Indoor garden room

10 years ago

We are finishing our basement. We have an 11x15 foot room that has 6 sides (each side has a large window) that sticks out away from the rest of the house (on the main floor it is the dining area). It is on the north side and doesn't get tons of direct sunlight. While it was all unfinished I was using it as my greenhouse. I set up grow lights for seedlings and things. I'd like to turn it into a garden room, but don't have a clue as to the complications that could involve.

I'm from the humid South where mold and mildew are always a concern, but I live in the super dry West now, and people just don't worry about that. I had planned to put in an exhaust fan like you would have in a bathroom just in case.

I wanted to build shelves around the walls for seed starting, and have a sink and potting bench. Maybe a brick floor or stamped concrete. I want to grow a couple of dwarf citrus trees in pots on the patio and bring them in for the winter.

We had originally planned to wall this room off with a glass wall (so as not to block all the natural light coming into the rest of the basement), but I'm wondering if that wall is necessary at all.

And to be honest I thought I had a few years to figure out what I really want, but now my husband wants to push ahead and do that part of the basement all the way to paint and carpet, but not the details just yet (no built-ins or fireplace, etc. That will come later). So I need to know what I intend to do there in the future so I can get things right with the electrical, lighting, etc.

We live in zone 6b and I love the idea of having a tomato plant I can pick off of in the cold months, a nice place to start my seeds, etc. We've always wanted a green house, but a heated greenhouse is very expensive, and this way we can take advantage of the indoor heating we are already paying for. Plus we have plenty of room in the house for the other things we want, so why not? I want it to be attractive because that will make me happy and because it will be in full view of the rest of the basement.

Has anyone done anything like this in their house? Am I oversimplifying this? I tend to do that :) What am I forgetting or not thinking of? I would love any thoughts or opinions on this. I've looked online and haven't found much.

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Comments (2)

mudhouse_gw
10 years ago
I haven't done this, but find it a very appealing idea. I have a small greenhouse, and I'm thinking one obvious difference would be that you'll have to be more careful with water, in a finished interior space, than those of us with structures made of poly, metal, concrete, etc.

I'm pretty neat when I water (filling a long spout watering can, no splashing of hoses) but I'm still used to being able to let the water run onto the greenhouse floor, as it drains. When you build the shelves, maybe you explore the idea of inset plastic trays, below some kind of grid, to catch run off?

It's perfect that you've been able to use the space already in an unfinished state, since you're already familiar with how it works for light, temperature, and ventilation.

Tile, patterned/stained concrete, or brick would all be good choices for the floor, since they could be done in a way that future homeowners would find acceptable, even if they aren't "plant people" or don't plan to use the room as a real garden work space.

I also live in a very dry climate in the southwest, so I know that we can get away with things involving moisture in a house interior that simply would not work in other parts of the country. Sounds to me like you have the workings of a good plan.
mudhouse_gw
10 years ago
One other thought...personally I might not block off this room from the rest of the basement initially, with a glass wall. Visually I don't see why it couldn't be done so it was an attractive space (but then again I think gobs of plants are beautiful.) Maybe that could be added later, if you decide it's necessary.

I'd be slow to do anything that might decrease the odds of good air circulation in the space. Ceiling fans or other fans that could move the air throughout the basement might be helpful (still, moist air in a small space is generally not a good thing for plants.)
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I wasn't thinking that there was toxic gasses given off, I know that yeast is used in all sorts of food and drink. Just that whatever is given off may build up to toxic levels for the plants. To much of a good thing is not always good. Even too much co2 is damaging to plants. Also any element in a nutrient solution, if in excess is not healthy and can become toxic to the plants. I am also half to wonder if there would wind up being any type of film that may settle on the foliage that could hinder plant transpiration. I haven't seen or herd of it being used for generating co2 for plants (not that I've looked hard). The only way of finding out if it would be efficient that I can tell is to do some test. I would build a small scale test box with a known inside square footage. Use a co2 meters/sensor to measure the any increase in co2 PPM (with different levels of product in a given amount of liquid). Then with that data in hand I would introduce some plants to the setup, and again measure the co2 PPM's. I would also introduce a few pains of "clean" glass to see if any film builds up on it over time. Also I would want to test how long the mixture will give off the desired amounts of co2. So once I had reached reasonable co2 levels, I would do an experiment testing the daily PPM's to see when the co2 start to drop off, and how fast (keeping logs for all experiments). Once I had all that data then I could figure out the size of the yeast co2 generator I would need for a larger scale enclosure (and plants planed). That would also give me some idea of if it would be cost effective in the long run. As I understand it the PPM levels for co2 and healthy plant growth can vary a widely. With CO2 levels of below 200 ppm will generally cease to grow or produce, and levels above 2000 ppm reaching toxicity levels for plants. Although PPM levels very by location, climate, and season, Carbon dioxide (CO2) is present at a concentration of approximate average is 350 ppm in the atmosphere. CO2 is heavier than oxygen and will also displace the O2 required by both plants and humans (air circulation would be recommended). OSHA's maximum allowable levels for human exposure is 5000 PPM. Supplemental Carbon Dioxide Do-It-Yourself Carbon Dioxide Injection (note: this article is referring to co2 for aquariums) I could swear I had a couple more links, but cant find them right now.
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Indoor garden room

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mudhouse_gw

mudhouse_gw

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