Darkroom Construction

[Troy Hamon]

Whither the weather...

Now don't get me wrong, I love winter. I love going out for a run in the freezing cold wearing a facemask and ski goggles and looking like a refugee from a bank robbery gone bad, with my poodle trotting along next to me with his fuzzy face covered with frozen condensation (I'm sure my face looks like that too, though I can't see it...). I love taking out my camera gear and setting up while wearing more clothes than most of my relatives from the warmer parts of the earth would believe could be simultaneously donned, and finding a visual gem that only the adventurous will ever experience in real living color. I love nights that are so clear and dark that the entire sky looks alive with stars right in our front yard (meaning we don't have too much light pollution out here in the bush, at least not where my house is...). But what does all this have to do with darkroom construction?

Well...that is one thing that I am not so pleased with. I had grand plans of getting this darkroom construction project done by mid-October. Then after repeated delays I was hoping for early November. Then after further delays I was hoping for mid-November. And then the cold hit. We're not talking garden-variety cold, we're talking most nights below zero for a couple of weeks now. Thanksgiving day we had a record low of -27F (and yes, I went out for an 8 mile run with the dog, though it had warmed up to -23F when we started and was all the way to -14F by the time we finished...practically tropical). We did have a couple of warmer days, but of course they fell during my only trip away from home of the November/December period.

The situation is this. I am pretty much done inside the darkroom until I have the flooring installed. But the adhesive for linoleum won't work at these temperatures, when the floor is uninsulated. But it isn't really possible to insulate the floor at these temperatures, either. Perhaps you now see the problem. There are a few piddling things I can accomplish in the meantime. But not much. And I can't really use screws or nails in wood that is exposed to the cold because at these temperatures, it will just split the wood anyway. So what lessons have I learned from this experience? First, get your darkroom construction project done on time if at all possible. Second, if you have a plan to insulate your floor, do it right after your floor joists are put up, and before you have any floorboard put down. That's right, when you can work on the floor without being on your back below the building with limited work space, but can instead work from above with ample room. Why on earth didn't I think of that? Well, I did, but not in time. Hopefully it will prove helpful to another person building a darkroom...

In the meantime, I'm hoping for some +20F weather sooner rather than later so I can finish this project. Because I have a bunch of photographic projets that are pending film development and printing...wish me luck (or don't, up to you...but I'll pretend you do...).

 

[glbeas]

Yeah, you need to rent one of those propane powered blowers to heat the darkroom from the underside while you work on it. Might get it above freezing briefly. All I can figure would be to tent the structure and run some heat inside the tent so you can finish things. Might get a bit pricey to do that though. Good luck!

 

[Troy Hamon]

Well folks, the joke's on me. As I was whining, the mercury was rising, and it's now threatening to melt everything out there tomorrow. It claims that we'll have warm weather from now until Friday (warm for us), so this might be my chance to make the floor insulation happen. Because although glbeas is right, there is a way to do it, I'd rather get this all done pronto without needing to hire a heater and associated equipment. Tomorrow's the day!

 

[glbeas]

Great! Now quit posting and get it done!
I want to see something in the gallery!

 

[Troy Hamon]

Gary,

Thanks for the kick in the pants. I actually took today off work and put in the last electrical fittings and am working on getting one of the grounding rods into the (very) frozen ground. Not done with that yet, but made some good progress. Oh, to own a jackhammer, or know somebody who wanted to let me use theirs... But really, what does it matter, since I'm getting it done and it looks like all will be well? I had forgotten about the grounding rods in my angst over the flooring. Now, it's warmed up so much today that tomorrow I think I may turn the heat back on inside the shed and put down flooring and leave the skirting until next spring...how's that for turnabout?

Why would I do such a thing after my passionate, though likely not eloquent, explanation above about why I want to get it done? Well, primarily because the ground is completely frozen and I need to do some ground contour work before I permanently attach the frame for skirting. And I think I'm going to go back to my plan to insulate the skirting instead of the floor. Since I won't really be heating the space below the floor anyway, it will just be a weather barrier most likely. Anybody have a strong opinion about whether to insulate the floor or the skirting? I've had a number of people tell me that it doesn't matter, and I'm leaning toward the skirting because it takes less insulation. In the meantime, I think I'm looking at finalizing the functionality of the building without having actually done any skirting at all. Might mean I won't be using the darkroom at -20F and below this winter, but I think I can live with that. It would be nice to be able to use it at least at some point when the weather is warmer, like now for instance...

