Sealing a room to be light-tight

[Bosk]

I'm considering using a spare bathroom as a makeshift darkroom, and it seems to be light-tight except for the edges of the door.

I was wondering if anyone could suggest a cheap, non-permanent way of blocking out the light entering through the gaps?

Thanks very much. 🙂

 

[MelanieC]

Um, masking tape?

 

[40oz]

Put some small nails in the top of the door trim, the part facing the ceiling, near the outer corners, leaning out and into the wall somewhat. Cup hooks might work better. I used small nails for hanging pictures.

Hang a dark bedsheet over the hooks, so it entirely covers the trim, not just the cracks on the door. You can hang two sheets if you need to.

Load film at night, with the lights outside the room off. The sheets will hand past the bottom of the door in a pile, sealing off that part of it. You can bunch the sheets at the top to ensure they'll stay caught on the nails/hooks. No-one will ever see the fasteners, and the sheets can be multi-purpose lol. I used queen size sheets, but that's certainly not necessary. There isn't enough weight for the nails I used to damage the sheets, but they provide enough traction to keep the sheets from falling at an inopportune moment.

 

[rover]

There is 2 inch black masking tape, not too sticky, that I use, and I throw a towel on the floor.

 

[vicmortelmans]

The bathroom gives out to a hallway, right? Can't you just agree with your housemates not to make any bright light while you're working? I think moderate lighting in the hallway won't harm that much.

I also work in a darkroom and can see (after my eyes get used to the dark) some light coming underneath the door... never did any harm to my films, as far as I can judge.

Would spare you a lot of (non-aesthetic) taping.

Groeten,
Vic

 

[eric]

I was wondering if anyone could suggest a cheap, non-permanent way of blocking out the light entering through the gaps?

will you be loading and processing film in there? If not, it doesn't have to be very light tight. I have light coming in through my garage louvers in my darkroom (aka garage)

 

[Ash]

I use my bedroom, at night, using towels and bedsheets.

A doubled-up bedsheet around the doorframe will stop light coming through, with a towel at the bottom. I placed towels and a duvet cover over the curtains, and it apparently turned out light-tight with the coin-on-paper test.

 

[Xmas]

Bosk

Vic's technique is the best, make sure the corridor is dark, heavy drapes on windows, dark room work only at night. If the corridor/house is shared send other parties to church/cinema/pub...

Improve fit of door with strip material.

With high speed film it needs to be dark.

Dont use strip (fluoro) lights they glow for a long time.

Noel

 

[markinlondon]

For printing a few leaks here and there won't matter as long as white light is not falling on the paper. There are pinholes in my blind and a bit of seepage under the door around the towel I throw down there. I used draught excluder strips around the door to seal the edges.

 

[Bosk]

Thanks very much for the advice everyone.

First thing I'll do will be to test the bathroom at night with the lights in adjoining bedroom switched off and see if there's any light visible. If so I'll try hanging a bedsheet over the door as 40oz suggested.

Thanks again. 🙂

 

[danwilly]

work at night

 

[Finder]

A sheet of black vinyl. Actually, there are black vinyl darkroom curtains.

BTW, just because you can see light in the crack around the door does not mean there is a problem. To test your darkroom to see if it is safe, set a piece of film or paper out for five minutes on the work surface and place an opaque object over part of it. Develop the film/paper and if you see a density transition between the covered and uncovered section, then you have a problem. That can be used to test a safe light too.

 

[BILLC]

I use a sheet of 6 mil black plastic larger that the door and frame, just hang it up like a curtin. As a plus the plastic seems to attract dust!
Bill