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Monophoto · 11-22-2005, 05:06 PM

Troy -

I've built three darkrooms now - each limited in some way by constraints imposed on it by the shape of the house in which it was being built. Let me share some of my experiences.

I think that an absolute first must be to think through the kind of work that you anticipate doing in the darkroom in order to decide how big it needs to be. Traditional printing requires four active trays (developer, stop, fix and rinse/holding bath). I bought the trays, and then laid them out on the floor to determine the size of the footprint required to hold the trays. That then became a design dimension for my darkroom.

My only regret is that I have always underestimated the size prints that I might want to do in the future. So you may want to plan on trays at least one standard size larger than what you actually anticipate using.

A key point is that you should think through everything about your darkroom before you start construction. Make lots of sketches. Once the building is built, it will be expensive and inconvenient to make changes, so you want to get it right the first time. But remember that you are likely to forget something - so leave some allowances for the future - space, plumbing tee's that you can tap into, wiring, etc.

Dave Miller's suggestion about designing your shed around building construction practices rather than shed construction practices makes a lot of sense. I live in upstate New York where we have winter - perhaps not quite to the same degree as you guys in Alaska, but it still gets cold. You really want your darkroom to be able to be heated - both for comfort and also to prevent frozen water pipes. And don't forget that if your darkroom gets too cold, chemicals will crystalize out at temperatures well above the normal freezing point.

Do you anticipate that your darkroom will be used only for chemical processes, or are you anticipating that you will do print finishing also. If the latter, you need to provide space for non-chemical activities like spotting, mounting, matting, framing, etc. And what about storage of materials and finished prints? If you plan to bring prints into the house for finishing or storage, can you do that in bad weather?

Safety has got to be another major consideration. In planning your wiring, make sure that you use ground-fault interrupters on the circuits on the wet side of the darkroom. It doesn't hurt to have them everywhere.

But in a separate building, you should also think about access and egress - having a back door or perhaps just a wall panel that you can easily break out in the event of a fire could save your life. I recall seeing a movie many years ago in which a character in England had converted a back yard bomb shelter into a darkroom - and someone murdered her by locking the door from the outside and then releasing a toxic gas in side.

In my latest darkroom, I did the wiring for operational convenience. The light switch by the door controls a circuit that feeds both the white lights, the safelights and the exhaust fan, but there are additional switches on a panel in front of the enlarging station that provides individual control over white lights and safelights. This was easy to do during construction - and would be hard to add after the fact.

Where do you anticipate the gray water from your darkroom going - can you drain from your shed into the domestic sanitary system? Or are you planning on a dry well to dispose of gray water? Are there code restrictions in your area that limit your options?

I strongly recommend good ventillation. You can purchase commercial darkroom ventillators, or you can use residential bathroom ventillators available at home centers. In my experience, while these will effectively ventillate the darkroom, they are noisy and noise is a distraction when printing. I built a ventillation system around computer-style muffin fans that have the distinct advantage of being very quiet. And if they are mounted outside the darkroom, they are almost silent.

The best design for darkroom ventillation is positive pressure - forcing air into the darkroom, and then allowing it to flow out through designated ducts. Where does the inlet air come from? This is especially important if you have a separate building - if you bring in outside air (a good thing because it's fresh), it will be cold (a bad thing).

In planning the darkroom, don' forget to plan for things like negative and print drying. I designed and built a negative drying cabinet, and had to leave a space in the footprint for this unit. I also choose to dry prints on fiberglass screens, and needed to have a rack to hold those screens.

I've thoroughly enjoyed building my darkrooms - but I don't want to do it again!

11-22-2005, 05:06 PM	#5 (permalink)
Monophoto Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Saratoga Springs, NY Posts: 1,605	Troy - I've built three darkrooms now - each limited in some way by constraints imposed on it by the shape of the house in which it was being built. Let me share some of my experiences. I think that an absolute first must be to think through the kind of work that you anticipate doing in the darkroom in order to decide how big it needs to be. Traditional printing requires four active trays (developer, stop, fix and rinse/holding bath). I bought the trays, and then laid them out on the floor to determine the size of the footprint required to hold the trays. That then became a design dimension for my darkroom. My only regret is that I have always underestimated the size prints that I might want to do in the future. So you may want to plan on trays at least one standard size larger than what you actually anticipate using. A key point is that you should think through everything about your darkroom before you start construction. Make lots of sketches. Once the building is built, it will be expensive and inconvenient to make changes, so you want to get it right the first time. But remember that you are likely to forget something - so leave some allowances for the future - space, plumbing tee's that you can tap into, wiring, etc. Dave Miller's suggestion about designing your shed around building construction practices rather than shed construction practices makes a lot of sense. I live in upstate New York where we have winter - perhaps not quite to the same degree as you guys in Alaska, but it still gets cold. You really want your darkroom to be able to be heated - both for comfort and also to prevent frozen water pipes. And don't forget that if your darkroom gets too cold, chemicals will crystalize out at temperatures well above the normal freezing point. Do you anticipate that your darkroom will be used only for chemical processes, or are you anticipating that you will do print finishing also. If the latter, you need to provide space for non-chemical activities like spotting, mounting, matting, framing, etc. And what about storage of materials and finished prints? If you plan to bring prints into the house for finishing or storage, can you do that in bad weather? Safety has got to be another major consideration. In planning your wiring, make sure that you use ground-fault interrupters on the circuits on the wet side of the darkroom. It doesn't hurt to have them everywhere. But in a separate building, you should also think about access and egress - having a back door or perhaps just a wall panel that you can easily break out in the event of a fire could save your life. I recall seeing a movie many years ago in which a character in England had converted a back yard bomb shelter into a darkroom - and someone murdered her by locking the door from the outside and then releasing a toxic gas in side. In my latest darkroom, I did the wiring for operational convenience. The light switch by the door controls a circuit that feeds both the white lights, the safelights and the exhaust fan, but there are additional switches on a panel in front of the enlarging station that provides individual control over white lights and safelights. This was easy to do during construction - and would be hard to add after the fact. Where do you anticipate the gray water from your darkroom going - can you drain from your shed into the domestic sanitary system? Or are you planning on a dry well to dispose of gray water? Are there code restrictions in your area that limit your options? I strongly recommend good ventillation. You can purchase commercial darkroom ventillators, or you can use residential bathroom ventillators available at home centers. In my experience, while these will effectively ventillate the darkroom, they are noisy and noise is a distraction when printing. I built a ventillation system around computer-style muffin fans that have the distinct advantage of being very quiet. And if they are mounted outside the darkroom, they are almost silent. The best design for darkroom ventillation is positive pressure - forcing air into the darkroom, and then allowing it to flow out through designated ducts. Where does the inlet air come from? This is especially important if you have a separate building - if you bring in outside air (a good thing because it's fresh), it will be cold (a bad thing). In planning the darkroom, don' forget to plan for things like negative and print drying. I designed and built a negative drying cabinet, and had to leave a space in the footprint for this unit. I also choose to dry prints on fiberglass screens, and needed to have a rack to hold those screens. I've thoroughly enjoyed building my darkrooms - but I don't want to do it again!