Making my dark room darker

[Mark Sawyer]

If there is more than 1/8" of space around the door frame, I'd go with the self-adhesive weather-stripping. If the doors have a fairly close fit, I'd just paint the frame black. It's like the light-trap on your lensboards and film holders; would you want those painted a nice reflective white?

[chassis]

I hang a dark-proof curtain in front of the darkroom door, hung by a rod over the door. I found it at Bed, Bath & Beyond, and it is sold as a lightproof window treatment. It works well.

[Michael Kadillak]

I ended up putting two layers of dense cloth over my darkroom windows because one layer did not get it light tight and I could see light leakage during the daylight hours. You do what you need to do to get it sealed up adequately. Having a space to have a darkroom is a special opportunity but it needs to be functional and serve its purpose.

Anyone that has built a darkroom always talks about what they want to incorporate in their "next" one. I fit that billing.

[John Olsen]

Buy lots of the black plastic sheeting that's used for moisture control inside of house walls. It's cheap and it's quite black. Two layers of that on windows and a one layer flap on the door edges will probably take care of you.

[dsphotog]

I've used the backing paper from 120 film, taped or stapled
(black side facing the door)to the inside of the door overlaping the gaps.

[ic-racer]

I recently ordered blackout blinds from these folks. When I get them installed I'll post an evaluation.

http://www.seesawusa.com/products/112

[Steve Smith]

Not all black trash bags will work. I had a student who set up a darkroom in her apartment and had severe fogging problems.

Slightly related, when there are roadworks being carried out near me and road signs need to be covered up (e.g. to temporarily make a one way street into two way) workmen cover up the signs with black bin bags.

When they go home and it gets dark, these signs which are illuminated light up and the bags covering them are so thin that they might as well not be there.

A good tip I learned a while ago is that it is difficult to get material which is 100% light proof. Most materials have some pinhole sized holes. However, with two layers of the same material, the chances of having pinholes in the same position are equal to winning the jackpot on the lottery and can be considered 100% light proof


Steve.

[imagedowser]

A side benefit to black plastic used in large sheets is it attracts dust which then can be wiped off with a damp cloth. "...plastic practically sucked dust out of the air and was easy to clean with a damp cloth." Ctein, Post Exposure 2nd ed. Chapter 13, My Darkroom.

[David R Munson]

Depending on the situation, I've been pleasantly surprised at what can be accomplished using black felt and an appropriate sort of tape. For pinholes and small light leaks, black masking tape works wonders.

[Mark Sawyer]

An excellent 100% light-proof material that is cheap and easy to work with is aluminum foil.