On my first grow and growing in an unfinished basement. I plan on making a cradle for my tent to sit in out of 1/2 plywood and an R-10 styrofoam insulation board. How do you deal with the cold floors? Any better ideas?
Thanks for your help.
9 Likes
Raise stuff up off the floors, that rigid insulation board will work great.
Better yet a 2" dead air space then the insulation board.
Heated ceramic tile is fuckin marvelous.
12 Likes
My no-till beds are on casters to keep them off the floor and make them mobile both. @Subcool (RIP) has suggested horse stall mats in the past.
7 Likes
I’ve put down rigid foam and then a layer of 3/4 plywood covering that. Glued and screwed into place with tapcons across about 1/2 of my space. Awesome, as long as you don’t have major flooding concerns.
I’m also using rubber (horse) stall matts and have a tent sitting on those. More portable. Also a nice option and not too expensive. They are about 3/4 inch thick. They also have 1/2 inch thick, too. They are heavy and won’t move around on their own or from foot traffic. No worries about those getting wet.
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/utility-rubber-mat-black-4-ft-x-3-ft-x--frac12-in-1011848
7 Likes
I built a rack system off the floor with pvc pipe and wire shelving in one tent.
In my 4 x 4 I put a piece of foam board between the floor of the tent and the removable tray bottom
9 Likes
@Old-Ron. Have you noticed a big difference?
2 Likes
In the 4 x 8 tent with the racking, the bottom of the pots are warmer then they were.
The 4 x 4 plants are not as cold either.
I may add some foam board under tray in the big tent, then put the rack system back, then add the rack system to the 4 x 4.
5 Likes
I like that idea. Between the foam board and the air gap, I bet it would make a big diff.
4 Likes
Check out your local hospital pharmacies they always get shit with stryrofoam insulation boards that’s thick I put my worms bins on them in The winter in the garage! There about 2-2.5 inches thick.
4 Likes
Even cardboard boxes flattened down will work nice flat edges take it up to the edge of the tent !
3 Likes
All these are good – the objective is eliminating thermal conductivity 
& some skinny wood “furring” strips between the concrete and the insulating layer(s) would complete the package. 
elevate as much as possible 
5 Likes
I put mine up on those concrete deck blocks. They hold up a frame of 2x4s with a plywood floor. I think you can get plastic smaller ones they use for fences too.
5 Likes
There will be a huge difference
3 Likes
Huge difference
2 Likes
Pallets - you can find them for free all over your town.
4 Likes
i would use cement board instead of plywood over extruded polystyrene. Cardboard invites pests and mold
4 Likes
Lots of great ideas posted in here. The main thing is to raise the pots off the floor. The air temp in your tent will do the rest. There was a time I used my old plastic pots flipped upside down with the cloth pots I now use on top.
3 Likes
I thought cold floors were desirable? I’ve always thought that the low/mid 60s or so was an ideal root zone/floor temp? It just dawned on me that cold floors for a lot of the country might be really cold…
3 Likes