 

[glbeas]

Might want to insulate the floor because the ground might melt under the shed and cause shifting. You have to remember with just the skirt insulated you will heat the space under the floor too. That may make it harder to get the temperature up in the shed as fast. What may be easiest is to lay a sheet of plastic down and staple it up around the bottom to make a pocket under the shed you can blow some insulation into. With a few 1x2s laid under the plastic at right angles to the floor joist that can be lifted and nailed in you can even get clearance under the insulation.

If you decide to just do the skirt be sure to put down a few layers of carpet so the cold will not penetrate so fast.

 

[Troy Hamon]

Hi Gary,

I had thought about the ground shift, but had thought of it in the reverse. That is, if the ground is warmed by the heat in the shed, it will not freeze, and hence frost heaves won't occur under the building. For this winter, it's too late for that though. Incidentally, this is one of the advantages to a building small enough to use a skid foundation. Ground-penetrating foundations keep the building motionless while the ground heaves, but this can result in a building that doesn't move while the skirting heaves. In some cases, the skirting lifts up the building...which is obviously suboptimal. But at this point we're looking at next winter if I insulate the skirting, possibly this winter if I decide to insulate the floor.

If I insulate the skirting, I will also need to tarp the ground beneath the shed. Otherwise, the moisture in the ground beneath the shed will start to mold and mildew everything under there. Another good reason to wait until next spring/summer for that part of the project. Today has been interesting. It is raining pretty significantly on our pre-existing snowpack. So we now have either a sheet of ice or a field of slush, depending on where you look. I find I can talk myself into waiting for next year for more of this project if this is the best weather I'm going to get to work on the exterior portions of it...

 

[glbeas]

Well I'm glad your getting this opportunity Troy, I know what it's like not having a darkroom to work in. It's been a while though...

 

[Troy Hamon]

One more piece of learning for the day...

A couple of weeks ago (maybe a week ago? not sure...) my propane heater died in the middle of a work session one evening. It was cold outside, below zero. I immediately assumed I had run out of propane. On the one hand, that concerned me, as it indicated that I could go through the propane pretty quick. But on the other hand, I had been using the heater to heat the interior of the building while I was working in there to put in interior electrical, ductwork, and insulation. So I assumed that the issue was basically one of working the heater pretty hard over that span of time. When I disconnected my 100 lb propane tank to take it in for a refill, it felt pretty heavy...but I'm no expert (yet). So I went ahead and took it down to ask the local expert, the propane guy, what was up. And the answer was...I had only used 30 lbs of propane so far. Still had 70 lbs in there. The basic deal is that propane has to evaporate to get forced through the line and burn. Evaporation happens down to -44, but it gets pretty slow. If you're working the heater pretty hard, which I was, and it is significantly below zero, which it was, the propane evaporation can be too slow to supply the heater. At that point, the pilot light dies and the whole thing shuts off.

So next time, I can gently warm up the propane tank with an electrical heat tape or some similarly benign heat source, or stop working at those temperatures. We'll see. In the meantime, I'm smarter.

Incidentally, the guy said he's heard people actually tell him that they warmed up their propane tanks with blowtorches...!?! Now that, my friends, is crazy, and the propane guy said, "they must not like themselves, their family, their wives..."

 

[Troy Hamon]

Linoleum, water, and counters...

Well, December included a whole bunch of friendly weather. It also included my parents visiting, and so my dad and I put in a whole bunch of work. One of the things we did was borrow a diesel 175,000 BTU space heater like they use for construction projects, and bake the inside of the shed, and I mean HOT! After that, we laid the linoleum, without insulating the floor or putting up and insultaing skirting. It was warm enough that with heat inside the room and a fan to keep vertical air mixing, we kept it warm enough to work. The propane still has difficulty keeping it hot, even when the lows are only in the 20's. This is due to the aforementioned cooling as a result of the evaporation of liquid propane (see previous post). I did get a heat tape, which I will hook up when I'm getting ready to work out here so I can keep the heat running for a while if I need to. For now, I'm concentrating on getting the interior finished.

After getting the linoleum down, we built the water tower for the 200 gallon tank. Since 200 gallons of water is 1600 lbs, this was no small structure. We used 4x4 posts on 2x6 footers, with 2x6 floor joists and joist supports to make this work. A sheet of 3/4 OSB floorboard was used on top for the floor. An additional piece of 1/2 plywood was used to create a work surface below the water tank. The work surface was put on a 1" slant from one end of the structure to the other (43"), to allow water to drain. This was intended to allow a place for print washing when using 20x24" trays without sacrificing space on the wet counter. Both the top surface and the work surface were covered with spare linoleum, and the whole thing was painted white. It looks a lot better that way rather than being left looking like a construction zone afterthought...

