Advice on building a hydroponics room.
 

Greetings, first time posting here. Looking forward to it all.

I have the opportunity to build a small addition to the side of my garage, and I want to divide 2/3 of it for growing but I have some questions. I live in south TX, and in our neighborhood we've had too much trouble with critters getting into the beds. We're organic food snobs, so to speak, and this seems to be the next logical step. :)

1. will i require sky lights or artificial lighting?
2. climate control issues? Would a wall AC unit suffice?
3. how much space would be required to provide vegetables for, say, a family of five? Or rather, how much could i produce in a space of 8' x 12'?

I'm fine with building tables, piping, etc.

Any help to springboard this will be great, and I'll post pictures and updates to pass along to the next guy.

thanks in advance.

Need just a little more info...
What do you plan on growing?
What type of system do you plan to utilize?
What are your temp extreams?
Which direction will this addition be facing? and are there any trees that may block the sun?

You will find there are a lot of "it depends" and at some point you just have to jump in and give it the ol' college try. There are lots of resources out there and I learned a ton of of youtube. The most important thing with hydroponics is the root/resouviour temps. The roots do not like to be too cold or too hot. There will be lots of opionions but I try to stay in the 65 to 82 degrees range so for me that means heating in the winter and cooling in the summer. Again, there are lots of options from home made, off the grid ideas to expensive store bought systems. I just use frozen containers in the nutes to keep them cool and insulating the resoviour in the summer. For winter, I am looking at a sawdust barrel stove.
The other thing is the right plant for the right spot... Don't plant a tomato plant in a 4" horizonal tube, I learned the hard way! However I did grow a pumpkin plant in a 15 gal rubbermaid tote ;)
Good luck! Hydro is a great way to feed your family.