garage lighting

[22VelocityProMax300]

Chynewalker, the other key to a good garage setup is keep the color of the floor light,you will get better light reflection than having a dark floor plus small things are easier to find. I have a light grey epoxy that has been down for 20 years that looks good. Frank

[chynewalkr]

i painted my floor with the grey epoxy, still havent decided on lights though. it really all being held up because i want to insulate the walls and drywall first.

[benski]

I've got incandescent can lights in the ceiling, a whole bunch of 4' flourescents in the ceiling on seperate switches, and 5 4ft flourescents mounted 1.5 feet above the floor running down one wall of the shop. The other side is 25' away or I would have put some there, too. A twin 500W Halogen on a stand for portable work, and a trouble light with LEDs on a 50' reel on the wall round out the inventory. All that and I find I'm still short on skill for certain projects, but at least I can see what I am messing up! I agree with the comment about the light grey floor..the other thing I did was buy some fairly good quality semi-gloss white latex and paint out my whole garage with it. I makes it a much cheerier spot to be in, and helps to see where things are on a dark and dreary day.

[Liberator*21]

I've got a 4 car garage, 20 ft. ceilings, white walls with 16 dual bulb, 8 ft. Hvy Duty high wattage Industrial Fluoresent fixtures on the ceiling, I get a sun tan just from work'n out there.......

All kidding aside, there is no such thing as too many lights, the most important part is knowing where to place them for the best possible light distribution based on what your doing, no dark spots or shadows if at all possible.

LOCATION-LOCATION-LOCATION..........

[MY HST]

thats a lot of plugging into

[Sonik]

also if your garage is cold (depending on climate/heat etc..) make sure whatever you get is rated for the temperature or you will have starting problems, most electronic ballast these days are good down to 0*F

I agree with the comment about the light grey floor..the other thing I did was buy some fairly good quality semi-gloss white latex and paint out my whole garage with it. I makes it a much cheerier spot to be in, and helps to see where things are on a dark and dreary day.

Good info here for you all the way around John. I agree with mixing up different styles of lighting in a single space so you can manipulate the environment to see lots of different things. I was fortunate when I bought the house i'm in now from my brother because he all but had the garage finished prior to me moving in. Garage is 21.xx x 28.xx attached and is insulated, drywalled and painted in a white latex and with 2 x 8' twin flourescents with just 4100k bulbs and a 4' wall mount with 4100k bulbs above my workbench...they light the entire area really well for as simple a setup as it is. As Mark mentioned, cold weather ballasts are a must....I have nasty hums in the winter until the garage and lights warm up......gotta change those soon....gets annoying. I too would like to throw a mixture of incandescents in with the fluorescents just to have the option.

If anyone has pictures of your well lit, light colored garage with an epoxied floor, I'd like to see them as I've been kicking around the idea of doing my floor as its just sealed concrete right now. (Sorry John, not trying to hijack)

Just to give you an idea....I threw in a few pics of my garage at night...its not big by any stretch but it serves its purpose....fortunately I have a little boat. My garage door hides a little bit of light towards the opening when its up so plan on your light placement accordingly if you work alot with the door open.

Jeff

EDIT: Incandescents or halogens on dimmers might be be something to try also along with your big lighting.

[Casey]

2 car w/ three 8 footers

[Casey]

my parents 35x45 w/ four 8 footers. it's not near enough light

[RobF]

this sure is a old thread!

A thing you will want to check BEFORE you buy any lighting is your local power utility will give rebates for using energy efficient lighting.
Its well worth the simple paperwork and you will save energy and money.

When I upgraded my shop lighting I ended up with a $75 per fixture rebate which is great when you are installing 20 something fixtures, and the rebate came in 2 weeks and in the form of check cut to me personally- not a credit on my bill or any of that, it was good as cash.

As to what is energy efficient for a home garage that would something like low bay T5s or T8s. If you go to a legitimate lighting supply house with your room dimensions they will tell you what you need.

[chynewalkr]

lets see some pictures, nice garages guys! mine is still a work in progress i have 4 4 foot t-5 fixtures and one incandescent so far. I am going to add some halogens too, i like them for seeing swirl marks in my cars (both vehicles i own are black)

[82RAYSONCRAFT]

Mine is 28 x 21 w/8' ceiling that I finished drywalling and painting pure white a couple of years ago. 5/4' dual bulb T fixtures with one over the work bench.
Its pretty good to me.

[93mustang97sea]

If I were to redo my garage over. I wouldnt put a single light on the ceiling. When I was driving a tow truck I dropped off a car to a small shop that a buddy of mine owned and he didnt have one light on the ceiling he took those bulb setups you see that are in office buildings and put them on the walls flush mounted. It was a nice setup and plenty bright and a good idea since if you look at spray booths since i also use to paint cars the lights are in the walls.

[RobF]

got rid of the last old 8 footers on the ceiling

[jphii]

I just changed my 8' fluorescent ceiling lights out for those. I used Metalux F-Bay. The difference is pretty remarkable. If I had that many in my shop I could get a tan in there.

[RobF]

those are all high efficiency hi-bays, best part was the rebate, check in my hand within 2 weeks
put up 6 more in the center where the old 8 footers used to be, had existing ones in there that I installed 3 years ago