The wet surface was made from a heavy-duty wood door. The door is not solid-core, but is more than 2" thick. We cut it down to 30" wide, and put the extra width up for a backsplash. Counter supports were made from a 2x4" that was affixed to studs along the wall behind the work surface, and one leg at each end in the front that rests on another 2x4 that goes back to the wall and is fastened there. A small 3/4" high piece of trim wood was ripped to 1.5" wide, and put along the front and side of the wet surface. The wet surface is 70" long, and has a 2" difference from one end to the other for drainage. Both this and the work surface under the water tank drain into a laundry tub which is where the water is hooked up. So far, this setup looks pretty slick. I intend to put lineoleum on this wet surface as well, as I have extra and it seems like a fine option. If it doesn't work...I'll pass it on...

We also are putting up counters for the dry side. These are kitchen countertops that were being thrown away. We've again attached a 2x4" to the studs to support the back, and a couple of 2x4" legs onto 2x4" floor braces back to the wall. However, because I want the enlarger section to be especially stable, I put two of these braces within 24" of each other beneath where the enlarger will be. The first countertop is sitting on its frame, but has not been attached yet. The kids and I are going out in a few minutes to finish putting up the other two countertops and attach all of them to the frames. I'll try to borrow a d-cam to take shots and post, so these descriptions make more sense.

I'll be attaching the counter to the frame by putting some countersunk screws right through the top of the counter. Not very many, but a few, to make sure the surface beneath the enlarger is rock solid and that the counters are well-set in general. After this is accomplished, I'll have the linoleum on the wet surface, the attachment of the plumbing to the drain, and the electrical connection at the meter and we are in business. It might actually happen someday soon!

 

[Troy Hamon]

Well, we actually did get the countertop support frames put in place, and got the one section of countertop that was too long cut down to size. But we didn't get the countertops screwed down yet. That will have to happen tomorrow. In the meantime, they're sitting in place and look like real work surfaces. I feel like I finally have the end in sight. My in-counter light box may take a bit of time to finalize, but other than that I'll be ready as of tomorrow to start moving in darkroom supplies and equipment to the dry side...WooHoo!

 

[Dave Miller]

Seems like you are making good progress.

 

[glbeas]

Troy I feel good for you! Now when that first tray gets the developer poured into it and the enlarger gets first light!

 

[Troy Hamon]

Thanks for the words of encouragement! The counters are now screwed down to the frames, and I can get the sawhorses and spare lumber out of there and start moving stuff in soon. The holdup is...IT'S COLD!!! Mercury dipped to -29 so far tonight...and still dropping. Thank goodness I'm not heating the place right now...

The other holdup is that I have no free nights until Thursday, so we'll see how the weather is by then. It is very exciting to see this thing start to come together.

 

[Dave Miller]

Thanks for the words of encouragement! The counters are now screwed down to the frames, and I can get the sawhorses and spare lumber out of there and start moving stuff in soon. The holdup is...IT'S COLD!!! Mercury dipped to -29 so far tonight...and still dropping. Thank goodness I'm not heating the place right now...

The other holdup is that I have no free nights until Thursday, so we'll see how the weather is by then. It is very exciting to see this thing start to come together.

You are very welcome to come over and sit in my fridge to warm up Troy.

 

[Troy Hamon]

Dave, I may need to...according to the National Weather Service (US, in case anyone wondered which nation...):

"Statement as of 1:41 am AST on January 23, 2006

... Record cold temperatures at King Salmon...

Yesterday... January the 22nd... the temperature dropped to
33 below zero at 11:01 PM. This ties the record cold
temperature in King Salmon at 33 degrees below zero...
recorded back in 1973.

Today... January the 23rd... we have a new record low
temperature at 34 below zero which occurred at 1:30 am.
Stay tuned as the temperature will probably drop further
this morning. The old record low was 31 below zero which
was set in 1973."

And right now, the official temperature is -37, so we're setting one of those records, just as we'd been hoping to...or not. Of course other places are colder, but this is plenty cold for me. Our saving grace right now is that there is little or no wind. But this is a windy place, and it will be very surprising if the wind doesn't pick up this afternoon...shudder. Our office heat went off, so we all got sent home, but somehow I don't see myself getting too much done on the project today. Just think of me when you open your fridge.

