Darkroom in the Bathroom?

AeisLugh · Feb 21, 2006

Hey, I've been doing some serious thinking about getting my own darkroom set up, but I don't have a room that I can dedicate to such a prospect. I've had people mention to me that they have set up a kind of rollaway/foldaway arrangement that they can use in their bathroom. I've also read some posts on websites regarding there being a health danger in this because the chemicals can be toxic.

Does anyone out there have any experience with setting up a darkroom in these kinds of conditions? Are there really that many health concerns regarding the chemicals in one's bathroom? Or is it simply a matter of being careful on the cleanup afterwards?

davetravis · Feb 21, 2006

Years ago I had a B&W one setup in a walk-in closet. At the end of each session I would cover the open trays with the next size up tray. I know the smell of dev and fix is not toxic, only a bit noxious (irritating). Still, I would try and get some fresh air into the room daily. Be careful with spills though, things will get stained!
Good luck.

Flotsam · Feb 21, 2006

There are some great ideas and illustrations in this thread:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Just scan through it for the Bathroom and small-space darkrooms.

finny99 · Feb 21, 2006

Heres a link, but there are suggesting a spare bathroom

http://www.photo.net/learn/darkroom/black-and-white-intro

avandesande · Feb 21, 2006

The one thing you do not want to do is use an acetic acid stop bath. That causes the prevailing stink in most older darkrooms. Many here don't even bother with it (just plain water stop bath) but if you insist on using one try using a citric acid stop.

Anupam Basu · Feb 21, 2006

My current darkroom is a bathroom. Moreover, I share it with a roommate! I develop and print 35mm and 120 upto 8x10. The setup takes me 7-10mins to put together and a similar time to dismantle. If you can put up with that bit of hassle, it works just fine.

AeisLugh · Feb 21, 2006

Anupam Basu said:
My current darkroom is a bathroom. Moreover, I share it with a roommate! I develop and print 35mm and 120 upto 8x10. The setup takes me 7-10mins to put together and a similar time to dismantle. If you can put up with that bit of hassle, it works just fine.

Great. I don't mind having to spend even upwards to half an hour setting things up. A bit of time to save SO much money in developing your own film/prints is worth it to me. Not to mention how much more rewarding it is to do all the work myself. Just so long as there isn't a problem with toxic chemicals. Last thing I need is to cause either my wife or I to get sick.

Anupam Basu · Feb 21, 2006

No worries there. In fact, bathrooms usually have an advantage over basements in that they come with proper ventilation. The only chemical used in conventional processing that has seemed bothersome to me thus far is selenium toner. But that would be the case in any darkroom - just switch on the vent and you are fine.

AeisLugh · Feb 21, 2006

Anupam Basu said:
No worries there. In fact, bathrooms usually have an advantage over basements in that they come with proper ventilation. The only chemical used in conventional processing that has seemed bothersome to me thus far is selenium toner. But that would be the case in any darkroom - just switch on the vent and you are fine.

Is there much of a concern about light leaking in through the vent? That's the only thing I'm worried about right now. The door shouldn't be THAT hard to make light tight, but it would kind of eliminate the benefit of the fan for circulation if I have to tape black plastic over it.

RAP · Feb 21, 2006

One darkroom I had was no more then 6x6 ft. I had a home made sink that held 4 11x14 trays plus a Zone VI 11x14 archival print washer. I did all my processing and printing there. Working in such a small space taught me the importance of being careful and keeping it clean!

I also used the laundry room for a time, placing a plastic sink over the washer dryer and the enlarger next to the furnace. I never had a problem with dust and spotting of prints and could crank out 100 or so 8x10's for clients. If they knew where I was set up, they never would have used me.

Still, keeping it clean and working carefully is essential no matter where you set up.

Anupam Basu · Feb 21, 2006

AeisLugh said:
Is there much of a concern about light leaking in through the vent?

If you are talking about a window like setup, you'll have to find ways of making it lightproof - shouldn't be difficult. Mine just has grid in the ceiling with a fan behind it. No need to tape the door. A gently placed rug serves to block light while leaving room for air.

AeisLugh · Feb 21, 2006

Anupam Basu said:
If you are talking about a window like setup, you'll have to find ways of making it lightproof - shouldn't be difficult. Mine just has grid in the ceiling with a fan behind it. No need to tape the door. A gently placed rug serves to block light while leaving room for air.

That's pretty much the vent in my bathroom, it's in the ceiling. So there's not a problem with light leaks then. Great. Now all I need to do is figure out how I'm going to organize it, and start saving for the equipment

John Bartley · Feb 21, 2006

I use a bathroom for a darkroom. I block the window with a sheet of thin plywood. I block the light at the bottom of the door with a rolled up towel. I put a chunk of plywood over the tub to serve as a work table and another one over the toilet seat as another small bench. Any spills from the trays go down the tub drain. It takes 5 minutes to set up and tear down. When I'm done I always wash up my trays and dry them and put them away also, so there's never a mess. Is it perfect? No. Does it work? Yup! Would I like a dedicated darkroom? Yup and it's not long away - it'll be built into our new house in a few years, but for now this setup is great.

cheers

AeisLugh · Feb 21, 2006

John Bartley said:
I use a bathroom for a darkroom. I block the window with a sheet of thin plywood. I block the light at the bottom of the door with a rolled up towel. I put a chunk of plywood over the tub to serve as a work table and another one over the toilet seat as another small bench. Any spills from the trays go down the tub drain. It takes 5 minutes to set up and tear down. When I'm done I always wash up my trays and dry them and put them away also, so there's never a mess. Is it perfect? No. Does it work? Yup! Would I like a dedicated darkroom? Yup and it's not long away - it'll be built into our new house in a few years, but for now this setup is great.

cheers

That's similar to the design I was thinking about. Though I was thinking of adding fold down legs on the shelf for the tub, to bring it up to a more comfortable level. Heck, I saw a website where one person actually used the bathtub itself for their stop bath, instead of using a tray. I figure I'll build a rolling cabinet to hold the enlarger that will fit over the bowl of the toilet. That should prevent any potential mishaps that could arise from carrying the enlarger from storage. I have room in a spare bedroom that I use as my computer room to store everything, just not for setting up.

highpeak · Feb 21, 2006

I just did my first tray processing in the bathroom, it worked out just fine. I use black heavy duty garbage bag to seal the window and masking tape to seal the door. It was really dark, kind of weird. I put all the trays in bathtub with shallow water to hold the temperature. It's a bit uneasy to sit in the dark for almost half an hour, but the joy of developing your own negative can sure compensate for that.

Neal · Feb 21, 2006

Dear Aries,

I have used a "temporary" bathroom darkroom for years. Fortunately for me it became a bit less temporary about 15 years ago (I no longer have to set up the enarger for each session), but I still have to lay out the wet side anew each session and the washer is about 20 steps away in the laundry room. The Wife actually likes it because I clean the bathroom after every session.<g> Be creative and see what you have to work with.

Neal Wydra

Darkroom in the Bathroom?

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