Light-Proofing a Bathroom

[byronfry]

Hey

So I am planning on sealing my bathroom door for light so I can load film in it and I was wondering if anyone had some advice. All I have to do is seal the door as there are no windows I know I can use some cloth black tape, but that seems a waste to re-seal it every-time with new tape. I also don't know if I want to install weather stripping or anything to bulky as we are renters and I am not sure how our landlord would feel about me modifying too much.

I know there are probably a tonne of other posts on sealing the bathroom but I was hoping for specific advice on techniques that don't include altering the door too much as again I am a renter.

Thanks in advance everyone!

[John Kasaian]

Put a towel on the floor to block light coming in from under the door. If light is leaking from the jambs, get a piece of blackout cloth and tack it up over the door with two push pins. If the door opens to a hallway, it might help keeping the hall lights turned out---in fact that might be all the precaution you'll need! If you make it too dark, how will you see what you're doing? :)

[Jim Edmond]

My darkroom is in a utility room. I made a curtain from black cloth mounted on a rod above the door. The cloth is large enough to cover the door jams and drag on the floor a bit. It can be pushed aside when not using the darkroom. Works quite well.

[eric black]

whatever solution you use, take some time to verify that it is light tight- sitting in the dark for a minute or so and allowing your eyes to adjust is the way to do it. If any light is getting in you will see it after a minute or so and then you can take measures to correct it. Me personally, I use a basement bathroom with no windows and and extra outside door down the hall to close out the little remaining light that would reach the bathroom door- no baffles or extra measures required.

Oh, and one more thing, take off your watch with its luminous dial prior to using the room although I cant imagine what idiot would forget something like that (except me).

[Gem Singer]

When I formerly lived in rental units, I needed to light proof the bathroom door in order to use it as a darkroom. Did it many times.

In fact, I have also done it in the home that I now own.

I purchased self-sticking black rubber weather stripping (3/4 inch wide) at the Home Depot and installed it around the inside of the door frame.

A rolled up bathroom rug or a dark color towel is used to seal off the light coming from under the door.

When I was ready to move, I merely peeled off the weather stripping. Lighter fluid removed any remaining tape residue without harming the paint.

[Michael Graves]

although I cant imagine what idiot would forget something like that (except me).

I can.

[cjbroadbent]

I staple two rows of velcro above the door and hang two overlapping black 'curtains'. The curtains also have a strip of lead beads along the bottom. You walk through the overlap and kick the slack into place. When the wife complains, just strip the curtains off.
(beside the point, but my camera darkcloth also has lead beads on two edges and a white side to keep things cool)

[venchka]

I solved the bathroom blackout problem in a rental unit with a Harrison changing tent. Best money I ever spent. I can handle film 24/7.

[Gem Singer]

My bathroom darkroom is utilized for loading and unloading film holders, processing film in tanks and trays, and enlarging and printing on silver gelatin paper.

Since you state that you only want to use your darkroom for loading and unloading film holders, it seems to me that it would be more practical to purchase a changing tent.

That way, there would be no need to limit yourself to the bathroom.

[bvstaples]

I have a changing tent and find it quite useful in the field or when traveling, but at home I like the comfort of loading and unloading holders and development trays in the bathroom. I use a blackout cloth hung on hooks over the door, with a little extra all around to block the light. I found I still need a block at the bottom of the door so I place one of those door socks at the base (used to keep cold air out). The door is light tight.

Take Eric's advise and sit/stand in the room for a while. It can take up to 10-15 minutes for your eyes to get completely dark adapted. Look carefully at the edges of the door, but also look around light and socket plates, and look up the shaft of ventilation fans (this is where I found some light leak). If after a while you get the eerie feeling that you're in a Vin Diesel movie, then you've succeeded.

Brian

[Brian Ellis]

I bought some of that black stuff they sell at Home Depot in the gardening department. It's used for potting plants I think. It comes in rolls wider than a door. I cut it to fit around the door, rolled it up like a bed roll and put a couple pieces of tape on the roll to hold it in place above the door. I removed the pieces of tape and let it drop down when I needed to use the darkroom and left it rolled up above the door the rest of the time so it didn't interfere with anything. Worked fine for many years. But if all you're doing is loading and unloading holders it might be easier to just go in a closet and sit on the floor at night with the room dark if that's possible. I did that for some years too.

I don't care for changing tents myself but to each his own.

[byronfry]

Thanks everyone! Great advice! I have a changing bag already, but will look into a tent. I will probably end up using while in the field, but for when I am staying pretty local I think I will use my bathroom and try the weather stripping plan.

[Greg Lockrey]

What Brian said.

[h2oman]

Does your bathroom have a window? I have a bathroom without a window off of another room, and I feel like I've done fine so far by simply waiting until after dark, turning off the light in the exterior room and just closing the bathroom door. Maybe I'm not very discerning and am getting some fogging that I'm not aware of, but I don't think so.

I hadn't read Brian's suggestion before writing this the first time, but what I am suggesting sounds like his suggestion about using a closet in a dark room. It is a bit inconvenient to have to do things after dark, but if all you are doing is loading and unloading film it is not that big of a deal.

