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#1
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setting up a dark room in unfinished basement
Hello,
I am looking at setting up a dark room in my bsmt. The only problem is my bsmt is unfinished, which means it's all empty and to put up dry walls to build a room it'll cost me lots of $$$. Has any one ever setup a room for printing and processing in an environment like this successfuly? Please help. apkesh |
#2
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setting up a dark room in unfinished basement
Apkesh wrote:
Hello, I am looking at setting up a dark room in my bsmt. The only problem is my bsmt is unfinished, which means it's all empty and to put up dry walls to build a room it'll cost me lots of $$$. Has any one ever setup a room for printing and processing in an environment like this successfuly? Please help. If you can make the basement light tight you're laughing. No need for drywall just cover the windows. I'm assuming you have a door heading downstairs that you can close. The only reason I want walls is because I keep getting lost walking to the sink with the lights off. Small rooms have some advantages. All I did was setup a table for the trays. A second one for the enlarger. Nick |
#4
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setting up a dark room in unfinished basement
"Apkesh" wrote in message om... Hello, I am looking at setting up a dark room in my bsmt. The only problem is my bsmt is unfinished, which means it's all empty and to put up dry walls to build a room it'll cost me lots of $$$. Has any one ever setup a room for printing and processing in an environment like this successfuly? Please help. apkesh I may get some 'feedback' on this one, but I recall reading in Ctein's book _Post Exposure_ he put up a simple frame of wood and covered it with black garden plastic as well as the exposed walls. Ctein is an expert printer and well recognized for his work, so if this 'makeshift' darkroom works for him, no reason it won't for you either. Now, the plastic will minimize the dust, but temperature and humidity are other things altogether. Water and drainage will also need to be available. Putting up your own drywall and framing is not as expensive as one may think if they can do the work themselves. If you have someone who shares your interest in the darkroom and can lend a hand, that will make it much easier (trying to hold a 4' X 8' piece of sheetrock with one hand while trying to get the screw to go in with the other usually generates a new vocabulary). Jim __________________________________________________ _____________________________ Posted Via Uncensored-News.Com - Accounts Starting At $6.95 - http://www.uncensored-news.com The Worlds Uncensored News Source |
#5
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setting up a dark room in unfinished basement
I have had darkrooms in basements most of my life... A plastic lined booth
is your best, quickest, cheapest answer ... did I mention that it is the best as it makes controlling dust easy Put up 2x4 and 2x2 framing walls just strong enough to hold black, 6 mil, construction, plastic sheeting stapled to it... the heavy stuff - worth every penny The biggest hassle is the swinging door, which needs to be properly framed to last... If your basement can be made dark enough, skip the swinging door and put the opening so it points at a blank wall... If you need the swinging door get some help from a buddy who has done house construction, if you have not... Remember to put down linoleum on the floor to control dust... Go to the discount joints and get the cheapest, ugliest, stuff you can find... Remember to tack sheet plastic to the overhead joists to control dust... Use 3/4 x 1 cross battens to keep it from drooping, and to give you places to mount lights... Set up a fan, with a filter, to blow air into the darkroom for ventilation, and to blow entering dust out... You may need an additional source of heat in the winter, I use a 1500 watt electric heater on the counter top for mine... I would then spray paint the inside of the plastic walls and ceiling with white paint... A dark room needs adequate safelight to work by - and the black plastic sucks up the light like a sponge and leaves it too dark for me, but that's a personal decision... You can build counters, but a pair of Home Depot saw horses, with a cheap door laid across the top, and screwed/bolted to the saw horses, and the whole thing screwed to the wall studs to stiffen it up, will work just fine.. If it is too low for you, then use the door as the top shelf of a flat box with plywood sides 6" to 12" high and a bottom shelf of plywood (will need some 3/4" x 1" stringers to stiffen it), which is then laid on the horses... This raises the top surface to your preferred height and gives you a shelf underneath to boot... cheers ... denny "Apkesh" wrote in Hello, I am looking at setting up a dark room in my bsmt. The only problem is my bsmt is unfinished, which means it's all empty and to put up dry walls to build a room it'll cost me lots of $$$. |
#6
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setting up a dark room in unfinished basement
Mine is a 6x10 ft area in a corner of the basment.
