[pure-silver] Re: other new darkroom

Hi,
I just want to chime in on the question of a concrete floor in the darkroom. This is from my personal experience with concrete floors. I have my darkroom in the basement which has a clearance of 8 feet, the ceiling is finished (joists and load bearing beams are hidden) as are the walls but the floor is concrete. When we first moved in here 18 years ago, we kept wondering why it was always so much more dusty in this house as opposed the previous apartment we lived in. The basement concrete floor in our new home had been painted but the paint was peeling and large parts of the concrete were exposed. This was the source of our dust. So one summer, we emptied the basement and decided to do the job properly. First, I scrapped off the remainder of the old paint, washed the concrete floor with muriatic acid, (a must to have clean concrete) using stiff brooms and rinsing with water and mops; when dry, the special gray paint for concrete was applied, 3 coats. Since that operation, the dust level has dropped dramatically and I later installed my first darkroom in the basement and dust is not a problem. I use the washing tubes in the laundry room to develop my film, wash my prints, do my toning. Believe me, you do not want to spend the day standing on a concrete floor..... it's murder on the feet. My solution was to lay down several sheets of 3/8 plywood in the area where I did most of my standing and covered that with thick rubber mats, the kind they use in children's playrooms, they are about 3 feet square and interlock with each other and come in different colours. Now my feet thank me after a day of darkroom work.
I understand the need to be able to wash the floor if you spill some chemicals, so much easier to mop a concrete floor, but a wooden floor will do just as well. And your feet will thank you. ;) 

Cheers,
Bogdan

Shannon Stoney wrote:
In addition to packing up and moving my city darkroom, I am thinking of building one in TN in the country. It will be an outbuilding built from scratch. Any suggestions? I know you have to have a wet side and a dry side, and I am a stickler for perfect ventilation, and I want to have a concrete floor. Other than that I am open to suggestions. 

--shannon
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--
________________________________________________________________
 Bogdan Karasek
 Montréal, Québec                     bogdan(at)bogdanphoto.com
 Canada                               www.bogdanphoto.com

                    "I bear witness"
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