Darkroom Construction

[Dave Miller]

Keep going; but mind you don't get heat stroke in those high temperatures.

[rbarker]

Hmmm. 38°. Toasty.

Keep at it, Troy.

[Troy Hamon]

Thanks guys,

In the realm of shocking news (or perhaps Valentine presents?), I got a call at work today...from the electrician! Said he would be sending a guy out to hook me up at the meter! I couldn't believe it. Two months ago we talked and then nothing (but I had lots of other stuff to do anyway before I was ready to go, but today out of the blue here comes the cavalry!

Well, he did come, didn't have all the stuff he needed to make it work, and will have to come back tomorrow (I hope he does...), but still... Wow! I hope to report functioning lights and ventilation fans tomorrow...

I'm happy to say that the linoleum top to the wet surface is cured and ready for action! Bring on the weekend...I'll get this thing DONE! (maybe...after the way things have gone I should be a bit cautious about using such grand terms...).

[Troy Hamon]

The electrician didn't make it back out yesterday...here's hoping that we see him today to finish the job, or at least in the next week...

[Wade D]

My current darkroom is also my home office. It's only 10' x 12' and there is no running water but it works out ok for now. The bathroom is just a few steps down the hall for washing negs and prints. I use a blackout curtain over the window. Fresh air is supplied through the central house fan. This is the only setup I could manage in a rented house. Hopefully that will change by the end of the year.

[Dave Miller]

Bad mistake that - letting a tradesman escape from a part finished job.

[Troy Hamon]

Well, as usual, everything has gone slow...but there is some GREAT news! I'll put it in its proper context...

I'm a runner and am working on a running-related photography project (that has yet to see the light of day...you won't find any images on my web site from this project yet...but maybe after the darkroom is operational...). I was at the Tampa Marathon and then in Miami for a week for business and got back last Sunday, March 5. I went out and started just trying to clean up the darkroom, sweeping up sawdust and getting boxes moved around so I could clean better. Then the week got away from me and I didn't make it back out to do anything else all week.

Yesterday, after having been home a week, I was talking with an artist friend about the darkroom, and my wife pipes up with..."oh by the way, the electricians were here three times last week..."

"WHAT!?"

I ran to the window, and sure enough there is a new conduit line going from the ground up to the meter base... I ran out to the darkroom, flipped on some breakers, and turned on the ventilation system...the sweet sound of nearly silent humming as the ventilation kicked in. Oh, how sweet it is...

I then proceeded to drill a starter hole in the floor to connect the sink to the drain and siliconed all the countersunk screw heads in the dry-side counter and the counter joints. I also siliconed the edges of the linoleum on my sink, where the linoleum curls up against rough-cut wood. The drain is the last remaining item and then I'm fully functional. Unfortunately, the way it looks right now, I'll be lucky to get to that before the weekend...

I'm still in shock over the electricity, though. Pretty fantastic.

[Dave Miller]

Being in shock over the electricity is not a good thing. However it does sound like progress.

[glbeas]

Heck, treat it like a dry darkroom and you can play NOW! I've run enough dry darkrooms at home with nothing more than a blacked out area for the equipment and processing and it can be just as satisfying as a wet darkroom, just not as convenient. Now, your other problem with the time....there was a guy a while back that built a time machine......oh sorry, that was fictional.

[Troy Hamon]

Hi Gary,

You're right, I could set up and play now...but I want it all...and after waiting 14 months since my last darkroom session I can wait a few more days or a couple weeks...

And that really is all I'll have to wait! I had the most favorable trip to the hardware store ever on Saturday. This is good news, as you can read above about my normal frustrations on going to the store. First, I made a very careful and comprehensive list of what I wanted. This showed greater than average determination on my part. Second, I remembered to take it with me. This was far more than above average, this was absolutely shocking (there that word is again...must be the electricity...). Third, I carried relevant parts and pieces that I need to connect into. I've intended to do this a number of times, but the superlatives necessary to compliment myself on accomplishing it for real elude me at present. Probably because I'm still reeling from the electricity. And fourth, I didn't put myself up against a time constraint, meaning I could sit in the hardware store for a couple hours and have the clerk help me solve my problems...which he did! It was really great.

Most of this trip involved plumbing the drain. My intent is to have my sink drain into a silver recovery chamber which then drains into the french drain. I have a Kodak silver recovery chamber, which is just a big 5 gallon bucket with inlet and outlet fittings. The fittings take a flexible tube, which I already had. But the sink trap ends in a slip-joint plastic pipe fitting. So I needed to go from that to the flexible tube somehow. We finally accomplished it by finding a slip-joint to pvc connection in the sink plumbing section, then found some reducing fittings for pvc and finally a pvc to tube fitting. Amazing.

The drain coming from the ground is 2" ABS. I originally had intended to plumb straight onto this from the silver recovery chamber, but this greatly limits my options... I read comments from an impassioned and experienced in-the-darker the critical importance of a floor drain. I wasn't real excited about putting a joint below the shed for two pipes to join, as this is a classic place to have freezing problems. So I finally opted to extend the ABS from the ground up to the floor and put in a floor drain. Rather than anything special, I just got a 2" fitting that goes right in the pipe.

So, this leaves me with a floor drain...what about the sink effluent? I took the floor drain and cut out a hole big enough to fit the flexible tubing from the silver recovery chamber. So now I can run the flexible tubing down the drain to let the sink drain out. But I still have a floor drain. It also allows me to fairly easily put a heat tape down the drain to keep the above-ground portion from freezing in winter. I hope it works.

Now I really could start playing in earnest. But I noticed that my wet-side stuff was too big to fit on the shelves, so I installed a shelf under the wet bench and put the last big piece of linoleum on it last night. I also bought some paint at the store, and will be painting all the exposed wood on the wet side before I start working. I will eventually paint all the dry side as well, but I will grant myself the luxury of waiting on that.

That's the progress. And it really is progress. Next weekend, I should be done...