My lounge planning thread

[Rooney77]

I'm planning a smoking lounge in my 40x40 insulated shop. Basically I'm taking over a bay and plan on framing up a 20x14x10 room. This thread will be my build thread of sorts, where I ask questions and post progress pics.

This room will house my golf simulator, my shop tv, poker table and be my smoking lounge. The poker table will be set up and taken down as needed.

Like I stated the shop is insulated. It is a metal building and the room will be typical woof framing and insulated as well. Two walls will be existing shop walls. I will install a window unit to cool the room as needed.

So my first dumb question as I plan this thing out, what do I do for exhaust fans. A room this size with four guys smoking cigars will get unbearable pretty quickly. I figured on 3 bathroom fart fans but will that be enough? Cigar storage is not an issue, this is a smoking and golf room only. I am on a budget so I'm looking for harbor freight solutions I'll mask as Nordstrom results.

 

[Boudie]

What kind of windows and cross ventilation will you have when it's not hot enough for the AC? A good window exhaust fan would be a big help. I have a small rat room vent in my 10X30 room and it keeps up with the smoke pretty well with two of us smoking.

Are you thinking a vent over the poker table and a vent over the lounge chair area?

 

[Rooney77]

What kind of windows and cross ventilation will you have when it's not hot enough for the AC? A good window exhaust fan would be a big help. I have a small rat room vent in my 10X30 room and it keeps up with the smoke pretty well with two of us smoking.

Are you thinking a vent over the poker table and a vent over the lounge chair area?

I was thinking 3 fart fans evenly spaced across the 20' distance. The poker table will not be permanently setup since the golf Sim requires the majority of the space. But my coworkers and I (4 of us) are starting a monthly herf and rotating location so I need to be able to deal with 4 guys smoking in this small room.

As for crossflow, I hadn't planned any. I'm building the room to protect the golf Sim from the fabrication I do and to protect the cars from the cigar smoke. The room will not be open to the shop at all and will have no exterior windows.

Edit: this is a pic of the area in question. I'm in East Texas so it's almost always hot enough for ac. We are either running heaters or running ac, not much in between.

 

[Glassman]

Well, I imagine you'll need a source of fresh /cool air intake. Cause the smoke to rise and exhaust faster. Especially if you're just using bathroom fans rather than an exhaust fan and hood (that wouldn't be a bad idea actually)
Probably want the AC pulling fresh air as well, so that it doesn't get rank.

 

[Rooney77]

Well, I imagine you'll need a source of fresh /cool air intake. Cause the smoke to rise and exhaust faster. Especially if you're just using bathroom fans rather than an exhaust fan and hood (that wouldn't be a bad idea actually)
Probably want the AC pulling fresh air as well, so that it doesn't get rank.

I had planned on a single 220v window unit on an exterior wall as far as the ac goes. If I need more exhaust, I'm open to ideas. This is all very much in the planning stage so I'm open to suggestions. Maybe even a multi stage exhaust since 95% of the time it will just be me.

I am still pretty new to all this so I'm seeking advice and knowledge from those that have come before me.

Just as some background, in early December my wife bought me my first humidor (40 CT desktop), I found this site and now I'm awaiting a gently used ready to go 600 CT humidor and building a smoking lounge. The slope is real my friends and I'm seeking advice on how to navigate it.

 

[Glassman]

Haha, I'm with you man... It's more of a cliff than a slope.... My shop exhaust fan is 3 stage and works perfect. It pulls fresh air from a screen window.

I had planned on a single 220v window unit on an exterior wall as far as the ac goes. If I need more exhaust, I'm open to ideas. This is all very much in the planning stage so I'm open to suggestions. Maybe even a multi stage exhaust since 95% of the time it will just be me.

I am still pretty new to all this so I'm seeking advice and knowledge from those that have come before me.

Just as some background, in early December my wife bought me my first humidor (40 CT desktop), I found this site and now I'm awaiting a gently used ready to go 600 CT humidor and building a smoking lounge. The slope is real my friends and I'm seeking advice on how to navigate it.

 

[clevemojo]

I just recently converted my one car garage to a cigar lounge. I'm in Cleveland so I had to insult the walls and the ceiling. I put in a large exhaust fan from Lowes.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Air-Vent-1170-CFM-Gray-Galvanized-Steel-Electric-Power-Roof-Vent/1102561

I added a variable speed control so that I can adjust the pull depending on how many folks are smoking. For $80 I don't think you can beat it. The speed control was about $50 and was not available at Lowes. My buddy got it for me so I can't recall where he got it. The fan at full speed pulls 1170 CFM. The downside is when its really cold here in Cleveland it pulls out a good bit of heat.

If I have the garage door down and the window closed it doesn't really work. You'll need to have some sort of source for fresh air for it to be effective. I crack the window and it clears out the smoke quickly.

