Really need some help badly...

kjsphoto · Aug 2, 2007

I am in the process of moving in a few months and I am unfortunately going to have to rent.

My issue is that I need to have a darkroom as soon as I get to where I am going as make my living from selling my photographs. How would you do a darkroom in a house that you are renting? I need to have running water for some of the processes I use and electricity. I don't need a real big space as I mainly only print 8x10 contact prints and sometime enlarge a 2 1/4 or 4x5 neg to 8x10.

I am stressing as I have ever rented before and this will be a first for me. Maybe I will get lucky and find a house to buy but who knows. New town, new area, no clue

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kevin

Roger Hicks · Aug 2, 2007

kjsphoto said:
I am in the process of moving in a few months and I am unfortunately going to have to rent.

My issue is that I need to have a darkroom as soon as I get to where I am going as make my living from selling my photographs. How would you do a darkroom in a house that you are renting? I need to have running water for some of the processes I use and electricity. I don't need a real big space as I mainly only print 8x10 contact prints and sometime enlarge a 2 1/4 or 4x5 neg to 8x10.

I am stressing as I have ever rented before and this will be a first for me. Maybe I will get lucky and find a house to buy but who knows. New town, new area, no clue

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kevin

Nova darkroom tent + Nova tanks. Go to Nova's site or to http://www.rogerandfrances.com/darkroom.html for pics and an account of using it. Water can be run in and out via the 'trunks' at the back.

kjsphoto · Aug 2, 2007

Is there any tents that are bigger? I would not be able to stand in a space 4x4 more than 10 sec. I cannot handle tight spaces. A closet does me in. I like the idea as it is free standing.

Removed Account · Aug 2, 2007

I am renting and do much of my work in the bedroom. I put black foamcore board over the windows and then a sheet of blackout cloth over that and around the moulding sealing it with black masking tape. The table I use is a folding plastic one that cleans off easily. For running water I have a laundry sink next to the washer and dryer, although it is not light-tight once I leave my room. If you have a laundry sink, or other utilitarian sink, in a separate room the blackout cloth is terrific stuff for blocking out the light. You can tape it, or hang it over the door or window as a curtain. Worst case scenario if you have no separate room to dedicate, but still have an appropriate sink, you can use a whole lot of blackout cloth to make yourself a darkroom/fort by fastening it to the ceiling and creating a separation between the work area and the rest of the room. That would be kind of a pain, especially if you had to put it up and take it down constantly, but it will work. Another possibly is to use the freestanding wall sections you often find in offices for separating cubicles or meeting rooms, and then cover the openings with blackout cloth. That cloth is great stuff, relatively cheap, very versatile, and you should be able to find it at most fabric stores.

- Justin

Roger Hicks · Aug 2, 2007

kjsphoto said:
Is there any tents that are bigger? I would not be able to stand in a space 4x4 more than 10 sec. I cannot handle tight spaces. A closet does me in. I like the idea as it is free standing.

I am very claustrophobic too -- Christmas shopping crowds can trigger it in extreme circumstances -- but the sides of the tent balloon out so the space at elbow height is more than 5 feet square. The fact that it's soft-sided seems to make a difference too. But even that that, you may not be able to handle it, and no, that's the only one I know of.

Consider a free-standing temporary room made of slotted angle iron (like the filler to the second version of the tent) plywood, or see also
http://www.rogerandfrances.com/photoschool/ps how loo.html which might give you some more ideas.

Nick Zentena · Aug 2, 2007

Some of the threads on darkrooms have covered quick setup/take down ideas. Maybe look at the bathroom ideas.

I'd consider some sort of cart you could put the enlarger on. If it had shelves you could put the trays on them. Or at least you could store everything easier. When you need things you just roll the cart out. Setup. Close off any windows. Then it's not much different then a normal darkroom.

Edwardv · Aug 2, 2007

Have you consider doing some research on the area you are moving to? Check the city web page to see what the area has to offer, check with a real estate office. I have see blackout clothe being sold at Porters several years ago that can be sewing together and make a large tent.

http://porters.com

Good luck finding a place.

eclarke · Aug 2, 2007

Large or small town? Maybe there is a community/rental darkroom. Maybe a college darkroom...EC

jp80874 · Aug 2, 2007

If the Nova tent is too small consider Joe’s Magic Bus
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)
You could set it up at your present home so that it was ready to go when you move.

It made quite an impression at Bill Schwab’s Northern Michigan Gathering.

John Powers

kjsphoto · Aug 2, 2007

Where I am going there is no darkrooms in the area. Plus as much as I print I really need my own space and I prints weird hours. Usually between midnight and 5am.

I have the blackout material. I am very relieved as I now know there are options. I was so stressed.

Kevin Caulfield · Aug 2, 2007

I am about to get my own dedicated darkroom finally, but two of my last four darkrooms have been in rented houses. The last one was a run-down shed so that was no real problem. The one two bfeore that was a rented flat and that was a bit trickier, but you can still find ways to do the blackout, etc.

Akki14 · Aug 2, 2007

I live in a rented flat. Luckily the hallway that connects to the bathroom is sort of a square room... no windows, only doors, bathroom only has one window which I blackout with a velcroed piece of blackout material and stickyvelcro on the (PVC?) windowframe. The danged sticky velcro is already peeling off after a few months of this so I doubt there's going to be any lasting damage from the sticky velcro. Anyway, the bathroom provides the wet area and rinsing space and the hallway with all doors closed provides a dark enough room to print in. It wasn't that hard to setup and it works nicely... you just have to be creative about what you've got.

juan · Aug 2, 2007

I rent an apartment. I print in my laundry room, with windows darkened by blackout cloth. The enlarger sits permanently on the dryer. I then put the exposed paper in a paper box, and carry it into my bathroom where I do the wet processing. I made a shelf of PVC tubing that fits over the bathtub, giving two layers for trays. I, too, print only 8x10 and this arrangement give plenty of room for 8x10 trays.

