Cleaning up the "wet" side..

Right, so I decided to get some cleaning done on the designated "wet side" of the dark room. What I thought would take 15 minutes turned into an hour. Here's some photos:

So Pretty much that table, after a good wipe down with some household cleaner, was still filthy with caked on... Something. I didn't like it there, so I fetched a putty knife and decided to remove it all. You can see the results here. Restoring this table to get it clean took the longest part. Finding a home for the computer towers and monitor was simple - I stashed them beneath the table. They're of no use to anyone, being several years outdated already. Below you can see the final, clean product.

Now, what remains is how to get fresh water over to this side from the other side of the basement. I need to get a hose that will connect to some kind of divider, that will effectively split the water into being able to be used on both sides of the room. Easy enough. The hard part, then is: where do I dump the chemicals after use? I plan on using one shot developer, so I assume I will just need a waste tray. I sure hope it's okay to mix the chemicals together in the waste tray. That will then go upstairs to be removed.

I'll be loading the film in a dark bag, but this little thing may present a problem for my printing. Think I should get a dark curtain for this light leak? See picture below.

So, that's pretty much it, for now. I just need to reorganize the dry side of the dark room (THAT will be a huge task), get some kind of hose going, and sweep the floor. Installing the edison-bulb safelights is pretty far into the future.

Am I missing anything?

Richard

1. This is all the materials I have gathered so far, in the front kitchen.

 2. Here you can see the left side of the basement.

 3. And this is the right side.

 4. This is where the "wet" side of things will be, I think.

 5. And over on this table, I should be able to get an enlarger and trays and so on. Off to the left there are water spickets.

 6. This is where I originally considered placing the most important part - Hanging the film to dry. No such luck, as these run hot liquids throughout the house.

 7. I finally decided to places the wire here, and a pan on the floor will catch any dripping water. This is right behind the "wet" side of the basement. I used cotton twine and really wound it up. The basement is dusty as is, and I DO NOT want my film on this floor. EVER... EVER!

 8. A game of Horseshoes, anyone?

 9. My hands after the ordeal.

First Post

Hi everyone!

First of all, some background information: I am a 20 year old male, living in Pennsylvania. My hobby is film photography. I was using a digital point and shoot, and when it came time to "go bigger", I settled on film. Since the first "twing" of my Argus C3 Rangefinder on Kodak Colour film, I have been hooked. Less then a few weeks later, I decided to give my Argus more of a period look, and bought some Ilford Hp-5, and after that, I then found Freestlye photographic. Around this time I got my first SLR, a Pentax K-1000, thanks to the kindess of a fellow user at apug.org. Anyways, instead of talking about the cameras, I'd like to write more about what matters: The film.

Local processing costs for a roll of black and white is $8. With the amount of film I shoot, at the learning stage, one can imagine how costly that is. I'm at the point where I understand the basics of the Zone System, I'm visualizing the image I want to achieve and adjusting accordingly to that - that it's time for me to delve into the basics of the Dark Room.

So, Here I am - pictures to follow shortly.

Richard
PS. I first started using that humble point and shoot in December of 2009, but only started getting serious in Feb. of 2010.