Building My New Commercial Medical Grow Room

I'm finally starting a thread to document the construction of my new commercial grow room that I have been working on.


As some of you already know, a partner and I started a medical marijuana collective this year and my job is to grow the medicine. I'm the Garden Manager, the Ganja Farmer. I just hope that I can live up to the expectations of everyone. I have learned a lot i the past year and a half here at GK and I intend to put it to use and keep on learning.


Let me give you a description of what we're working with and what we're planning:


The Flower room is just about 11' X 11' X 7' plus a 6' x 4' X 7' closet. That works out to 146 square feet and 1015 cubic feet. It was an old bedroom that I had always used as storage. It had old carpet and paint. Luckily enough for me the closet in that room has the main house breaker panel in it, which made wiring the electrical much easier. We are going to be doing 5k watts of HPS in this room for flowering. We have all the lights already and fans. We have an 18,500 BTU window A/C unit. We are going to buy and install a nat. gas Co2 generator and a Co2 monitor/controller. The room will be sealed with all the air that cools the lights being pulled from outside the room. We also have a digital thermostat Space heater to keep the temps even when the lights are out in the winter time. We are going to be using 2 4' X 8' Flood tables and a single 4' X 4' table. I have some 50 gal. RubberMade tubs to use as reservoirs. I plan to do SOG 1 plant per sq. ft. so 32 plants per 4' X 8' table 80 flowering plants all together. They will only be getting about 8"-12" tall and then get flowered, I think. I will be using General Organics nutrients and Great White Mycorrhizae. 6" X 6" Square pots filled with hydroton.


The Veg room is about 12' X 8' X 7'. I have 2k watt MH and 400 watts of Fluorescents. I have a portable A/C unit to cool this room if necessary. Clones will be done in Rock Wool and rooted under Fluorescent lights then allowed to veg for a week or so under a 1000 Watt MH. The mothers will be under the other 1000 watt MH.


I am also going to be installing an R/O water filtration system capable of supp me with 100+ gal. of R/O water a day. Both rooms will be getting Hepa Filters on the air exchange fans as well as carbon scrubbers on the exhaust that exits the house, and maybe an ozone generator as well.


Hopefully it will come together just like I see it in my head. I have been taking pictures as we go. So without further ado, here are the pics so far. I'll be posting more as it comes together all the way up until I have plants growing in the trays.


It started out like this, after I took out all my stuff and before I ripped out the carpet.








We started with the Electrical work. The main Breaker panel is in the closet, so it was very convenient and easy to run all the electrical for the lights, A/C and a few extras. I have 100 Amp power coming into the house.





Initially we tried to use a sprinkler timer as the timer to run all the outlets. Don't ask me why........ The Sprinkler timer needed a 24V power supply and had to run to a 30 amp relay that kicked on the power to the sub panel. The relay that my Dad had was a DC relay so we had to also install a Bridge rectifier to kick the DC relay. So when it was all said and done it worked, unfortunately the timer couldn't support a 12/12 light cycle! LOL so we ended up taking it out and instead we used the 24V power supply running directly to the bridge rectifier and we plugged the 24V power supply into a normal appliance timer, and that worked fine, however I was unhappy with that setup and opted to install a 240V 40 Amp mechanical timer in place of all that DC relay and rectifier crap. so here are some pics of the electrical as it was first.








After I took out the Sprinkler Timer. The DC relay is inside the junction box and the thing on top all taped up is the bridge rectifier.





The Appliance timer and the 24V power supply.








So then I decided to do it a much simpler and easier way, the right way :thumbs-up: I installed a mechanical timer that has a 40 amp relay built in.





The main panel after adding the breakers for the sub panel, veg room outlets, A/C outlet and 4 additional 120V outlets.





For the 5, 240V outlets in the flower room, the power runs from a 30 amp breaker in the main panel up to the Timer, then to the sub panel which has 3 breakers in it 1 for each set of lights for each table, so there are 2 outlets where each of the 4' X 8' tables will be and a single outlet in the closet. They all turn on and off together on the single timer.





The new TImer all wired up.





The sub panel.





All finished.











We also pulled out the old carpet of course. We installed some sheet vinyl flooring. It was cheap and will be water proof. It actually looks pretty nice. I had a buddy come over and help me out, since I've been on these antibiotics my joints, especially my knees have been killing me. He did it for nothing more than I bought pizza for dinner and smoked him out. I also slapped a coat of cheap flat white paint on the walls and ceiling. I need to do another coat.


See me working hard! :roffl:














So that's it for now, but I'll update as I get things done. It should progress pretty quickly now. SO stay tuned.


:thumbs-up:


:bong-2:


opcorn-2:

 

Hooray! that's awesome! A ganja man's dream of officially growing ganja!!! :cheerleader:


So happy for you!


Glad you got your electrical straightened out. It can really throw you a loop, especially when you try to combine and add stuff. I've done quite a bit myself, and I get so deep in thought, if I second guess or question or anything, I'm completely derailed! Have to leave, smoke, ponder, and tackle it again!


Can't wait to see your final setup, looks awesome


opcorn-2:


peace


GTWT


:XXhippylove:

 

WAY TO GO my Ganja brother... that will be one sweet set up... electrical scares teh shit outta me...


