Build/Layout

[CMoore]

If you were going to build a Darkroom in your backyard:
1. Approximate size is 15 x 20 feet. Would you consider plumbing the sink (6-8 feet long) in the "middle" of the room, or would you want it along the wall.?
2. Would it allow easier expansion (of counters, cabinets, future "stuff") if the electric receptacles are mounted a bit higher up (higher than you normally would in a house) up on the walls.....maybe at 5 feet.?
Thank You

 

[Ian Grant]

My darkroom is in a shed at the bottom of my garden, two walls are what's left of an old farm building the other two are breeze block.

My electrical sockets are at about 4' 6". I had planned to put my sink coming out from the wall at 90º but it wasn't practical and my second choice location was ruled out only after I'd insulated and plaster boarded the walls. In the end I added a bench that jutted out into the middle.

The blank wall space has a tall set of book shelves. In practice there's 3 enlargers but the other two can be used if needed.

Ian

 

[Paul Howell]

The usual layout is U shape, wet side the sink and plumbing along one long, the dry side on the other side long wall with the enlarger and a work table for loading film into tanks, cutting negatives, the short wall connecting the 2 long walls more cabinets and print drying rack. Having the electrical outlets at 5 feet should not pose an issues. Darkroom door on the other end. A banks of cabinets over the wet side and over the work table. Ceiling height is also important. if you are building your own work benches then consider a drop table for the enlarger, the enlarger is mounted to the wall and the easel and be moved to lower positions by sliding the counter top into slots all the way the floor. If you plan on using FB prints, the sink should be strong enough to hold an archival washer.

 

[David Brown]

I can offer up my own experience. My darkroom is almost as big as what you're proposing.

Update: The 4' sink has been replaced by a 6', with the print washer now inside the sink. Same amount of space, just a bit "safer" from a water leak perspective.

Good luck and keep us posted.

http://newdr.blogspot.com

 

[Early Riser]

You have to consider the physical workflow. When you enter the darkroom are there any obstructions? If you're loading film in total darkness are there any protrusions that you might walk into. How far do you want to go from the enlargers to the sink. Is there already water and drainage in the room? Which is the most economical wall to place the plumbing on, remember drains need to have pitch to them so often the drain location will force you to choose a specific location for the sinks.

Electrical in a darkroom is usually better off high on the walls. Air flow and venting is important, you need to have a vent on an exterior wall, and you might want to consider building a duct just over the sinks to vent the fumes right off the trays.

Make a blue print of the existing space. Show doors, exterior walls nearby plu,bing etc, and then you can get more specific advice from people.

Here's my darkroom layout.

 

[CMoore]

Thanks for the help/info.....
1. Would (ceiling to floor) 9' be better than 8'.?
2. Sorry if it is obvious, but, what is FB prints.?
At present the room does not exist. I have a call out for a plumber and an electrician to come look at trenching in water, waste line, and power from my house to the backyard, to where the room will be.
thanks again

 

[Doremus Scudder]

I'm in the middle of a darkroom build right now. Phase 1, the wet side, is largely complete.

Some thoughts: If you plan on printing large, you'll need a large sink. Mine, at 10-feet, is just long enough for making 20x24 prints, which is the largest I plan on doing. My advice is always to make the largest sink you can, or at least based on the largest print size you wish to make.

I settled for a simple tub-style sink with a 7-8-inch depth. Finding the right height so I can work comfortably in the sink was the chief concern. My wet side has the sink running along one wall with cabinets, shelving, plumbing (one regular hot/cold water tap and a mixing valve with four spigots for tempered water stretched out along the sink length) and ventilation. I've designed my sink so I can cover it with plywood panels and make a 10-foot long work counter out of it for mounting sessions. To that end, I've installed two 30-amp 4-outlet GFP outlets (for dry-mount presses, etc.), positioned at the one-third and two-third marks along the length of the sink. They are at about 50-inches height which places them 6-8 inches above the sink splash guard. They'll also serve to power viewing lights, developing timers, etc. when printing.

Unless you are planning on a really wide sink and need to work on both sides of it, a sink along one wall is easier to plumb. I'll be working alone in my darkroom. However, if you have two processes going at once, or work together with other photographers in your darkroom, a wide sink (60 inches or so) in the middle of the room might be an advantage so you can work on both sides simultaneously. You'll have to decide what best meets your needs.

FWIW, my electrical outlets on both the wet and dry side are located above counter-top height for easy access (about 50 inches off the floor). I have a second set of switched outlets about a foot down from the ceiling. These are for safelights. They are all on a separate switch located above the switches for the "white" lights. I also have a couple of regular lower outlets along the end walls for normal things like vacuum cleaners, small heater, etc.

My advice is to get out the graph paper and draw up plans for your darkroom. 15x20 feet is large and should leave you room for a separate closet/film-loading area, lots of storage, a couple enlargers, etc., etc. Check out the threads here and on the LF forum for darkroom portraits and ideas. Forum member ROL has a website where he details his darkroom planning and building. I found it quite helpful. Check it out here: http://www.rangeoflightphotography.com/pages/a-darkroom-portrait .

