Building a Darkroom in a 2.5ft by 6ft Room

noahsmith · Oct 14, 2019

Hi there,

I am going to be moving into a new house this week and there is a small closet under some stairs in the garage that I'm hoping could work as a darkroom for printing but wanted to get some opinions on this.

I've attached an image (not to scale) that shows the basic layout of the closet. It's 2.5ft wide and 6ft deep. Since the closet is under a set of stairs, the ceiling is at an incline. Going from the floor area to it's highest point at about 10ft.

I have a Beseler 23C II XL Thats about 3.8ft tall. The base is about 2ft deep x 1ft wide.

I will be printing 8x10 but would like to have the option to go up to 11x14 too.

Just curious, based on anyone's experience, do you think this is even doable? It seems like the width of the room would be super tight. Thoughts or tips on making this work?

MattKing · Oct 14, 2019

That is pretty narrow and small. Is there a sink nearby outside the darkroom?
You may want to look into using tubes to process. Print and load in the darkroom, process outside in the light.
For years I worked in a 4' x 6' darkroom with a laundry sink outside and a few feet away. That was quite functional.

noahsmith · Oct 14, 2019

@MattKing thanks for the response. I don't know much about processing with tubes but would love to stick to using the trays I've already purchased. Yep, there is a utility sink in the laundry room that is right inside the house from the garage.

grahamp · Oct 14, 2019

Sine the door is on the narrow end, your limitation is how far in you can place the enlarger. You are going to need at least 2.5 feet between the door and the enlarger to stand, ideally a bit more. I think, given the baseboard depth of the enlarger and the space for you, the enlarger is going to be low. I was thinking of placing the trays on shelves below the enlarger, but I don't think you have the height.

One problem with a really small space is having enough safelight to keep out of your own shadow without having the lights too close (bright). And ventilation is going to be critical.

Is there any chance of blacking out a little space outside the closet - maybe a tent arrangement - then you could store equipment, and maybe keep the enlarger inside the closed space, but have more elbow room outside?

Neal · Oct 14, 2019

Black out the garage and just store stuff in the closet. My solution has been to build a cabinet for the enlarger and another for developing film. (The cabinets keep the dust off things.) When I print, I pull out a large folding table and the print washer lives in the attached laundry room.

logan2z · Oct 14, 2019

noahsmith said:
@MattKing thanks for the response. I don't know much about processing with tubes but would love to stick to using the trays I've already purchased. Yep, there is a utility sink in the laundry room that is right inside the house from the garage.

That is a pretty tight space. I use my master bathroom as a wet space (I have an adjacent bedroom that I use as my dry space) and even the bathroom felt cramped when using trays. I switched to a vertical slot processor that may make sense in your case. The other nice thing about that is it greatly speeds up the setup/clean up time since the chemistry can stay in the processor for several weeks before needing to be replaced.

AndyH · Oct 14, 2019

Seems like the height is the biggest problem here. How far into the room do you maintain a six foot minimum height? I think you'd want to put your enlarger on the "back" wall (perhaps on a lower than usual table) and still have room for a shelf on which to place your trays. That's going to be a tight squeeze and make for an uncomfortable work area. But it theoretically ought to fit if the ceiling height is really ten feet at the entrance and the stairs slope at a 45 degree angle or less.

Andy

Alan Edward Klein · Oct 14, 2019

Don't forget an exhaust fan.

MattKing · Oct 14, 2019

Can you design something temporary and tent like for outside the closet? That would allow you to set the closet up as a semi-permanent home for the enlarger it self.

Jim Jones · Oct 14, 2019

On paper it looks possible, but uncomfortable. The enlarger could sit sideways on a shelf about 16 inch wide 2 or 3 feet above the floor and running from the door to the sloping back wall. The enlarger would sit sidewise on the shelf nearest the door. Four trays can be stacked vertically next to it. You could sit to operate the enlarger and stand to process the prints. I did this for many years. The bottom tray can be a deep tray from a department store or home and garden store. It can hold many fixed prints to be completely washed in the laundry room sink. Many years ago Richard Mfg. Company of Fernandina Beach, FL, made a Tray-Rak that stacked three trays vertically, but it might not fit in such a small darkroom. My 16x12 version certainly won't. The trays were supported by the edges being turned down towards the outside. Many trays wouldn't work. I have heard that Calumet made what is called a try ladder which might be similar.

