Minimum size new darkroom

[Jim Noel]

There is no minimum size for a DR. I once had a 3x6 foot space in which I had a 5x7 enlarger, and a 2 1/4 sq enlarger. Stacked trays, and a home built fill and dump print washer. Many happy hours were spent there.

[B.S.Kumar]

Design the darkroom first, then build the house around that.

If he does that, Mrs. Keymeulen may have a few words to say

My first, and only "dark" room was the bathroom at night, when I was learning to process and print B&W. We were living in a company apartment in Bombay, and no structural changes were allowed. Space in Bombay was, and continues to be, extremely expensive, and we did what we had to do. My friend, who had his own apartment, carved out a 4' x 10' space out of a room adjacent to one bathroom he had converted into a permanent darkroom. The new space was the dry area, and the bathroom the wet area. He built a hatch in the wall so that paper could be moved from the dry area to the wet area without needing to be put into a box and carried around.

Kumar

[MartinP]

It might be practical to sort out a print-washing and film-developing area separate to the darkroom. That way you can more easily multi-task or work with assistants during busy periods. Print preparation and mounting also needs a fair bit of space (the dining room table in my case, but it has other less important purposes too).

Edit: Space for toning might be better outside the darkroom too - perhaps another factor to support a light-side sink that you could use for both washing and toning.

[D-tach]

Design the darkroom first, then build the house around that.

😂😂😂 now that's hardcore!

If he does that, Mrs. Keymeulen may have a few words to say

My first, and only "dark" room was the bathroom at night, when I was learning to process and print B&W. We were living in a company apartment in Bombay, and no structural changes were allowed. Space in Bombay was, and continues to be, extremely expensive, and we did what we had to do. My friend, who had his own apartment, carved out a 4' x 10' space out of a room adjacent to one bathroom he had converted into a permanent darkroom. The new space was the dry area, and the bathroom the wet area. He built a hatch in the wall so that paper could be moved from the dry area to the wet area without needing to be put into a box and carried around.

Kumar

Luckily no mrs Keymeulen 😁

[Andy Eads]

Caution: some locales will look at the house plans and kill anything that looks like a darkroom for "environmental" reasons. If it is sized and outfitted to look like a laundry room, you may fool them. Good luck! I wish I could start from scratch.

[MIke Sherck]

My darkroom is 5' x 5.5' (1.5m x 1.7m. more or less,) and is fine for 11"x14" (about 28cm x 35.5cm.) 16x20 (41cm x 51cm, approximately,) can be done but with difficulty. Larger is not feasible. I develop film in trays and have a Beseler 45 enlarger. My ceiling height of 6' (183cm) is too low for any of the 5x7 enlargers I've seen unless I want to print on my knees. I also print salted paper and cyanotype up to 8x10 but there is a certain amount of re-arranging that has to occur first. Also, my 11x14 print washer is stored outside the darkroom and only goes into the sink when I need to use it.

I've often wanted my darkroom to be just a *little* larger, in part because I'd like to fit in a second, Beseler 23 enlarger for smaller formats and in part because I'd like to print 16x20 more routinely, but in my basement that's not possible. If I were you I'd consider stretching the size by as much as you reasonably can.

Mike

[Ted R]

I used to do 35mm work in a small room 2m x 3m using buckets of water, and did a lot of good work :-) Now I have 4m x 6m and still have to use buckets. A big enlarger needs a high ceiling. Get running hot and cold water :-)

[mdarnton]

I had a darkroom like that once, and it wasn't bad. The sink on the long wall, the enlarger 90 degrees to it on the short one, the door at the other end, and storage where you can find it. What might mess that up is alternative printing, where you might need a lot of surface and hanging space---perhaps a fold-down top on part of the sink, for instance.

[Drew Wiley]

Buy a nice little tent for the back yard. Live in that. Turn the rest of the house into the darkroom.

[Luis-F-S]

For me 60 To 80 SF