wrote:

September 1, 2009, from Lloyd Erlick,

Rec.Photo.Darkroom has been pretty slow most
of the summer. So I'm going to use it to
celebrate my Geezerhood (turned sixty this
summer ...) by recounting the thrilling
installation of my darkroom in my latest new
home.

---snip---

regards,
--le
________________________________
Lloyd Erlick Portraits, Toronto.
website: www.heylloyd.com
telephone: 416-686-0326
email:
________________________________
--

It's a lot of work, but worth it. I "built a house around a darkroom" (as
my wife says) about 15 years ago. Been using it steadily since.

One of the things I did that really paid off was to clean the room (of
construction dust) and paint it (to freeze the rest of the dust). Then I
installed a floor-standing air filter, with a HEPA filter element. It's
been running ever since. My spotting needs are minimal.

Second greatest non-photo accessory was the floor mats. Costco had them.
The mats are about 1/4 inch thick, interlock at the edges. I tiled the
floor with them. They are waterproof and great for the feet.

For drying negs and prints my system is two wires strung across the room,
anchored in 2x4 studs so they are 16" apart. Before anchoring the second
end of each wire, I strung them with alternating spring-type clothes pins
and 2" lengths of tubing. NOTE: the pins were strung through holes drilled
in both handles, not through the spring. This way they hold material at
right angles to the wire. RC papers and films hang from one clip. Fiber
papers you can stretch between clips on the two wires. An 1x14 or 16x20
fit easily. If you do smaller, you might want to add a third wire. No
rack to clean, no floor space taken. Use plastic clips--my wooden ones are
starting to stick to prints.

Enjoy.

Bill