Smoking room advice

Need a little help here.

I'm going to take an unfinished room in my walk up basement and use half of it as a smoking room/office. There are some things I can already figure out how to do like the space is already framed I need a carpenter to put up a dividing wall, run some electrical that kind of stuff. But some things I don't even have a clue that need to be done:

- How do I "air proof" so the smoke stays inside rather than outside? Especially with with a playroom right next door I'd like to be able to smoke but not affect the kids.

- Can I run heating and AC into the room? If I can't its OK as the room is cool in the summer anyway and I can simply use space heaters in the winter if I have to. But if I have someone run ducts again how stop smoke from entering the house?

- Air purifers, smoke eaters or simply exhaust fans? Whats a guy to do?

- All the other stuff I don't know that I don't know.

Now while I don't want to stop people from chiming in what I'm really looking for here is advice from either professionals in the field or people who have completed the project already.

[HK3-]

this guy did a nice one and he has a lot of information- http://www.ryandeyer.com/cigarroom/a...igar_room.html

Yeah I have Ryans site, just want to make sure there isn't anything else I forgot before we start.

I'll start off by saying I am not a HVAC expert but I am an engineer (I could spend a night at a holiday express too if that helps)

Although you do want the room to be as airtight as possible, having a large exhaust fan will help a bit. If you can keep a slight vacuum (relative to the rest of the house) in the room then it will prevent smoke from leaving as air from the house will be flowing into the room through any gaps.

As far as heating and AC, I would think it would be best to keep seperate ducting for the smoke room. If the exhaust fan is large enough you may be able to put an hvac vent in the room, but it will suck a lot of air from the rest of the house and will make it more difficult to keep a vacuum in the room. If it stays cool in the summer then I would have dedicated intake and exhaust ducts that run straight outside and look into an inline heater to put into the intake.

Basically I think an using only the exhaust fan to circulate air would allow you to keep a vacuum and keep the smoke from blowing out into your house. That same vacuum would also draw air through your intake duct. If you have an inline heater that can warm the outside air as it comes in then you can reduce or eliminate the need for a space heater. You would just need to watch the inlet and outlet duct placement. If the inlet and outlet are on opposite sides of the room then the warm air will be drawn across the room, if they are next to each other then most of it will recirc right back out.

I'm not sure how large of a heating system will be sufficient, but if you know the approximate flow rate you'll have through the inlet then you can size a heater based on the flow rate and the desired temperature rise you want (compared to the outside temp). You can probably use the flow rate from your exhaust fan as the majority of the air being exhausted should be coming through your inlet.

I look forward to seeing your progress on this. If you need an extra set of hands to help with some of the construction (or to break it in when you finish) I'll be glad to help, but i'll be in PA for the next 6 months so I may be unavavailable for that time.

I am building my man cave in my garage. So similar things. Heat, air etc. I agree with above do those individual(space heater and window AC) or separate ducting. Make sure you seal the door. Edges in the moulding and one of those runners at the bottom. Your door will be difficult to close but so be it. I would use wood paneling on the walls and seal the edges with appropriate sealer. Drywall will eventually absorb smoke. Of course keep anything cloth out of there. A small purifier and more important is an exhaust.

I'd actually considered doing it in the garage but we have too many bikes and scooters and skateboards and such in there. And I need the other side for my car eventually.

[Volt]

Originally Posted by HK3-

this guy did a nice one and he has a lot of information- http://www.ryandeyer.com/cigarroom/a...igar_room.html

Glad you found his room, that's the one I was thinking of. The bombdiggity of all herf rooms.

[hotreds]

I dunno if I'd leave any books in my smoking room unless you wanna have some nasty smelling books. You mentioned office/smoke room. I don't know if those two necessarily mix too well. But having a room for smoking is a wonderful thing! (I'm guessing the room will not have a window?)

[jkorp]

I"m in the early stages, but right now my man cave is in the basement junkroom I've cleaned out. At this point I'm only using a fan in the window, with my chair next to the window. This setup works well for solo smokes, but I would imagine 2 or more would be a problem.

Ideally you want a fresh air intake and and exhaust. If you don't have an intake you will pull air from the rest of the house and change the drafting in you house. If you have no gas or oil appliances in your house, this may not be a big deal. But if you do, you could create a down draft in your chimney by sucking the houses air out with no intake to replace.

The trick for me, when and if I ever get around to it, will be running the intake and exaust from different places. I would either have to run straight up and out the roof

I would think that you would want to keep the room apart from the house's HVAC.

Air proofing will be using weather striping around doors, styrofoam under outlet covers and probably plenty of caulk. Perhaps even plastic sheeting behind the wall material. Having the intake and exaust right will go along way to keep the smoke flowing out instead of back in.

[mosesbotbol]

I notice if there's an intake, the exhaust will work much better then having the room become a vacuum.

[HK3-]

Originally Posted by mosesbotbol

I notice if there's an intake, the exhaust will work much better then having the room become a vacuum.

Having a fresh air intake is a must.

[Mark C]

First and foremost, you definitely want the room to be under a vacuum. It doesn't need to be a lot, but it should definitely be something. That'll work a helluva lot better than trying to seal every little leak, crevice, door, etc. Sealing is ok, but pressure differentials are better. It's a common practice for labs, clean rooms, and chem/bio defense. Should work just as well for smoke rooms

Proper exhaust sizing is key. Figure out the volume of your room in cubic feet, then multiply that by your desired air changes per hour (ACH) and finally divide by 60 to get the exhaust flow in cubic feet per minute (cfm). I think common ACH is ~5, but I'd have to double check that.

For a small room (~10x10), I'd design it without a fresh air intake and rely on leakage of your smoke room for the makeup air. One benefit here is if the surrounding area is already conditioned, you won't need to worry about heating or cooling as you'll be pulling conditioned air into your space. If you do include a fresh air intake, I suggest making sure to include a damper somewhere so you can restrict the inlet air in order to maintain your vacuum. Put the intake duct as far away from the exhaust as you can to help with air flow distribution. If you can isolate the ductwork for this room from the rest of the house, do that, it'll eliminate the ductwork as a leak path.

That ought to cover it, I'll post back if I think of anything else to add.