[David Karp]

Get the 8x10 Harrison tent. You don't think you will need it, but there you are one day trying to load a Jobo drum and you don't have any room . . . .

Plus, Patti Harrison is a nice person, and stands behind her product. I had one of the old sticky ones. She replaced it (after it was way out of warranty) at a reasonable price.

All kidding aside, the 8x10 tent is big enough to load whole plate film into a Jobo 3005 drum.

[Brian Sims]

I recently unloaded some film in a closet off of a conference room at work. No windows in the conference room. No windows in the closet. It was quite dark. Half way through the 14 sheets of film, I was sliding some film into the mylar envelope when a bright greenish-white flash seemed to come from the envelope. My first thought was a static charge. I paused, trying to figure out if I had ruined 7 sheets of film. I moved my hand out of the envelope and it happened again. Damn. I put the envelope down and tried to collect my thoughts. It happened again. That's when I saw the same light on some white paper on a shelf. I looked behind me and waited...there it was a bright green flash on the ceiling. I put everything away and turned the lights on. It was the CO2 sensor flashing. The room was so air tight that my hot breath had triggered this flashing light which was bouncing off the mylar. I aired out the closet and unloaded the rest of the film while holding my breath. :)

[tgtaylor]

I third the idea of a Harrison change tent. I have the 8x10 version and use it to unload and load 4x5 holders as well as loading 35mm and 120 film onto reels and 1500/2500 series drums for processing.

However, I found loading a Jobo 3010 Expert drum not to be practicable in the Harrison as there is not enough room. It's much easier in the bathroom where I place a black towel on the counter with the drum and loaded holders on top.

My bathroom, being in a hallway with no windows, is easy to lightproof. All I need to do is to place the shower matt against the bottom of the door to block any light entering from that direction. A convenient hallway storage closet (where I dry roll film) door blocks any light coming down the hall from a living room window. If needed I could tape up a 3ml black contractors trash bag to completely block light from that window (I do this in the bedroom where the enlarger is) but I haven't found that to be necessary.

[venchka]

A changing bag can not be compared to a Harrison tent. The Harrison tent can go anywhere. Anytime. A truly portable darkroom. Imagine handling film on a longish road trip now that Readyloads and B&W Quickloads are not available. The Harrison tent will expand your capabilites.

[Blueberrydesk]

I staple two rows of velcro above the door and hang two overlapping black 'curtains'. The curtains also have a strip of lead beads along the bottom. You walk through the overlap and kick the slack into place. When the wife complains, just strip the curtains off.
(beside the point, but my camera darkcloth also has lead beads on two edges and a white side to keep things cool)

This is exactly what I do as well. (alright, not 'exactly', the velcro is stuck onto the door frame with adhesive, it's only stapled to the cloth). Works fantastically well.

[BetterSense]

Take Eric's advise and sit/stand in the room for a while. It can take up to 10-15 minutes for your eyes to get completely dark adapted. Look carefully at the edges of the door...

A darkroom may not have to be, and cannot be, 100% light proof. Even if you think it is, there is surely some light sneaking in that you just can't see. It would be a coincidence if the exact amount of light that caused fogging happened to correspond to exactly the amount that you can detect with your dark-adjusted eyes. I convinced myself that small light leaks around my door are not a problem after I realized even with the light leaks, if I was to take a picture of the film-handling area with my camera, I would have to leave the lens wide open for many minutes or hours in order to get any density on the negative at all. And that's with a lens concentrating the light...when I'm handling film nothing is focusing light onto the film it's just out in the open.

I'm often criticized for taking the "mind over matter"* approach to many things in life, but the door doesn't have to be that light-tight afterall. I mean I can see light leaking around my door in multiple places after my eyes adjust, if I use my dark-closet in the daytime and it's really not a problem. You'd be surprised how much light you can have in a darkroom without causing any problems.

*mind over matter: if you don't mind, it don't matter

[Drew Wiley]

Ordinary felt weatherstripping works on a door. Better yet, a bulb type that squeezes
aroung the door a bit. Then on the outside I'd hang an oversize sheet of studio velvet from a curtain rod or some velcro. It's very absorbent of any secondary light
bouncing around. Beware of any light piping down a ventilation vent - you might have to temporarily baffle this too. As far as Harrison tents go, they're certainly
well made, but I always supplement them with a disposable polyethylene trashcan
liner clothespinned to the inside strut. This makes film changing much more lint-fee.
And to avoid contaminating new holders, I only use film boxes which have been
sprayed with a little acrylic to keep cardboard fibers from shedding. Perhaps
a bit of overkill if you really only need a clean counter and lightproof room, but good
to know if you ever have to change film in the field or in a motel kitchenette with a
linty carpeted floor.

[Gregg Cook]

I have had good temp results in rentals, with a base of painters blue tape with black duct tape over it for removable light seals. Pull the tape off the roll, fold in half, stick the top two quarters to each other then the other to the blue tape on the door.

windows, tin foil and blue tape and then foam board over that is pretty effective. Velcro tabs to hold the foam core.