Darkroom Construction - Page 4

glbeas · 12-05-2005, 07:02 PM

Might want to insulate the floor because the ground might melt under the shed and cause shifting. You have to remember with just the skirt insulated you will heat the space under the floor too. That may make it harder to get the temperature up in the shed as fast. What may be easiest is to lay a sheet of plastic down and staple it up around the bottom to make a pocket under the shed you can blow some insulation into. With a few 1x2s laid under the plastic at right angles to the floor joist that can be lifted and nailed in you can even get clearance under the insulation.

If you decide to just do the skirt be sure to put down a few layers of carpet so the cold will not penetrate so fast.

Troy Hamon · 12-05-2005, 07:47 PM

Hi Gary,

I had thought about the ground shift, but had thought of it in the reverse. That is, if the ground is warmed by the heat in the shed, it will not freeze, and hence frost heaves won't occur under the building. For this winter, it's too late for that though. Incidentally, this is one of the advantages to a building small enough to use a skid foundation. Ground-penetrating foundations keep the building motionless while the ground heaves, but this can result in a building that doesn't move while the skirting heaves. In some cases, the skirting lifts up the building...which is obviously suboptimal. But at this point we're looking at next winter if I insulate the skirting, possibly this winter if I decide to insulate the floor.

If I insulate the skirting, I will also need to tarp the ground beneath the shed. Otherwise, the moisture in the ground beneath the shed will start to mold and mildew everything under there. Another good reason to wait until next spring/summer for that part of the project. Today has been interesting. It is raining pretty significantly on our pre-existing snowpack. So we now have either a sheet of ice or a field of slush, depending on where you look. I find I can talk myself into waiting for next year for more of this project if this is the best weather I'm going to get to work on the exterior portions of it...

glbeas · 12-05-2005, 08:36 PM

Well I'm glad your getting this opportunity Troy, I know what it's like not having a darkroom to work in. It's been a while though...

Troy Hamon · 12-05-2005, 09:48 PM

One more piece of learning for the day...

A couple of weeks ago (maybe a week ago? not sure...) my propane heater died in the middle of a work session one evening. It was cold outside, below zero. I immediately assumed I had run out of propane. On the one hand, that concerned me, as it indicated that I could go through the propane pretty quick. But on the other hand, I had been using the heater to heat the interior of the building while I was working in there to put in interior electrical, ductwork, and insulation. So I assumed that the issue was basically one of working the heater pretty hard over that span of time. When I disconnected my 100 lb propane tank to take it in for a refill, it felt pretty heavy...but I'm no expert (yet). So I went ahead and took it down to ask the local expert, the propane guy, what was up. And the answer was...I had only used 30 lbs of propane so far. Still had 70 lbs in there. The basic deal is that propane has to evaporate to get forced through the line and burn. Evaporation happens down to -44, but it gets pretty slow. If you're working the heater pretty hard, which I was, and it is significantly below zero, which it was, the propane evaporation can be too slow to supply the heater. At that point, the pilot light dies and the whole thing shuts off.

So next time, I can gently warm up the propane tank with an electrical heat tape or some similarly benign heat source, or stop working at those temperatures. We'll see. In the meantime, I'm smarter.

Incidentally, the guy said he's heard people actually tell him that they warmed up their propane tanks with blowtorches...!?! Now that, my friends, is crazy, and the propane guy said, "they must not like themselves, their family, their wives..."

Troy Hamon · 01-21-2006, 08:08 PM

Well, December included a whole bunch of friendly weather. It also included my parents visiting, and so my dad and I put in a whole bunch of work. One of the things we did was borrow a diesel 175,000 BTU space heater like they use for construction projects, and bake the inside of the shed, and I mean HOT! After that, we laid the linoleum, without insulating the floor or putting up and insultaing skirting. It was warm enough that with heat inside the room and a fan to keep vertical air mixing, we kept it warm enough to work. The propane still has difficulty keeping it hot, even when the lows are only in the 20's. This is due to the aforementioned cooling as a result of the evaporation of liquid propane (see previous post). I did get a heat tape, which I will hook up when I'm getting ready to work out here so I can keep the heat running for a while if I need to. For now, I'm concentrating on getting the interior finished.