:good job:

 

Yeah man, it's real. It has gone from a vision in my head to a reality taking shape. And my buddy has his pants sagging but my shorts are up as far as my fat belly will allow LOL :roffl:


GTWT- thanks for stopping by. It's pretty cool to be able to do this. Stay tuned you may get an idea for your setup while you watching the show.


BB- I hired my Dad to do all the electrical so I knew it was safe. I DID remove the relay and rectifier and wire in the mechanical timer myself today, as well as working alongside my Dad to learn a bit about it. I wouldn't do any major electrical stuff without checking with my Dad or another electrician first. But I know the safety rules and how not to kill myself. :thumbs-up: :roffl:

 

Awesome looking set up. Sort of resembles my flower room in size. I'm anxious to see how this all turns out. Sound like a winner for sure.


So, a commercial grow can be in a residential property? I'm asking because here in Colorado if your a caregiver with 5 or less patients, then you can grow in your home. Otherwise, you'd have to be in an area zoned commercial.


Just curious . . .


Thanks for the kick ass update and all the sweet pics. :alienwink:

 

Everything looks great Ras, looks like you've been busy. Glad to see you're doing the electrical right, and not half-assing it, not that I would expect anything less from the Anjah's.


I know you've already painted, but I wanted to let you know that eggshell finish paint works better than flat IMO. I recently discovered from a painter friend, that eggshell will still reflect as good as flat, but it won't absorb water, and it can be washed. It doesn't take much water to make flat paint start to mold.


Can't wait to see some tables in there. Good luck!


-tC

 

First off...Congrats on becoming a official ganja farmer! That would be like a dream come true for just about any grower. Your room looks great and everything sounds very promising, I'm sure you'll grow some monster yields in there. Can't wait to see the jungle opcorn-2:

 

This is gonna be SWEET! opcorn-2: KICK ASS JOB SO FAR!!!! Cant wait to see things GROW!

 

Looks great.


Nice neat electrical work.


Make sure you have some type of fire extinguisher in the room. Better to be safe. I would go with a Co2 type. It will knock down any fire without chemicals getting all over everything.


Good luck.


Peace....

 

Watch the time cycle on that timer. Make sure it keeps accurate time.


My old T-103 timer which I have had for years still works great. But when I did the latest 4kw room I went with the newer GE timers with the analog time dial like you have there. I found mine had a 50Hz analog clock motor. I ended up losing about an hour and a half every week or so. I had to switch over to the new GE timers with the digital time clock, (which meant no 50 Hz analog motor), and they have kept perfect time since I installed them.

 

Hmmm Interesting, and good to know. I will keep an eye on it and if it doesn't live up to my expectations I will swap it for one with a digital clock.

 

opcorn-2:

 

Lights up and running.


So I have mounted 4 of the 5 lights and ran the ventilation for 2 of them. Things are progressing but the room is now in use so I have to work around the 12/12 light schedule for the flowering plants that now reside there. Here are a few pics of the room as it is now.








I'll be running the duct work for the other lights and installing the a/c unit soon. Then moving in 1 of the 4x8 tables and setting up my first round of plants for the ebb n flow SOG. Hopefully I can get the Co2 going before then as well.


Stay tuned........asssit:

 

thumbs up bredren

 

beauty.


why don't you just get a green party lightbulb like they have at walmart in your room? you could even stick it in a clamp fixture and just bring it in with you. the plant's can't see green light, so it won't disrupt photosynthesis. I do most of my work when the lights are out!

 

Looking good RasGanJah. Your going to be very happy I think, with your outcome. It sure looks like it'll be a productive and profitable room.


I was wondering if you ever had any issues with those "yo yo's" that are holding your above the plants.


I had one of those suckers "slip" and slammed down on my plants. I refuse to use them. Just wondering if you'd experienced anything similar . . . I'd guess not or you'd be done with them too.


Great set-up and thanks for sharing with us. :alienwink:

 

No problems as of yet. They just make it so much easier to adjust the lights than chains. I have seen and would like to buy a different style that is heavier duty and uses a steel cable and pulley mechanism. As of now as long as I tighten the wing screw tightly they seem to hold up pretty well.


SirStynalot- Good Idea I should get a couple of them and install them in the ceiling fixture. Then I could run ductwork and setup my other table and res, etc during the daylight hours when the lights are off. The tough thing is going to be installing the A/C unit at night. I have to remove the whole window cuz the unit is wider than the window opening. So I can't have the the daylight leaking into the flowering room and the lights turn on at 4p.m. I will wait until I have a need for the A/C to install it, right now the room is staying in the mid 70's without any A/C so it's not needed.


I found some 50 lb. Co2 tanks for sale used on craigslist for $100 is that a good price? Krondikebar suggested a tank over a generator for a couple reasons and I think I will go that route for now, it's cheaper and easier to install than a generator too.

 

Nice start on you new grow room Now don't burn that trailer down with 5k of lights.-Bud

 

Thanks man, everything has been done right so hopefully I will avoid any catastrophes. This is my job so I will pretty much be here 90% of the time and I'll be installing a couple automatic fire extinguishers eventually for added safety. We sleep just on the other side of the wall from the grow room, I don't want to wake up to our wall collapsing in flames on top of us.