Lighting suggestions in garage

shumax · 12-15-06, 11:43

I have a three car garage in a new construction home. I have two lights on the ceiling that were nothing mor ethan 75W bulbs. I put 500 watt bulbs in them, which makes it bright, but I am not getting any light on the SIDES of the car.

I was thinking about mounting lights on the walls on each side of the garage. I have an outlet on the one side that would be withink 2' of where I'd put one light. The other side has an outlet about 10' away. I don't really want to get involved with running new electrical b/c the garage is drywalled already.

Does anyone have suggestions for lighting for this situation? I am thinking about a hallogen "shop" light that has two 4' bulbs in it mounted horizontally on the wall.

Let me know what suggestion you all may have.

Thanks!

txz28 · 12-15-06, 12:19

It comes down to what do you want to do with your garage and what is your budget. If you don't use it for more than storage, anything will be fine.

Other than storage, you need to think about what tasks you want light for, woodworking, detailing... yelling at the broken car. If you want to detail in the garage, not out in the driveway, a combination of lights may be best. Many people mention that this a particular type of paint problem shows up a particular light (halogen, florescent) better. Someone else can probably comment better on that. I do know that when I work from a work light you described, I find that I have a harder time since the light is concentrated in one or two spots and it will glare more. To me, the best lighting is natural sun light, but not direct sun. For man made lights I would like something a little more diffuse. I use a combination of florescents and a portable halogen work light in my garage. They get the job done.

On putting the 500W lights in the socket, make sure that you do not put more light bulb in the socket than it is rated for.

jswatek · 12-15-06, 12:27

My metal halides show everything! I'm not sure if that is good or bad but you won't miss anything with them!

shumax · 12-15-06, 12:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by txz28

It comes down to what do you want to do with your garage and what is your budget. If you don't use it for more than storage, anything will be fine.

Other than storage, you need to think about what tasks you want light for, woodworking, detailing... yelling at the broken car. If you want to detail in the garage, not out in the driveway, a combination of lights may be best. Many people mention that this a particular type of paint problem shows up a particular light (halogen, florescent) better. Someone else can probably comment better on that. I do know that when I work from a work light you described, I find that I have a harder time since the light is concentrated in one or two spots and it will glare more. To me, the best lighting is natural sun light, but not direct sun. For man made lights I would like something a little more diffuse. I use a combination of florescents and a portable halogen work light in my garage. They get the job done.

On putting the 500W lights in the socket, make sure that you do not put more light bulb in the socket than it is rated for.

Thanks for the feedback! The garage now has a workbench in it, a heater and a few storage bins I built. I've attached some photos below---please pay no mind to my filthy cars.

I'm going to finish the rest of the drywall work and then paint it. I'm also going to do the floor. What will I "use" it for? Well, to be honest; most of the time it will be to park my cars in. Other than that, detailing and possibly eventually a "toy" car to piss away my money on. Shhh, don't tell my wife.

Storage will be limited to the bins I made and eventually some bins I'll build over the garage doors that hang from the ceiling. I also have some room in the basement, too.

So, take a look at the shots and let me know what you think.

Thanks again!

jsatek · 12-15-06, 01:23

Get a bunch of 48" fluorescents. Just dont buy 4000k bulbs, They dont cut it for detailing. Use the 5200k bulbs., better color and visibility.

I have 12 - 48" dual 32w fluorescents bulbs in my new garage. They are running 5200k bulbs I bought from the internet for about $5.00 per bulb. They are on their own 20amp breaker with 4 recepticles. (2 on each side of the garage) I may experiment with some 6000k's I saw.

AL417 · 12-15-06, 02:55

How do you like the heater? Did you install it yourself or have it installed? I'm looking to add a heater and I'm trying to get an idea of the installation cost. I had one quote of $1300 for the unit and install. I thought that was high considering the cost of a unit to heat a 2 car garage is around $500-$600. I have an attached 2 car garage and the gas line to tap is close. Any recommendations?

shumax · 12-16-06, 05:38

I like the heater a lot! I'm mechanically inclined and would have in installed it on my own if it weren't for the gas line. I don't mess with gas. It's tapped into the line that my dryer uses in the laundry room. The unit was about given to me as my father in law sells them. Th installation cost $400. They ran the line, mounted the unit and vented it to the outside. It's run on a thermostat and can heat my 3-car garage to 60 degrees from 10 degrees in a little over 30min. It's powerful!

Good luck!

BSBG · 12-16-06, 08:24

I'd suggest you look at T8 fluorescent, with a 6500K "daylight" bulb. We use them at work for inspection of the final prduct and they seem to work almost as well as natural daylight.

shumax · 12-16-06, 08:31

All good suggestions. So, where do I get some of these products? Like I mentioned, I'm not interested in adding electrical to the area----I've done that already and I think there's enough outlets out there now, save for the wall next to the Ford 500.

Thanks again for all of your suggestions!

DETAILKING · 12-17-06, 06:09

I have a similar setup as you. My garage is 20x34' and only has three 75 watt fixtures in it. For now I bought bulb splitters and put in the higheset wattage florescent screw in bulbs I can find, so I am running two bulbs per socket, and the screw in florescents give out more light than an incandescent. I would be careful with 500 watt bulbs, make sure your sockets can take them.

I might not be living at this place for much longer, so I just went with an easy upgrade. I bought two 48" florescent fixtures I will hang over the spot where I do the most work. I have not installed them yet but will probably just plug them in and run the wires over the ceiling. I also got 2 of those 300 watt dimming halogen "pole style" floor lamps you use for your bedroom, living room,etc and placed them on each side of the garage. They were about 10 bucks each.

Cheap solution, and plenty of light. When I need more I have a 1000 watt halogen worklight I bought at pep boys for about 25 bucks.

Panzer948 · 04-14-07, 05:52

I'm in the same delimea with only two bulbs in my garage. What about removing your incandascent light fixtures and using the lines from there to power your fluorescent lights?

Accumulator · 04-14-07, 07:39

I wouldn't remove the incadescents as they're about as good as it gets for spotting marring.

The compact fluorescents that I tried didn't show light marring on silver, ditto for any/all fluorescent tubes, even the ones that art galleries use. Only the worst marring shows up, leading to surprises under other types of lights, especially at night.

I'd get some fluorescents on the walls for general illumination, and some halogens that can be moved around.