After getting the linoleum down, we built the water tower for the 200 gallon tank. Since 200 gallons of water is 1600 lbs, this was no small structure. We used 4x4 posts on 2x6 footers, with 2x6 floor joists and joist supports to make this work. A sheet of 3/4 OSB floorboard was used on top for the floor. An additional piece of 1/2 plywood was used to create a work surface below the water tank. The work surface was put on a 1" slant from one end of the structure to the other (43"), to allow water to drain. This was intended to allow a place for print washing when using 20x24" trays without sacrificing space on the wet counter. Both the top surface and the work surface were covered with spare linoleum, and the whole thing was painted white. It looks a lot better that way rather than being left looking like a construction zone afterthought...

The wet surface was made from a heavy-duty wood door. The door is not solid-core, but is more than 2" thick. We cut it down to 30" wide, and put the extra width up for a backsplash. Counter supports were made from a 2x4" that was affixed to studs along the wall behind the work surface, and one leg at each end in the front that rests on another 2x4 that goes back to the wall and is fastened there. A small 3/4" high piece of trim wood was ripped to 1.5" wide, and put along the front and side of the wet surface. The wet surface is 70" long, and has a 2" difference from one end to the other for drainage. Both this and the work surface under the water tank drain into a laundry tub which is where the water is hooked up. So far, this setup looks pretty slick. I intend to put lineoleum on this wet surface as well, as I have extra and it seems like a fine option. If it doesn't work...I'll pass it on...

We also are putting up counters for the dry side. These are kitchen countertops that were being thrown away. We've again attached a 2x4" to the studs to support the back, and a couple of 2x4" legs onto 2x4" floor braces back to the wall. However, because I want the enlarger section to be especially stable, I put two of these braces within 24" of each other beneath where the enlarger will be. The first countertop is sitting on its frame, but has not been attached yet. The kids and I are going out in a few minutes to finish putting up the other two countertops and attach all of them to the frames. I'll try to borrow a d-cam to take shots and post, so these descriptions make more sense.

I'll be attaching the counter to the frame by putting some countersunk screws right through the top of the counter. Not very many, but a few, to make sure the surface beneath the enlarger is rock solid and that the counters are well-set in general. After this is accomplished, I'll have the linoleum on the wet surface, the attachment of the plumbing to the drain, and the electrical connection at the meter and we are in business. It might actually happen someday soon!

Troy Hamon · 01-22-2006, 03:09 AM

Well, we actually did get the countertop support frames put in place, and got the one section of countertop that was too long cut down to size. But we didn't get the countertops screwed down yet. That will have to happen tomorrow. In the meantime, they're sitting in place and look like real work surfaces. I feel like I finally have the end in sight. My in-counter light box may take a bit of time to finalize, but other than that I'll be ready as of tomorrow to start moving in darkroom supplies and equipment to the dry side...WooHoo!

Dave Miller · 01-22-2006, 03:32 AM

Seems like you are making good progress.

glbeas · 01-22-2006, 08:29 AM

Troy I feel good for you! Now when that first tray gets the developer poured into it and the enlarger gets first light!

Troy Hamon · 01-23-2006, 03:29 AM

Thanks for the words of encouragement! The counters are now screwed down to the frames, and I can get the sawhorses and spare lumber out of there and start moving stuff in soon. The holdup is...IT'S COLD!!! Mercury dipped to -29 so far tonight...and still dropping. Thank goodness I'm not heating the place right now...

The other holdup is that I have no free nights until Thursday, so we'll see how the weather is by then. It is very exciting to see this thing start to come together.

Dave Miller · 01-23-2006, 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Troy Hamon

Thanks for the words of encouragement! The counters are now screwed down to the frames, and I can get the sawhorses and spare lumber out of there and start moving stuff in soon. The holdup is...IT'S COLD!!! Mercury dipped to -29 so far tonight...and still dropping. Thank goodness I'm not heating the place right now...

The other holdup is that I have no free nights until Thursday, so we'll see how the weather is by then. It is very exciting to see this thing start to come together.

You are very welcome to come over and sit in my fridge to warm up Troy.