On a completely off-topic note, I completely subscribe to the notion that, "there's no such thing as bad weather, just people who are poorly dressed." Don't ask who said that, as I don't know, but I heard it in more or less that form. I disagree under one set of conditions: high winds. Hard to dress for a tornado. I also think that no matter how well I'm dressed, houses and cars are not well-suited for these temperatures. Let's just hope my heat stays on. It went off briefly this morning, thankfully I was here to notice and get it fired back up.

Stay warm, make photos!

 

[MattKing]

And right now, the official temperature is -37, so we're setting one of those records, just as we'd been hoping to...or not.

Troy:

One consolation - at that temperature, if someone asks whether those are degrees farhenheit or degrees celcius, you can answer: Doesn't matter - it is darn cold!

Keep warm

 

[grahamp]

A friend of ours just moved to King Salmon. I hope she likes staying indoors...

 

[Troy Hamon]

Well, the funny thing is that many winters are disappointing, warm and rainy all winter. That, of course, would be great for me working on this project, but the lakes and rivers don't freeze then, which is a great barrier to outdoor travel. Not a problem this year. You can go anywhere you want, just wear lots of clothes. We've dipped back down to -30 again, and headed a bit lower tonight.

A gentleman at work just brought his wife up (perhaps your friend?), and I told him to tell her that it isn't always like this, only when new people move to town...

 

[grahamp]

If I have my facts straight (happens sometimes), Angela's SO works for the Park Service.

Warm wet winters could describe San Franciso, but I expect our definitions of 'warm' might be different. It is in the low 60s F in Berkeley today, with clear sun and I'm stuck in the office. It only rains on weekends around here, I'm sure.

 

[Troy Hamon]

Angela it is, the one and same. I hope she's doing well also, that's the report I hear so far...

 

[Troy Hamon]

Well, our cold snap shows no sign of ending. Despite that, I went ahead last Monday and moved construction materials out of the darkroom and started moving in darkroom stuff. That's optimism! The space looks pretty nice in terms of overall size, but it is unbelievably cold here. I am thinking pretty seriously about putting in an air exchanger in the future to take the place of the current ventilation system, and this before I even hook up the electricity. But at the current temperatures, without a way to harvest heat from the air leaving, I'd never be able to work out there in the winter! Oh well, since today is the COLDEST DAY I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE, I doubt I'll need to plan for these temperatures on a regular basis.

No joke! This morning the mercury has dipped to -44F (so far)! I may as well live in Fairbanks! If I had wanted temperatures this cold, I could have lived in North Dakota! Or Minnesota! Did I mention it is cold out?

As you may have gathered, the 'construction' is not moving particularly rapidly at present. I just read back over my posts here, and was amused to see my original posts about finishing in October so I didn't have to work in the winter on this project...well that would have been wise. But wise is different than reality in this case, so I'll go back to practicing patience...or trying to learn it. And in the meantime, I know it will warm up sometime in the next three months...

 

[grahamp]

A quick calculation tells me that is around -42C. I don't even have a thermometer that goes that low. It must be really dry, too, so heat exchange and humidity are going to be important if you plan on working late or early in the year.

 

[Troy Hamon]

Hi Graham,

It will be interesting to see what the next few winters look like. This is an uncommonly cold one. We usually get a few odd days below zero, but we've had two major cold spells this year and no sign of letup on the current one. Some winters are almost all above 20F, with many extended periods in the 30s and 40s. But the heat exchange option would probably be good for that as well. I wish I had planned for that...I'm not sure but what I can retrofit my current system fairly easily though, because it is set up with two separate air lines that almost meet, one for bringing air in, the other for pumping it out. I could run those as the inputs to the exchange box... I'm sure I won't do that immediately, but if next winter is like this one, I'll probably do it after that...

 

[Troy Hamon]

It is much warmer now…38 degrees at present. Since it is warm again, I turned on the heater and got the wet bench cleared off…and put linoleum on it. First darkroom sink I’ve ever heard of with linoleum, but hey, if it doesn’t work, I’ll tear it off and paint! And if it does work, the linoleum was just remainders from the floor anyway… I also put up shelves and have installed the ABS pipe above the wet surface that is the intake for the exhaust fan. What’s left? Less and less! I’m going to paint the counter supports to match the water tower (though that could be anytime, really). And, I need to screw the laundry tub to the floor and punch a hole through the floor to connect the drain. I need to caulk the countertop joints and the holes where it is screwed down to the frame. And…(are you ready? Here it comes…) I need to get the electrical hooked up. Still. I haven’t been worrying about it because of the sheer number of other things that needed to be done, but now I think I’m going to have to start haunting the electrician’s answering machine. All I need is the connection at the meter base…really…please?