Darkroom Advice Needed

R

ray_g

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I just met with our builder. We are having our basement finished this spring or summer and we were talking about putting a little darkroom in.

I need to look into specifics regarding 2 things we will need:

1. A lightproof door (or any design to make the door lightproof). This door is to the rest of the basement, not open to the outside. Just something simple. A revolving door would be way overkill.

2. Air vent with light trap.

I would appreciate specific recommendations (brand etc) or links.

Also, if any of you know of any plans / designs for a simple darkroom on the internet, that would be great, too.

Thanks.
 
Ray,
So far I've built two basement darkrooms in the last four years. I found this web-site which gave me some good ideas: http://www3.telus.net/drkrm/index.html
I also picked up a copy of 'Build Your Own Home Darkroom' by Duren & McDonald which was really useful for everything from planning the actual construction to building the major eqpt such as sinks and a worktable. I did both. There is also an extensive section on light proofing and exhaust air.

Just as an idea, though, both of my darkrooms to date have been rooms within rooms. Presently we have a 12x20 storage room. I fit a 6x8 darkroom into it. The storage room door is lightproofed with black felt around the edges, and weatherproofing inside the frame. The darkroom itself is closed off by a black felt curtain. Presently I exhaust out into the storage room. In my previous darkroom, I exhausted to the outside. I got a regular bathroom fan from Home Depot and built a box around it out of 1/4 in plywood. I used opaque dryer ducting to vent outside. Light cannot bend, so there weren't any light leaks. Again this idea came from the Duren and McDonald book.

Kent
 
Thanks for the tip, Kent. I'll check the book out at the library tomorrow.

The black felt curtain - is that something you can readily get or did you need to go somewhere specific?
 
I use a black vinyl curtain. I bought it in Japan and don't know if it is available in the States. Weather stripping on the door may be enough especially if your basement is dark from the beginning - you can use a low watt light in the non-dark area for someone who just needs a little light to move while you are working. Many times you may be able to see light at the door edge, but the amount actually coming through is so small that your room is safe. There are tests to determine how safe a darkroom is.
 
Get a hollow-core pocket door. I fussed with regular doors in several darkrooms, and put a pocket door in my last one mainly for space considerations. Simple to lightproof- just a little extra moulding in the jamb and some of that felt type window weatherstrip. Mine has been like that now for 7 years maybe and I've not had to do anything to it. Lightproof. Even put a light-tight vent in the door for air in. This is the vent:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...102&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

My fan is the Vent Axia, much quieter than the Doran one I had before- my ears appreciate it, and I run the fan more than the loud one, so I guess my lungs do too. This is one of the 4 they make:
http://www.vent-axia.com/products/commercial/t-series-darkroom.asp
I think I have the 9" one, but I'm not sure.

I've had several shaped darkrooms, and find the galley style easiest to work in- one side for sink, the other for enlarger and workspace. My L shaped closet darkroom wasn;t bad, if cramped. The big square room just had too much wasted space for a 1 person workspace.

This last time (darkroom #6) I did what I thought was right and made myself a deal- that I'd work in it for a few years and then set down and really spend some time to finish it up to get everything just right. Did that this past spring, and now it is just perfect for me. I spent six or seven sessions writing down everything that was even a little annoying about working there then spent a few nights figuring out how to make it work. Moved and added a bunch of lights, raised up the one part of my counter to make a standing desk with the lightbox built-in, moved some faucets. All kinds of little things that really make it a joy to print.

Good luck!
 
Ray,
I'm in the process of doing what you are doing. That book sounds like a good resource. My plan is to use a bathroom fan directly vented through the house sill to the outside. One thing I did was to wire outlets from the ceiling to a switch in the area where the enlarger is going to be. I also made sure the door has a lock on it. I just have a regular wooden door to the rest of the basement and I haven't worked out the light seal just yet. I did install a "sweeper" type of device on the bottom of the door which blocks light at that point. I am recycling countertops, a wall cabinet, and a sink that were discarded at my workplace.
 
ray_g said:
Thanks for the tip, Kent. I'll check the book out at the library tomorrow.

The black felt curtain - is that something you can readily get or did you need to go somewhere specific?
Click to expand...

Ray,
For the black felt, I just went to a couple of fabric stores until I found a fairly thick black felt. I doubled it and made certain that when closed, there would be lots of folds.

If you can pick up the book at a library, that would obviously be best, but if not, I've seen quite a few copies on eBay for very cheap.

Sepiareverb,
Excellent ideas, especially the pocket-door. Thanks for posting that.

