I'm trying to figure out how to cover the window in my room without leaking light (or allowing snooping eyes to look in) What do you guys think would be good for this? My friend said drapes would be good because they wouldn't look suspicious, but I think they could leak light along the sides.
What type of window is it? How large is the window? What type of setup do you have? There's a lot of info you're leaving out for us to help you. Anyway, off the top of my head this is the first thing I thought of. To maintain good airflow you can use a "window kit" that comes with portable air conditioners. It looks like this: You could probably make something similar, or buy a replacement window kit. Keep in mind that this solution would only work if your window is a sliding window.Then all you gotta do is hook up the hose to an a fan of your choosing. To prevent light leaks I would use black garbage bags or black posterboard and just tape them behind the window.
Here's what I do. I hang regular black curtains in the window and then staple gun cardboard behind it and seal up and little spaces with aluminum duct tape. From the outside of my house it just looks like there are no lights on in that room since all you can see is the curtains.
Lets make a fake window! YAY! i've been wanting to try this, you beat me to it. get some black silicon black tag board, and black duct tape. Make a slightly larger than window sized box leaving the window side open. mount the box over the window frame, seal it with black silicon. Put a light inside before you seal it...sorry. So you have the light on, but your room is dark, and people outside see a light up blind. just like somebody is home in the room. You may want to make an inner layer of white tag board for appearances, but the black is needed to keep light out of your grow room.
Sunleaves B&W Poly - 10'x25' - View All - Cheap Hydroponics - Indoor Gardening and Hydroponic Supplies - (Powered by CubeCart) This is the stuff most people use for covering windows or other things like that. It's pretty basic, and like others have said. You close your blinds/curtains, and you use this stuff behind the curtains/blinds, black side facing OUTSIDE. Easiest method is to cut a piece about 1 1/2 feet wider than your window that also is tall enough to go from about 6" above your window all the way down to almost touching the floor. If you are using the window as a passive intake then you leave the window cracked open (with a wooden dowel in place to deter people who might come poke around your partially open window), close the blinds, hang the poly sheet using regular drywall screws along the top, something like 5-6 along the entire top. Easiest way to do this is put small pieces of Gorilla or Duct tape on the poly and drive your screws THROUGH the tape. It'll keep your poly from ripping MONTHS down the line. Ok, so you've got your sheet tacked up with these screws, now you just need to tape all along the top and the two sides, leaving the bottom open / hanging freely. This'll keep light from hitting the window from the top and sides and also force any passive air that's being sucked in to come in from the bottom of the room. Couldn't do it without the poly window flaps, they're a life saver. Now if you aren't using the window as an intake or anything like that then you can just close the window, drop the blinds, and tack up your poly without worrying about leaving the bottom open or anything... I've also seen this method used with cut holes in the poly for venting to be able to turn a passive intake into an active intake... just in case you eventually need to go that route. Good luck, and I hope I'm making sense... WAY too many ganja cookies this halloween...