Alan Edward Klein · Oct 14, 2019

Ask your wife if you could use her new closet. That one's sure to be bigger.

Bill Burk · Oct 14, 2019

That reminds me of my dad’s apartment when I was beginning. I would use that closet for storage and changing film/loading tanks. Kept my train set in it too you know, being a kid and all... I would develop film in the kitchen sink, mixing the D-76 in a Revere saucepan and washing it out real well before anyone saw... For printing, I used the bathroom at the end of a hall. It was never super light tight but good enough at night.

John51 · Oct 15, 2019

How is the garage for light leaks at night? I used to print in a kitchen at night, thin curtains. As there wasn't a street light shining in, it was dark enough if I worked fast.

noahsmith · Oct 15, 2019

grahamp said:
Sine the door is on the narrow end, your limitation is how far in you can place the enlarger. You are going to need at least 2.5 feet between the door and the enlarger to stand, ideally a bit more. I think, given the baseboard depth of the enlarger and the space for you, the enlarger is going to be low. I was thinking of placing the trays on shelves below the enlarger, but I don't think you have the height.

One problem with a really small space is having enough safelight to keep out of your own shadow without having the lights too close (bright). And ventilation is going to be critical.

Is there any chance of blacking out a little space outside the closet - maybe a tent arrangement - then you could store equipment, and maybe keep the enlarger inside the closed space, but have more elbow room outside?

Thanks for the response, the door is on the side of the closet where the ceiling is at it's max height and the width of the closet stays consistent. Is keeping out of my own shadow critical so that the shadow isn't on the baseboard of the enlarger? I'm not so much worried about ventilation as I have odorless fixer, but yes, I am eventually wanting to figure out the ventilation situation.

That's a good idea, I'm not totally sure if I will have the space right outside of the closet. Since we are not in the new house yet, it's hard to know precisely.

noahsmith · Oct 15, 2019

Neal said:
Black out the garage and just store stuff in the closet. My solution has been to build a cabinet for the enlarger and another for developing film. (The cabinets keep the dust off things.) When I print, I pull out a large folding table and the print washer lives in the attached laundry room.

That looks like an ideal space! The garage is pretty big and there are multiple windows throughout so I'm not sure if trying to black out the garage is going to be a good idea as I have a feeling thats going to be a bit harder and I'd rather not create anything super permanent, but good idea.

macfred · Oct 15, 2019

Alan Edward Klein said:
Ask your wife if you could use her new closet. That one's sure to be bigger.

Even her shoe cabinet should be a better solution ... I can speak from experience here

noahsmith · Oct 15, 2019

logan2z said:
That is a pretty tight space. I use my master bathroom as a wet space (I have an adjacent bedroom that I use as my dry space) and even the bathroom felt cramped when using trays. I switched to a vertical slot processor that may make sense in your case. The other nice thing about that is it greatly speeds up the setup/clean up time since the chemistry can stay in the processor for several weeks before needing to be replaced.

That's a good idea, I looked into vertical slot processors and its a bit over my budget right now so I think I'll have to figure out how to make things work with my trays.

noahsmith · Oct 15, 2019

AndyH52 said:
Seems like the height is the biggest problem here. How far into the room do you maintain a six foot minimum height? I think you'd want to put your enlarger on the "back" wall (perhaps on a lower than usual table) and still have room for a shelf on which to place your trays. That's going to be a tight squeeze and make for an uncomfortable work area. But it theoretically ought to fit if the ceiling height is really ten feet at the entrance and the stairs slope at a 45 degree angle or less.