 

[Rooney77]

I just recently converted my one car garage to a cigar lounge. I'm in Cleveland so I had to insult the walls and the ceiling. I put in a large exhaust fan from Lowes.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Air-Vent-1170-CFM-Gray-Galvanized-Steel-Electric-Power-Roof-Vent/1102561

I added a variable speed control so that I can adjust the pull depending on how many folks are smoking. For $80 I don't think you can beat it. The speed control was about $50 and was not available at Lowes. My buddy got it for me so I can't recall where he got it. The fan at full speed pulls 1170 CFM. The downside is when its really cold here in Cleveland it pulls out a good bit of heat.

If I have the garage door down and the window closed it doesn't really work. You'll need to have some sort of source for fresh air for it to be effective. I crack the window and it clears out the smoke quickly.

Thanks for the link and the information. I hadn't considered needing fresh air to replace what's getting pulled out.

 

[WatchmanUSA]

From your picture of the space it looks insulated so it’s tighter than just a normal garage type space. It looks like you might need a source for fresh air.

The reason for the exhaust fans is to exhaust the cigar smoke. The existing air needs to be replaced with new air.

An AC until does not replace air but rather it takes heat and water out of the air by cooling it and blows the conditioned air back in the room. Any new air, is leakage around the opening for the unit.

You need to know the air leakage amount, the room volume and the CFM of the fans. From that you know if you are turning over the rooms air volume fast enough to keep cigar smoke from accumulating.

 

[ChuckMejia]

The roof fan posted would work well. Based on your dimensions you will need at least 1000cfm based on a cfm calculator to replace the air in the room every few minutes.

I just built a room and in the winter the exhaust fan pulled out all the heat and all the smoke well. I ended up moving to a radiating heater to keep the smoking area warm while replacing the air every two minutes. Any air removed must be replaced to definitely considering a plan for the fresh air intake.

 

[ChuckMejia]

Also since it’s a metal building that fan might not be ideal. You could always look at two individual in-line fans each with 500-600 cfm to do the job

 

[Rooney77]

Also since it’s a metal building that fan might not be ideal. You could always look at two individual in-line fans each with 500-600 cfm to do the job

The shop walls are 12' but the room will be 10'. I had wondered about two separate fans. Going that route might be quieter too.

 

[ChuckMejia]

The shop walls are 12' but the room will be 10'. I had wondered about two separate fans. Going that route might be quieter too.

I’m running a 600 CFM exhaust in my attic and it works well. I had one boot in the ceiling at first and it was a bit loud. I ended up adding a t split to it and dropped down a dryer line that pulls smoke from the seat area and now that it has two sources to pull air it got a lot more quiet. I did a fresh air intake directly across from where I pull smoke so it works out well

 

[clevemojo]

The roof fan posted would work well. Based on your dimensions you will need at least 1000cfm based on a cfm calculator to replace the air in the room every few minutes.

I just built a room and in the winter the exhaust fan pulled out all the heat and all the smoke well. I ended up moving to a radiating heater to keep the smoking area warm while replacing the air every two minutes. Any air removed must be replaced to definitely considering a plan for the fresh air intake.

Can you tel me more about how your heating your space? I went with propane fueled infrared. It seems to be working pretty well. I don't have 220 or Natural gas so propane was really the only option.

 

[ChuckMejia]

Can you tel me more about how your heating your space? I went with propane fueled infrared. It seems to be working pretty well. I don't have 220 or Natural gas so propane was really the only option.

Can you use propane heaters indoors? Sounds like it could get dangerous with the fumes

And I have a large ceramic radiant heater facing my smoking chair which radiates hot air pretty well. Only warms up my area and nothing else tho.

 

[Rooney77]

Can you tel me more about how your heating your space? I went with propane fueled infrared. It seems to be working pretty well. I don't have 220 or Natural gas so propane was really the only option.

I had figured on simple space heaters or a propane radiant heater. We don't have a long enough winter to really justify an extravagant heating solution.

 

[Rooney77]

Can you use propane heaters indoors? Sounds like it could get dangerous with the fumes

And I have a large ceramic radiant heater facing my smoking chair which radiates hot air pretty well. Only warms up my area and nothing else tho.

I use a propane stalk heater in the shop. In the smoking room I'd be ok with a small propane heater because you're venting the air so there shouldn't be any dangerous co2 build up.

 

[clevemojo]

Can you use propane heaters indoors? Sounds like it could get dangerous with the fumes

And I have a large ceramic radiant heater facing my smoking chair which radiates hot air pretty well. Only warms up my area and nothing else tho.

It's a ventless heater. No fumes. It's a Dyna Glo 30,000 BTU

 

[Shooting4life]

Ventless heaters add a bunch of moisture to the air. I would stick with vented unless using electric. If you want a cheap option for venting get a whole house fan. I have one for my house and it is a beast and moving air.

 

[WatchmanUSA]

Ventless heaters add a bunch of moisture to the air. I would stick with vented unless using electric. If you want a cheap option for venting get a whole house fan. I have one for my house and it is a beast and moving air.

I think the rule-of-thumb is for every 1,000 BTU of propane burned, about 1oz. of water is produced each hour of usage. A 30K BTU unit will add 30 oz of water into the room air per hour.

The actual calculation is based on the amount of propane burned per hour to produce 1,000 BTU.