Kent
 
I hope to do the same thing to a utililty room, there's a book called "The New Darkroom Handbook" that also has plans for sinks, etc. The first edition has more interviews with photographers on their darkrooms (Callahan, Siskind, to name a few)
 
If you have never heard of Analog Photgraphy Users Group, there is a forum there about darkrooms where darkroom cosntruction is dicussed a lot.
Good Luck! I am slowly (very slowly) building a small darkroom myself.
There is also an RF forum there too!
Brian
 
hi Ray,

The main question about air vent I am asking myself concerning your basement is not how will you be pulling out bad air, but how are you going to allow the entrance of fresh air.

As for light traps both for vent and doors, the main issue to take into account, if we want to make things easier, is that avoiding film and paper from being exposed to light is very much a relative issue of light intensity and time, as within a camera but in reversed purpose. By this I mean that before loading film into a cassete for processing, the proof of "enough darkness" is wether after shutting off lights your eyes will not detect light for 30 seconds. That's enough a low light level for film (and paper) not to be fogged at all.

Yet after 2 minutes you will begin to notice some light here and some light there, and after half an hour you may feel light is spilling from every corner. You don't need to chase light spilling beyond the level of 30 seconds darkness.

And of course, in the case of the air vent, the vent can rest while you are processing film, and you make some breaks when printing for a 10 minutes ventilation.

Lastly don't forget the most important of all. A darkroom without music is not but a dark room.

Cheers,
Ruben
 
Ray,

The design depends upon what you want to do. One of the surprises folks often forget about is head room. The more head room the higher you can get the enlarger head up, the bigger prints you can do. One way around this is to try (I've never done this, but it's an idea) putting the enlarger lower and using a chair to lower your body without looking like a hunch-back.

I had two plastic sheets and a hollowcore door. The first plastic sheet was attached on one side of the door and the top. It was weighted on the bottom and had heavy tape (duct tape) on the free side. I moved it like a tent flap to get in. Then there was a hollowcore door which closed against a frame of 2x4s and together that two gave me a good enough for printing any B&W. When I did film loading (reels or bulk) I had another flap door on the inside that pivoted the opposite way of the hard door. When I needed to, this door configuration gave me a lot of space in the darkroom.

What ever you put your enlarger on must be sturdy, solid, not rocking or moveable at all. Otherwise you will get blurry images, your exposure times might be in the 25 second range or so.

For a vent, try an in expensive bathroom exhaust fan and some duct you have hit with a can of mat black paint (inside of the pipe and any duct you can see in the dark room). Five 90 degree bends in it and you should be dark enough. Make sure you tape the joints and paint the insides well.

You will need a couple three safelights. One in the printing area, two over the sink (one for developing, the other for fixing and wash). I have a few extra of different shapes and sizes if you can not find any at a resonable price (shipping and $5 per light and filter).

Layout depends a lot on how much space you have. You will need power, water and sewer. I had cheeeeeaaaaap walls of fiber board (the type of 3/16 brown press board, same material you have with holes in work areas, but without the holes) with duct tape over every seam on the out side and then where I had leaks on the inside.

I sat in my darkroom for about an hour looking for leaks. I wanted to be able to do Color and perhaps IR. Only bulk loaded color sides, but I was ready.

Another thing you need to worry about is dust. Dust seems to find every roll of film you will dry, so be careful!! You might look around for an old film dryer, very handy.

More as I can think of it.

B2 (;->
 
I too second the suggestion for a pocket door. I had the luxury of having the darkroom put in when we were remodeling the house. The pocket door was cheap to put in and only required a little weathstripping on the one end to become light tight. Don't forget a lock to keep busybodies from barging in and asking why you are working in the dark and why are you so upset because I turned the light on?
 
I built one myself recently in a Shed I had spare in the garden, I used an old Lined felt curtin I found in a charity shop for the Door light seal along with extra beading/sealing around the door, it works just fine. Next on the list is better ventilation

Best

Marcus
 
Great thread Ray, I am thinking about walling off a portion of an already finished basement for a darkroom. It has access to running water already. I have references at home that I will try to post to the thread tonight if I have time. Also I have a subscription to Black & White Photography which has been running articles on darkrooms for awhile and I've picked up some interesting ideas. There is a product in this month's (May) that provides water at exactly the right temperature. :)
 
My darkroom has a weatherstrip seal around the edges and a plastic flap I taped onto the frame all around the inside of the door. It looks a little ghetto, but it it's light tight, and was very cheap to do. I think I got everything at a home improvement store for around $20.

There's some great info in this thread. I know you didn't ask about it, but make sure you have good ventialtion- this is really important! I found this page a while ago, while looking for information about building a good ventilation system. Some really good and important info here worth a read. Ignore the stuff at the bottom unless you want to buy one of the hoods he sells- you can make one yourself, and this doesn't negate how useful and accurate the general info is. http://www.eepjon.com/Drvent.htm
 
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