Andy

That's a great question, I would say 75% of the room would allow me to stand up (im 6ft tall). Yeah, I was thinking the same thing having my enlarger on the back wall (if it fits and is comfortable) and then having a shelf somewhere for the trays.

noahsmith · Oct 15, 2019

Thanks a lot for all the tips everyone, never ceases to amaze me how willing this community is to help a stranger think through something like this. In one of my darkroom books, I found this image that's pretty close to the layout of my closet. You'll see that I've highlighted in red where the door actually is at our house, so it's slightly different. I like the idea of putting shelves next to the angled wall under the stairs.

noahsmith · Oct 15, 2019

MattKing said:
Can you design something temporary and tent like for outside the closet? That would allow you to set the closet up as a semi-permanent home for the enlarger it self.

Good thought, I considered that but knowing me, I think I just need one dedicated space to do everything - also would prefer not to have to buy any big items to make this happen.

noahsmith · Oct 15, 2019

Jim Jones said:
On paper it looks possible, but uncomfortable. The enlarger could sit sideways on a shelf about 16 inch wide 2 or 3 feet above the floor and running from the door to the sloping back wall. The enlarger would sit sidewise on the shelf nearest the door. Four trays can be stacked vertically next to it. You could sit to operate the enlarger and stand to process the prints. I did this for many years. The bottom tray can be a deep tray from a department store or home and garden store. It can hold many fixed prints to be completely washed in the laundry room sink. Many years ago Richard Mfg. Company of Fernandina Beach, FL, made a Tray-Rak that stacked three trays vertically, but it might not fit in such a small darkroom. My 16x12 version certainly won't. The trays were supported by the edges being turned down towards the outside. Many trays wouldn't work. I have heard that Calumet made what is called a try ladder which might be similar.

That's a great idea! I like the idea of having the enlarger siting sideways as I think that makes the most sense given the space.Thanks for the tips on the trays, very helpful!

noahsmith · Oct 15, 2019

John51 said:
How is the garage for light leaks at night? I used to print in a kitchen at night, thin curtains. As there wasn't a street light shining in, it was dark enough if I worked fast.

Good question, I'm not sure since we are not in the new house yet - we won't be moving in until this coming Friday so I can give you more insight into that once we are there.

RalphLambrecht · Oct 15, 2019

noahsmith said:
Hi there,

I am going to be moving into a new house this week and there is a small closet under some stairs in the garage that I'm hoping could work as a darkroom for printing but wanted to get some opinions on this.

I've attached an image (not to scale) that shows the basic layout of the closet. It's 2.5ft wide and 6ft deep. Since the closet is under a set of stairs, the ceiling is at an incline. Going from the floor area to it's highest point at about 10ft.

I have a Beseler 23C II XL Thats about 3.8ft tall. The base is about 2ft deep x 1ft wide.

I will be printing 8x10 but would like to have the option to go up to 11x14 too.

Just curious, based on anyone's experience, do you think this is even doable? It seems like the width of the room would be super tight. Thoughts or tips on making this work?

with a bit of creativity and ingenuity, quite doable.

Frank53 · Oct 15, 2019

noahsmith said:
Hi there,

I am going to be moving into a new house this week and there is a small closet under some stairs in the garage that I'm hoping could work as a darkroom for printing but wanted to get some opinions on this.

I've attached an image (not to scale) that shows the basic layout of the closet. It's 2.5ft wide and 6ft deep. Since the closet is under a set of stairs, the ceiling is at an incline. Going from the floor area to it's highest point at about 10ft.

I have a Beseler 23C II XL Thats about 3.8ft tall. The base is about 2ft deep x 1ft wide.

I will be printing 8x10 but would like to have the option to go up to 11x14 too.

Just curious, based on anyone's experience, do you think this is even doable? It seems like the width of the room would be super tight. Thoughts or tips on making this work?

One of my many darkrooms was in a closet under the stairs like that.
Enlarger in the high corner, nova paper processor on the lower side
But as you do have a garage, why not use (part of) that. My darkroom now is about 1/4 of the garage, 1,80m x 3,5m. Not big, but everything is there.
Regards,
Frank

Neal · Oct 15, 2019

I used this to black out the two windows. Ignore the reviews, it works great. It does need to be held in place. Aluminum tape for duct work is has been very effective for me.

It must be noted that I develop all film in daylight tanks and load the tanks in a changing tent.

Building a Darkroom in a 2.5ft by 6ft Room

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