Best,

Doremus

 

[CMoore]

10-4
Thank You

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Thanks for the help/info.....
1. Would (ceiling to floor) 9' be better than 8'.?
2. Sorry if it is obvious, but, what is FB prints.?
At present the room does not exist. I have a call out for a plumber and an electrician to come look at trenching in water, waste line, and power from my house to the backyard, to where the room will be.
thanks again

If you have the space and the budget for a 9' ceiling, and an enlarger that needs it, then why not? If you have a Thomas Duplex safelight you want to hang from the ceiling, the extra height is a good thing. However, if you don't have a floor-standing 5x7 or 8x10 enlarger that requires extra-tall ceilings, then you'll be buying yourself higher utility bills with the taller ceiling, especially in the summer time.

FB= Fiber Based paper.

 

[Paul Howell]

Thanks for the help/info.....
1. Would (ceiling to floor) 9' be better than 8'.?
2. Sorry if it is obvious, but, what is FB prints.?
At present the room does not exist. I have a call out for a plumber and an electrician to come look at trenching in water, waste line, and power from my house to the backyard, to where the room will be.
thanks again

1. Depends on the enlarger you want to use, some come with XL columns so you can make larger prints, a higher ceiling is better. Some will project to a wall while others will swivel and shoot to the floor, before you design your layout determine what made and model of enlarger you intend to use or use. If you want a 4X5 enlarger you need more space than a medium format or 35mm model. I have a very small darkroom built into a master bath, I have 2 enlargers an Omega D3 and a B22 I just found at a thrift store for $5.00, I plan on using both, sometime during the same session I print 4X5 and 35mm so I don't need to change condensers or lens as move from one negative to another, so do you need or just want a 2 enlarger set up?

2. FB=fiber based prints, if you print only on RC or resin coated paper you want wash in a tray, fiber based paper takes longer, some use a soak and dump method, other archival or rotary washers, both are heavy. If you plan on printing 16X20 then you need a sink wide enough for large trays.

3. FB based prints take longer to dry and you print rakes to dry, at one time you could buy them, but easy to make.

3. If you live in the sunbelt don't forget AC, and a vent. Some wall mounted AC units allow for light to pass through the system.

 

[cliveh]

A lot depends on what type of work you intend to do in your darkroom, as the initial design is very important. Are you intending to do just conventional silver prints, or other process applications? Please specify and I'm sure you will get some good advice.

 

[CMoore]

Yeah, Sorry.....I am just a beginner. All I will be doing at start is Black and White 35mm.
But I have no idea about how much power or how much plumbing I need. Not how much I need to start, but how much I need to be able to expand later, and not need to open up walls and the floor. I would rather have access, or stuff Roughed/Stubbed In and then never used, than to have to get back into the walls/ceiling/floor again later on, if you know what I mean.
Thanks

 

[Paul Howell]

Building a free standing darkroom is a large expense, don't know what it is going cost per square feet, but unless you plan on dying in this house you may want to think about how the building can be used other than a darkroom, wood shop, ham radio hut, and build it so that it can be used for any number of hobbies. Your current footprint is large enough for a complete dark room, well maybe not for 8X10 enlarger, but for up to a 4X5. If it were me, I would design it for a 4X5 enlarger and able to print up to 16X20. For power you need standard 120V, 4 or 5 outlets ought to be fine, the same water supply for a standard kitchen sink, hot water is good for mixing chemistry, bathroom vent fan ought to work fine, concrete painted black for the floor. Black walls.

I live in a town home complex, one of the other residents had a bedroom converted to a darkroom, cost him a couple grand to build it, a couple of grand to restore back to a bedroom.


If you check Amazon you should be able to find a book on darkroom design, books on the subject were quite common in the 80s and 90s.

 

[MattKing]

Are you planning to work alone in the darkroom, or is it intended to be a shared space?

If you intend to use it shared, having a sink for the trays that can be accessed from both sides is invaluable. A sink like that is also useful if you do demonstrations in your darkroom..

Make sure you design in space for the largest paper cutter you could possibly need. If murals are in your future, paper comes in rolls as wide as 42 inches, but for most a 24 inch cutter is the biggest you are likely to need.

Figure out how many outlets you want, then at least double the number.

When you start adding analyzers, negative cleaners, vacuum easels, automated processors, tray agitators, etc., etc. .....(all the unnecessary but nice options) you want to be restricted by sense and budget, not availability of electrical plugs.

Consider discussing an electrical system that permits surface mount conduit or some other system that is very easy to re-configure.

Ventilation, ventilation, ventilation...

Floors that are comfortable under foot and easy to clean.

Many people like to listen to music in the darkroom.

This 2005 Kodak publication on darkroom design might help: http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/ak3/ak3.pdf

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Just to give some additional perspective on darkroom size, well, the darkroom you're talking about is about the size of an entire floor of my house. My darkroom (which is workable but I do find confining) is 7'x8' with 6' ceilings but I can print as big as 16x20 either silver-gelatin or alternative process. I would NOT want to try and work in my darkroom with someone else in there, to be sure, but I can make enlargements from up to 4x5" negatives, and develop and contact print up to 14x17" negatives (I could in theory do 16x20s but I don't have any camera that takes film that big).

