Converting room to a darkroom.

Howdy,

Have a conventional room (100+ sq ft) that I wish to change into a darkroom. Currently the walls are too much
like turquoise color. My first "to do" is to remove the crappy carpet and install a nice hard floor (dark), which I can wipe
off with ease. The second is to bring in the H20 (hot and cold) via crawl space....I'm assuming it's doable.

Alrightie, how do I treat the walls without having to paint them black ? Can I simply get some wide brown paper , paint it black and silicone it lightly the wall ? Darkening the window should be no issue....nor the light streak under the door :>).

Thanks in advance for any helpful comments.

Les

Walls are flat white.

Sit in the room for 20 minutes and find the light leaks.

Getting water in is sometimes easier than getting waste water out. Make sure you figure that out.

There is a thread here on “show your darkroom” that might give you some ideas. There’s a similar thread on APUG.

If you can't get the waste water out, you can always install a small pump under the sink. PM me for more information. You're going to have much bigger issues than how to paint the walls! L

First thing I'd recommend is get a book -- any book -- on building a darkroom. You can pick and choose what you want to do, but you'll discover things you have not thought of.

As to paint, leave it as it is -- as suggested -- and find any light leaks first. If it's light tight, you don't need to change anything -- unless you want. Most of my darkroom is white, except around my enlargers. That is matte black to try to control/capture any light leaks from my enlargers -- which I discovered after viewing/testing. Solved the problem. But whatever you choose as paint, you need to test your safelights because they aren't automatically "safe" whether the walls are black or white -- but white walls are easier to find except when doing color work.

A refrigerator for beer is a nice touch. I'd replace the appliance bulb with a safe lamp though.

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Originally Posted by John Kasaian

A refrigerator for beer is a nice touch. I'd replace the appliance bulb with a safe lamp though.

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That leads to safelights in the hallway and bathroom. I just gave up and made my last home all red light.

Now I seem to be copying that. Seems I prefer a very dark cave. At this moment I am planning a morning sun kitchen...

Draw up your plans. That's what helped me. Once I had a plan and a rough sketch of the room layout, it was easy.

I did have to install a sump pump. $150 from Home Depot for their smallest unit. Mine pumps literally 6 feet (up) to the main house drain (in my basement).

I don't think you need to paint the walls, unless you want to. Blacking out windows is a bit more difficult than you might think, as I learned from my old darkroom in a rickety shed. Plan on two layers of blackout material - in one window in an adjacent room in my basement, I have a blackout vinyl pull inside the sill and a blackout curtain covering the entire window, but it still "shines" a bit in full daylight (not enough to worry about).

I blacked out my windows with tinfoil and blackout fabric. The fabric itself leaked a tiny bit of light. My walls are all colors of the rainbow since a friend painted all sorts of psychedelic shapes on them. I just left it ad it was when I converted the room to a darkroom.

Wall paint??? Not really important if it's dark enough inside... Though it is less claustrophobic if the walls are lighter, so that...

The thing to focus on is your workflow... Is there enough dry counter space for an enlarger, cutter, XPD/un-XPD paper storage, test strips, neg handling/cleaning, with good ergonomics so it is comfortable to work long hours in, wet side with plenty of room for chem mixing, trays, and the big "bottleneck" of washing/drying, and easy to keep clean, as well as venting, heat/cooling for you... A hot and cold waterline coming in, and a drain going out make it much easier than bucket and trays going in and out... (And this is just for printing, film requires a slightly different set-up...)

Draw out your needs and every step of the process carefully... Remember one of the most important things often overlooked is good old flat counter work surfaces, and storage for all the items needed before/during/after process time... Consider your process might change in the future, so allow that you can re-configure you space for later changes...

Think through, and imagine what is needed now, and later...

Good Luck in the Dark!!!

Steve K

Paint the walls and ceiling a light color. The only black walls and ceiling should be around the enlarger. Figure how large of a sink you will need and then build it bigger than you think you need. You can't have too much sink.

+1 on Roberts comment about the sink. Wish I had made room for a bigger sink.

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Originally Posted by Robert Bowring

Paint the walls and ceiling a light color. The only black walls and ceiling should be around the enlarger.

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And make sure it is MATTE black, not glossy.

Ventilation can also be a big issue.

All these suggestions are good, especially Robert's sink reco at #11. I chose to have a workbench for all the cutting, trimming and mounting steps OUTSIDE and adjacent to the darkroom proper, since those steps don't need to be done in the dark and (some) can generate airborne particles that may cause issues around your enlarger (so avoid them). Also, if your darkroom will be in a basement that also includes a forced hot air furnace, clothes washer and dryer (my situation), make sure that the furnace and dryer are really well vented to the outside world and NOT contributing to airborne dust and lint that can drift into your darkroom or cutting/matting/mounting work areas.

All the planning and steps leading up to your finished darkroom can seem endless and overwhelming, but keep in mind that once you get your darkroom the way you want it, and it is working with and for you, there's nothing better to have in support your film photography pursuits.

Regarding paint, my previous dark room (my daughter's Barbie bathroom) had pink walls. My current dark room (the guest wc) is powder blue.
I can't say I've noticed any difference.

