OT: Ventilated Smoking Room?

erikk · 03-16-2005, 12:35 AM

OK this is TOTALLY off-topic but this is the best place I know of people who have knowledge in building specialized room and I figured I might as well pose the question here in the hopes that one of you has some sort of experience in this area.

I'm moving into a new house in May (it just finished being framed last week). One of the things that I want to do and have been thinking about for a while is putting a smoking room/bar area in the basement. I smoke cigars and can only indulge once in a blue moon and that is basically because I have to go outside to smoke them, I can only smoke during seasons when it's not too hot or too cold, there's nothing to do while smoking, etc. I'd like to have a room where I can smoke a cigar while sitting in a leather chair and watching some TV or a movie or listening to some music. Also I'd like a place where I can play poker with my friends and not have to force them out of the house to smoke cigarettes.

So the question is what's the best way to build a room that doesn't let smoke out into the rest of the house and ventilates the smoke out? The basement right now is a blank canvas, no walls, no nothing (you can see a floorplan here: http://ekroner.net/floorplan.htm). The room will be where it says optional rec room (but probably won't be that open, I'll probably break it up in some way). The walls for the HT and everything else but the stairs are not actually there now but are what I most likely plan to do (the HT is a definite).

I know that I should use wood panel walls and a hard floor so there's nothing that absorbs odors. I'm guessing a ventilation fan will be required at a minimum; I would consider putting in a separate zone of HVAC if it was really necessary. Should I consider putting plastic wrap or something in between the walls/ceiling? What's the best way to ventilate the room? What are the best fans, how do I keep the fan hole from letting hot or cold into the house, etc?

Are there any sites or resources about this or similar topics online? The only thing I can find about it is:
http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar...2,1277,00.html Which is definitely helpful but I was hoping for more details (brands, models, reviews, plans, etc). The problem is that googling the topic finds about a billion sites about smoking and the law, smoking rooms in restaurants, smoking bans etc but nothing really about actually building rooms like that in a house.

SteveLeach · 03-16-2005, 02:35 PM

Hmmm.. Just some thoughts, I would think that you want it to be air tight, so no smoke will migrate to the rest of the house. Use an air tight exterior grade door that opens into the room. Have the only ventilation in the room come from the outside and then be ventilated back to the outside. With the room being air tight, you could keep it at a slight negative pressure from the rest of the house. This would facilitate keeping smoke in the room. Everything absorbs smoke odor, except maybe stainless steel. So what ever you put up, do so in a manner that will make it easy to take out. Unless you plan on staying in the house forever.

chris_everett · 03-16-2005, 04:19 PM

Ditto everything steve says. Caulk all of the wall seams to help keep the room airtight, and be sure to take advantage of negative air pressure. All you need it a powerful fan blowing from the room to outside. That's what they do at the "airport smoking lounge" and the like to keep the smoke in, even with people going it and out all of the time.

Jay Mitchosky · 03-16-2005, 07:31 PM

Quote:

I smoke cigars and can only indulge once in a blue moon and that is basically because I have to go outside to smoke them, I can only smoke during seasons when it's not too hot or too cold

I hear you brother. Same position, although I'm not able to build that type of room (couldn't justify it for as much as I induldge). But I can picture exactly what you're talking about. Lots of woods, heavy distressed leather chairs, some jazz in the background. Amazing. I recall an issue of Audio Video Interiors where one of the featured homes had precisely this setup. It had its own ducting, venting, heating, air conditioning, air exchanger. Whole nine yards and completely separate from the rest of the house. But it would be an exclusive cigar room for me - no cigarettes allowed.

Good luck in your quest. Maybe Steve Simon will chime in as he owns a cigar store and might have customers who have done this.

Steven Simon · 03-17-2005, 06:32 AM

I would also reccomend a good Fiter above the smoking room.... There $$$ but work well..... I believe Honeywell is one brand you can look into.... I only wish I could do this setup in my home... Smoking is not permitted in Casa Del Simon...

**HTF Ads**

Parker Clack · 03-17-2005, 02:39 PM

Erik:

I know this sounds crazy but a good friend smokes cigars in his house all the time. He picked up two of the Sharper Image Ionic Breeze Quadra's and you cannot tell he smokes anything in his house. And this is in a 4,500 Sq. Ft. two story with wide open rooms. He smokes them in the living room, den, kitchen, etc. and when you walk in from the outside you cannot tell.

Since your room is going to be sealed off from the rest of the house putting a couple of them in the room with you might do what you are wanting to and at the same time keep you from having to put in a bunch of extra ventilation.

The other thing I would consider is an air exchanger for the room. That way you are pulling in fresh outside air into the room and taking out the smoke filled air.

Just some thoughts.

Parker

erikk · 03-17-2005, 03:13 PM

thanks for all the input. I actually have a quadra breeze right now but I've found it pretty much useless. Now granted I don't smoke inside now, so I don't know anything about how it handles smoke. I'll have to put it in the room and see if its a worthwhile thing for smoke.

I was hoping to make all the filtering and such in-wall, shall we say, to keep the decor more gentlemans club (and unfortunately I don't mean the brass pole kind, hmmm now thats an interesting idea tho....).

I think I have to find out about the costs involved here, from what I've heard here and elsewhere I've posed this question, it looks like I need to speak to an HVAC specialist. Minimum I need a ventilation fan exhausting outside (probably with some sort of a filter in the room). Step up from that is the addition of an air exchanger and final end all be all would be a separate HVAC zone with an exchanger. Probably cost will be the determining factor.

Jay you hit the nail squarely on the head. "Distressed leather" That's the term I've been trying to think of for days when describing the decor and I just couldn't remember it.

Steven Simon · 08-28-2008, 07:33 AM

I came across this thread on a search... If anyone needs a great smoke eater, I just opened a new cigar store, and purchased from a site called smokeeaters.org Great units and they kill the smoke!!

jamminsport16 · 08-31-2008, 02:52 PM

im interested