 

[CMoore]

Some more great info.....Thanks.
Perhaps some more info from me.....
We are about to start doing paint and floors in our house. My wife has A Lot of crap/nik-naks, and I have A Lot of tools and parts. I build/repair guitar amps, and STILL have inventory left over from my wife's backline company.
Ideally I could also use this room for amp repair as well. I could do that with a folding 3'x6' table in the center of the room.
I am hoping to get this framed up, so I can use it to store (some) of our junk as we go from room to room with the Repaint/Refloor job in the house.
Would be nice to be bale to use the darkroom 12 months from now.
I was thinking that instead of Drywall, I would insulate and then use 1/2" - 5/8" plywood, or something along those lines.....the old T-111 siding perhaps. THAT would alleviate a lot of finishing, and make a secure surface to attach shelves and counters to.
For the floor, I was just figuring on some type of quality sheet vinyl.
And yes.....I would not be opposed to surface mounting Some/All of the plumbing and/or electrical.
I also ordered two books.
The new darkroom handbook by DeMaio
and
Building your own darkroom by Amherst
Amazon had them quite cheap in the used category

 

[Paul Howell]

the key to any darkroom is cleanliness, dust is the enemy, storing boxed odds and ends is one thing, but once you open the door to storage keeping the room clear for use as darkroom, well that takes more effort than you might think. One box leads to another, and well I don't have a box just yet, but I'll find one. I have not found that a dark room plays well with others. My wife has not stepped in my make shift darkroom for just about 20 years. Not that it is unclean, just stained, well has what has my wife calls my toxic waste dump.

 

[John Koehrer]

You might consider a table hinged from a wall for the amp repair.
The vetrs this area use them as examination tables.

 

[M Carter]

If your darkroom will have drywall or paneling on the interior, than install outlets all over the place - all that stuff is very cheap, especially compared to tearing up a wall later. (It's easy to pull a "loop" of wire through a junction box and just stuff it back in and put a blank cover on it - you can always cut into it later).

If you'll have the framing exposed, you should still consider adding some j-boxes to your conduit runs to add things later.

It can be very smart to run some empty conduit with pull strings in it, if you decide you need more wiring.

Don't forget some cat-5 or coax - you may find you want a small computer or wireless router in there - my mac is stuffed with notes and formulas and I often go look things up - but my darkroom's just past my office.

When we rebuilt our kitchen I went to a big appliance store and grabbed a ton of flattened refrigerator boxes. Then I took a box knife and tape and "built" the kitchen out of cardboard in a larger room (or you could do this in your yard) per the blueprints, the appliance and cabinet specs, etc. It allowed us to get a feel for how we'd work in the space - in fact, we realized the kitchen island was too big, though it seemed fine on the blueprints. But just a big box to represent a row of cabinets, nothing detailed (and we used all that cardboard to protect the wood floors during remodeling).

 

[CMoore]

PDH - Sorry, I was not clear.....We would just frame up the room, and use it for storage as we go with the house. It would not be close to a darkroom until months later. It will not stay a storage room.

MCarter, thanx. Cat-5 is a good idea.

 

[Paul Howell]

The size you are thinking of is large enough for just about size enlarger up to 4X5, a sink up to 16X20, until you have a starter enlarger and gear it is hard to say what direction you want to take.

 

[Fr. Mark]

The main requirement for a darkroom is dark. At least to get started. I've done some work I like carrying jugs of water to a basement. At least I can pour used water down a drain. It is hard to do some work in the winter due to the light from the boiler when the thermostat calls for heat...

your u proposal sure looks nice though.

 

[Nige]

couple of things that have worked for me :
- pull cord (white) light above sink
- fridge in darkroom (film/beer/etc)
- (provision for) 2 enlargers. Handy to have a second enlarger for flashing paper without removing neg from working enlarger.
- Paper safe. I have a bench top unit that holds slightly bigger than 8x10 paper, but people build under bench drawer types which I think are a good idea as they are bigger and out of the way. If I'm printing larger than 8x10 then I have to get a sheet out of the packet each print. Not a huge deal but something to consider.
- I had my dry side wall lined with wood paneling under the plaster (drywall) so I could wall mount my enlargers (but haven't). If you think that might be in your future, consider getting the wall built to include extra support to suit.
- location of light switches. I have the main room lights switchable from both ends of the room. My exhaust fan and safelight are only at one end as I just turn them on/off per session.
- consider your A/C requirements

Most people don't have the luxury of starting with a 'blank canvas'. So many possibilities to think about!

 

[CMoore]

Most people don't have the luxury of starting with a 'blank canvas'. So many possibilities to think about!

Yes...it is kind of overwhelming at the moment. Which is one reason I would be happy to be done in 12 months.
Thanks for your input.

 

[Early Riser]

Put your enlarger(s) on a dedicated 20 amp electrical circuit, with nothing else connected to that circuit. You don't want the enlarger light to dim if the AC or a heater goes on.