The added walls are framed with 2x2s and sheet cardboard stapled to it (some plywood as well) -- leftovers from local construction sights. Got some black gaffers tape from Epperson Photo in Oklahoma City and that seals well all of the edge light leaks (like around duct work). Caulk works well for frame edges. Some black plastic (from film & paper packaging) also work well for covering edges. Water comes from a near-by utility sink, via garden hose and drains, also via garden hose, to the basement floor drain. Clean and practical. Fortunately dust is not an issue unless things get really dry. Just a little moisture in the air helps. Temperature is the only environmental issue I struggled against. But if bottles are not kept against the outside block wall then all is well. Enlarger height might be a problem. I got a D5 5-foot upright and so have to keep it on a small table. The main floor gets in the way. (Should I punch a hole in the kitchen floor? What would the wife think?) The 4-foot upright would have been more practical, but alas. I think the entire darkroom facility cost me about $40. You can build a good, clean darkroom on a budget. Dust and light control are the environmental factors to keep control of. Paint the walls black. It's the best $10 you can spend to keep your prints contrasty. Collin |
#7
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setting up a dark room in unfinished basement
I share the furnace/utility/laundry/cat-litter room as a darkroom. I just
cover the basement windows. The only problem with such a big room is ventilation. I currently use none (the room is 25'x12') , leave the door open, cover the trays, and limit my exposure to about 2 hours a week. 25x12x8 == 2400 cu. feet. At 10 air changes an hour, I need a 400 CFM fan. I have plans to install one soon but it hasn't stopped me. Covering the trays really helps... You would think I have dust problems, but it isn't bad at all. Not even with litter and a dryer "Apkesh" wrote in message om... Hello, I am looking at setting up a dark room in my bsmt. The only problem is my bsmt is unfinished, which means it's all empty and to put up dry walls to build a room it'll cost me lots of $$$. Has any one ever setup a room for printing and processing in an environment like this successfuly? Please help. apkesh |
#8
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setting up a dark room in unfinished basement
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#9
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setting up a dark room in unfinished basement
On 18 Feb 2004 20:24:11 -0800,
(Apkesh) wrote: Hello, I am looking at setting up a dark room in my bsmt. The only problem is my bsmt is unfinished, which means it's all empty and to put up dry walls to build a room it'll cost me lots of $$$. Has any one ever setup a room for printing and processing in an environment like this successfuly? Please help. apkesh feb1904 from Lloyd Erlick, In a basement, the cement floor will be a big problem. It will very likely release dust forever. There will always be a moisture problem with a cement floor below grade, in contact with the soil. The severity of the problem will vary greatly depending on location, climate, and the lay of the land. (I saw a house in Toronto, downtown no less, that actually had a little trickle of running water going through its basement. A veritable miniature river. The succession of owners had given up trying to block it and had settled for channeling it. Ground waer in a city, yechh...) Getting around this problem leads people to all sorts of floor treatments, some of which are huge errors. Any type of covering or coating is an error on a basement floor. Rugs or linoleum coverings trap moisture underneath, and mildew will inevitably result. Any floor cover like a rug must be removable for cleaning. And it must be removed and cleaned once in a while. The floor underneath will need a scrub and sterilization, too. Coatings like paint (I've used several different types, including two part epoxy swimming pool paint) always fail eventually, leaving a flaking mess. There is always moisture underneath them, i.e. between the coating and the cement. The best solution is the easiest and cheapest. Clean the floor to within an inch of its life. Scrub it and rinse it and sweep it and vacuum it and in general eliminate all dirt as well as you can. Then seal it with a water based glue; I use a product called Weldbond, diluted about 1+3 to 1+6 with plain tap water. Swab it around all over the floor with the cheapest string mop you can get. Let it soak in (that's why it's fairly dilute) and dry. Repeat the process as many times as you feel necessary. It can be done again at any time, even when the darkroom furniture is in place, to renew it. No smell, no fumes, no harm to photo materials. Floor wax or polish can be applied after the sealer is dry (I don't bother, though), and they are easily renewable treatments, too, with no big move of furniture needed. But the strippers for wax and polish can be pretty stinky, even though they are mild by comparison to paint. If the walls are dusty, treat them the same way. Ceiling dust can be cheaply controlled by stapling two or four mil sheet polyethylene across the ceiling joists. It's easy to cut through any spot you want to work on later, and re-cover with more sheet plastic. The walls could be draped with the same sheet plastic to control dust, too, depending how stylish you'd like the place to look. Wall dust will then collect on the floor at the base of the walls, where it can be vacuumed and/or swept up. If you use a canister or shop type of vacuum cleaner, a long length of hose can be placed on the exhaust port and led out of the darkroom area to keep from blowing up a storm in there. If you're not the owner of the real estate where you're putting in this darkroom, consider everything you do in terms of portability and ease of taking it with you when you leave. My sinks are on wheels, and the taps connect with laundry and dishwasher type pressure hoses. I connect to the house plumbing via the kind of valves used to connect/disconnect washing machines. I did it this way even in a place I owned for twenty-eight years! regards, --le _______________________________________ Lloyd Erlick Portraits, 2219 Gerrard Street East, unit #1, Toronto M4E 2C8 Canada. --- voice 416-686-0326 http://www.heylloyd.com _______________________________________ |
#10
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setting up a dark room in unfinished basement
On 19 Feb 2004 05:39:12 -0800,
(Collin Brendemuehl) wrote: .... Paint the walls black. It's the best $10 you can spend to keep your prints contrasty. Collin feb1904 from Lloyd Erlick, I think you're right, but I have an alternative to paint (too stinky and messy for me...). Just pin up (or tape if you prefer) black paper (from seamless backdrop rolls) or black card or even black plastic sheeting (maybe from the bags photo paper comes in). There are probably only a few square feet that are important in terms of effect on the prints. Others may not be as obstinate as I am about paint, volatiles, and in general all the smells of moden life... regards, --le _______________________________________ Lloyd Erlick Portraits, 2219 Gerrard Street East, unit #1, Toronto M4E 2C8 Canada. --- voice 416-686-0326 lloyd AT the-wire DOT com http://www.heylloyd.com _______________________________________ |
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