Researching for a first time indoor grow and have some pretty basic questions. 1 - Opinions on a "secret" room? Really, all it seems is the grow area needs to simply be behind a locked door. I own my house and have an unfinished basement. Under my stairs is open, the exterior of the stairwell is sheet rocked. All I would need is to frame in a door, insulate and rock under the stair well and done, small grow room away from prying eyes. I keep looking around at hiding a room, but honestly if someone, ie the law, wants to find my room, they are going to. Seems like I am wasting time/funds trying to build a secret room. I have maybe had people in my basement twice in the past year. Just for playing foosball. 2 - Build my grow room or buy a tent? If I build under the stairs I will likely double sheet rock and insulate and tie in a smoke alarm and auto extinguisher. If I cover the space with panda film, it will give me the biggest area I can get. Or I can buy a nice tent and stuff it in there, it would only be 36x20x52. If I bought a tent, I would still insulate and sheet rock for sound and fire proofing. 3 - Lastly, smells. My lot is just under a half acre. I am looking at nice and quiet inline fans, with a large carbon filter. I plan on either ducting it up my furnace flue, or running a dryer vent out the back of my house. Out the back is much easier, but my rear neighbor kitty corner is some form of law enforcement. I only plan on 2 plants at a time, and his back fence is around 60-80 feet from where my vent will be. Will I be able to control the fumes with a large inline fan, a carbon filter, and 60 feet? It is always windy in the morning here, and the wind blows towards his house. Thanks for any advice!!!
1. It's a good idea to set up your grow so that it isn't obvious to passersby. It will help you avoid explanations, worry and many possible, unexpected issues. You don't need a secret slide away bookshelf or anything. Just a door that seals the light in and vents that don't have light pouring out of them. 2. Tents are usually a waste of money in my opinion. In your case it would only place more limits on the size of the grow area. 3. A good filter of the right size will filter out all odors and as long as you replace the carbon regularly, you'll have nothing to worry about. Using the right size filter with active carbon, your neighbor could stick his head in the vent and not smell anything. A quality centrifugal blower usually makes the least noise for the amount of air it moves.
Building a box is Cheaper and smell shouldnt travel to Farr out of the box. Never spend to much on first few grows
Everyone has a different opinions on how many plants per x amount of space . I try to give each one of my plants 3 ft diameter of grow room .. Cant see you putting a small tent in a small room . You need all the room you can get .. Best and quiet fan , I have four of these in operation 24/7 , I use two 8 in fans per 4ft x8ft tent . My tents are in my home , one in what was the dinning room and one in my bed room . I have two fans per tent and run them at half speed to cut down on the sound .. If your exhaust is outside then the sound inside your home will be less , but during the winter I like venting inside my house to help heat it . These fans are the best , dependable , quiet , and rebuildable .. Good luck