The darkroom which I have used for over 40 years is 10' square. Along one wall is my 9'10" sink with storage above and below. A 4x5 beseler is on one wall and a 5x7 Aristo on the opposite. Along The fourth wall is a storage cabinet with paper. The paper cutter and light box are on top of this cabinet. Above is another storage cabinet with various essentials. The walls are the original off-white.The floor is asphalt tile. I have hot and cold water and a drain in the sink. The wall behind the Beseler is a closed off window. I closed it with plywood through which I cut a portal so I can reach through and open the window. Another portal holds the light- proofed squirrel cage fan for ventilation. I wish I had more space, but a lot of work has been completed here.
All mounting and mat cutting are done in another space where film and paper are stored.

I should have added - I do not eat or drink in the darkroom for safety reasons. I use a large number of processes and there is too much danger of making a mistake. I make it a practice to go out of the darkroom approximately every hour for snacks,water, and bathroom needs. This relaxation of mind and body is important, I believe. I certainly would never drink alcohol during a lab session.That can wait. There is a time to do photography, and a time to indulge.

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Originally Posted by Jim Noel

I should have added - I do not eat or drink in the darkroom for safety reasons.

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Tell me about it! You know how much Rodinal looks like Guinness under safelight!

My wife and I got into cocktails a couple of years ago and one time I went into the darkroom mildly buzzed to develop some E-6. Turns out that 30 minutes in pitch black with no point of reference and mildly impaired motor functions was not a good idea!

Lesson learned... :D

Whether you choose to build or buy a sink (or anything else that's bulky), make sure it'll fit through the door, so you won't have to rebuild it should you later decide to move. Another random thought - make sure the drain system has a vent stack to a supply of adequate air volume to insure continuous flow down the drain. This can be illustrated by sipping fluid up a straw, then quickly capping the top of the straw and noting how the fluid is trapped inside the straw until it's uncapped.

Thanks. Appreciated all the input. Looks like I may have the largest issue with the drain, but maybe not. Will see what the plumber suggests ? The room is on the same level with other rooms....and not in the basement. In the late 60's I had a makeshift darkroom in the basement, but that was pretty much previous lifetime. Time to move on, eh ?

Les

The best tip I can give is indirect lighting for the main safelight. On my last darkroom I hung the safelight facing the white ceiling and bounced it all over the darkroom. Its amazing how well you can see in the diffuse light even under the counter. I still had a work safelight over the sink for the trays.

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Originally Posted by Gary Beasley

The best tip I can give is indirect lighting for the main safelight. On my last darkroom I hung the safelight facing the white ceiling and bounced it all over the darkroom. Its amazing how well you can see in the diffuse light even under the counter. I still had a work safelight over the sink for the trays.

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Yikes. Sounds like my OLD darkroom. Actually, it's the SAME darkroom -- until I tested my safelights. My NEW darkroom is a lot dimmer now, but I can still my make my way around, and my prints are safe -- because I ran some simple tests.

Paint the walls semi-gloss white. The semi-gloss will not hold dust like flat paint will. A DARKROOM, is just that,dark. A good safe light 5 feet above your working surface will illuminate the whole darkroom very well.
Most interior walls in a house are not filled with insulation. You mount two louvered vents between the studs of the wall.One at working height the other on the opposite side of the wall higher or lower than the working height. Paint the back side of the opening flat black. This will stop all reflected light. I use a nice ,large 120 VAC muffin fan to move the air. The fan will move the air out of the darkroom,into the wall, bounce off the studs and top/bottom of the wall and vent out of the other louver. It works very well and is quite.
My darkroom is in my basement. I built a long wet sink that drains into a wash tub sink (home depot) and it in turn feeds an enclosed sump pump and up and out to the house styptic system. I installed a check valve in the discharge pipe to prevent back-flow into the pump.
Have many outlets.
Keep extension cords away from the floor or liquids if you have no/enough power outlets.
Peg board is a great way to store goodies off of the floor or drawers. Shelves should be at eye level and not cause a shadow on your work area.
I use an air ionizer and ozone machine to keep the dust down. It stops dust about 90%. There is no static either.

I use very larger red rubber hoses, sometimes 50 ft in length with knozzels on the end to turn the flow on and off, this allows me to use a source of tempered water that can service two rooms with different sinks in each room.
I would never plumb copper and valves and such to a darkroom sink again, and in fact I plan to build my final darkroom with this long hose in mind. I have a 3/4 inch line coming into a large hot water tank that splits to a shower faucet with temp gage on it. It is such a wonderful addition to my darkrooms.

Lots of practical ideas above. I would only add that a light-coloured floor can add to 'foot-security', especially if you have visitors using the darkroom. Table-legs, sink supports etc. have tripped many people while distracted carrying full trays . . . oops.

Good white-light is also useful for cleaning up and general maintenance purposes. If one can make a corner for daylight light-temperature print / test viewing then so much the better, especially for RA4 printing.

A big plus for me is to have a dimmer switch for a standard incandescent light overhead. That way, I can create full light -- or just a tiny bit so I can find what I dropped without losing my "night vision".

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Originally Posted by Rapidrob

... I use an air ionizer and ozone machine to keep the dust down. It stops dust about 90%. There is no static either.

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I am curious to know what you mean be these two devices. Are they different from regular air cleaners and where do you find them? Thanks.