Opening the doors of one room while I'm in the other gives plenty of fresh air and keeps me from getting claustrophobic.
juan

DWThomas · Aug 2, 2007

I lived in a rented duplex for a while where I had access to half the basement. I built a free-standing darkroom out of 2x3s and tempered Masonite. It was 4 x 8 x about 7 1/2 feet high. I made it as four panels and fastened the corners together with angle braces and screws. The top was another sheet of Masonite that dropped into place -- the side panels extended a half inch or so above the frame to capture the ceiling. It worked pretty well. I took the corners apart and had the panels moved to my house where it was set up in the garage for a while after I moved.

Prior to that I did some work in a one bedroom apartrment. Film handling and tank loading was done in a closet after dark. Printing in the kitchen with some corrugated cardboard panels blocking windows -- again after dark to ease the light blocking problems.

It can be a PITA, but it's doable.

DaveT

blaze-on · Aug 2, 2007

Kevin, just wishing you a smooth move and best for the future..

copake_ham · Aug 2, 2007

If you have to rent, maybe you can find a house with a second or even third bathroom that you don't really need for it's "usual" purposes? If you can find one with an internal room "half-bath" - you're light-tight problem is solved too.

keithwms · Aug 2, 2007

Kevin, have you checked whether there are any universities or photo labs with a darkroom that you could use?

jeroldharter · Aug 2, 2007

If you have a second bathroom you might use that exclusively for a darkroom. If carpeted, ask the landlord if you can install vinyl/ceramic tile at your expense to keep dust down.

Consider using a Nova slot processor to process through fixing and then an archival washer drained into the bathroom sink. Tone as a later step. Alternatively, use single tray processing (that is what I do) which will keep fumes down and take up less counter space. However you need a good water supply for rinsing.

Re-test for safelight fogging in the smaller room.

If you have the flexibility, consider installing a different tap in the bathroom sink (e.g. something like a gooseneck kitchen faucet) that woould be easier to work with than the typical bathroom faucet.

TheFlyingCamera · Aug 2, 2007

I managed in a one-bedroom rental apartment. The bathroom was quite small, but internal to the apartment (no windows, only one door). I kept the darkroom stuff on a rolling cart, and wheeled it in and out. I had a Beseler 23C and a Nova vertical slot processor that let me do up to 16x20 prints in a 6' x 10' or so bathroom. I would put the enlarger on the toilet seat, the processor would go on the sink, and I'd set up my wash tray in the tub. The master bedroom had a walk-in closet where I'd go to load film. It all works out in the end. For some more ideas on working in a temporary darkroom, go look at David Goldfarb's darkroom portrait in the Darkroom Portraits thread here...

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

davetravis · Aug 2, 2007

Are you alone in the apartment?
I was once, and turned my bedroom into the darkroom, and slept on a sleeper sofa in the living room with the tv.
The 1 adjoining bathroom/tub was my wash area.
It worked fine for over a year.
But sorta put a cramp in my social life!
DT

batesga · Aug 2, 2007

Hey Kevin

Don't get too stressed out over the darkroom situation. I've rigged a few darkrooms in houses I've rented. I'd say none were great to work in but they were certainly useable. Getting a place with a basement is an advantage. You then have more and better access to plumbing and electrical.
A room over a basement is usually quite convertible without too much "customization" to the floors and walls and pipes. I think a drain is the trickiest to tap into. With plastic, one can cut into a line and add a Y, fit the Y with a threaded joint so that when you leave you simply remove your drain pipe and plug the Y with a threaded plug.
One should know a bit of the principles of plumbing and electrical before editing these systems however.
Consider also, doing your washing in another room. Then lack of water and drain in the darkroom is not so inconvenient. And look for a water supply that has separate hot and cold spigots or valves, like at a laundry stub out. I always found it difficult to control water temp when using the single handle control valves that are so popular these days.
If possible I'd look for a house rather than apartment block.
When I finally settled and bought a house and put in a darkroom I so enjoyed the planning and building of the room, which is, of course, a bit too small.

Shmoo · Aug 2, 2007

Kevin -

I built a collapsible table that cantilevered off the bathtub. It is low to the ground but it allows me to put trays on the table and use the entire bathtub for 2 additional trays. 11x14s work fine in this situation. the table is made from a standard 2' x 4' plywood painted out in spar varnish, and the legs fold out on the floor side. I used rubber feet on the other side to allow it to rest on the tub securely.

I used the spare room for the "dry side" and a paper safe to travel between the rooms.

an easy way to light proof a room is to use insulation foam sheets covered in heavy curtain liner (fabric stores have this) or dark cloth (Porters). Just pop them in...if they fit well you won't have to worry about stuffing socks or rags in the leaks. tension rods help hold the foam sheets in place.

All of this is easily removable. I just stow most of it behind a cabinet in my office.

Gary892 · Aug 2, 2007

Kevin,
where are you moving to?
There may be some APUG members in the surrounding area to help you in a pinch.

Gary

Roger Hicks · Aug 2, 2007

batesga said:
Don't get too stressed out over the darkroom situation.

Hear! Hear!

"I have had a lot of trouble in my life, most of which never happened."

Winston Churchill. Then again, he also said it was peculiarly exhilarating to be shot at by people who missed...

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