of stress.  In the flower area I have the lights mounted on rope yo-yo's so they can be adjusted.


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## St_Nick (May 11, 2019)

Those lights run about $250 each and come with a good warranty and awesome personal service.  so I guess the total for the grow room is  dunt da da dunn!  $1692.00 .

Can you do it for less?  I'm sure you can.  Can you spend more?  You betcha but this is working for me and I must say it is working out pretty well.  Next time I go there I'll try and remember to take pictures of all of it.


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## The Hemp Goddess (May 13, 2019)

Thanks St. Nick.  What a great post on getting aa grow room together!


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## wheelie (Dec 11, 2019)

Hope to grow 4 plants  which is legal in Canada. I paid $120 for a 2X4X6 grow tent Another $500 for exhaust fan and carbon filter, 2 - 1000 watt LED lights, osilating fan, fabric pots, fertilizer, humitity meter. Another $100 for seeds. So I guess it depends on how big of a room you building. Not including seeds like cost me $600 to setup my small tent. But I did not have to do it all at once.

Accually bought the tent to start my  plants indoors in spring then transplant them to outdoors for the summer but could not help myself and started a winter indoor grow. 

CHEERS!


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## oldfogey8 (Dec 13, 2019)

Very well done @St_Nick. Missed this when posted.


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## St_Nick (Dec 13, 2019)

Thanks.  This is an old thread and one I wrote and promptly forgot about.  I've grown out 4 complete grows since I did this and I've changed a few things but that room is still going strong.  Right now it has 8 plants in it, 4 in flower and 4 more in veg.  I have bought several of the marshydro lights for a different location and I like them a lot better but this room does well enough to keep 3 hard core stoners and one cancer patient in meds


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## 01234drew (Apr 21, 2020)

I am actually doing 2, I am taking a spare bedroom and making that my main grow area and I am using the closet to germinate and do early seedlings. I am sure things will be changing as this is my first grow. I am using Panda Film as well but I am not doing the ceilings hopefully that will not be too much of a big problem.

This is on the main floor of my house so I am hoping to bypass humidity as well but we will see wont we.


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