Lighting Set-Up Garage

I have a basic 3 car garage and I want to set it up for detailing.



What is the best lighting set up?



Right now I just have two 200W incandecents and it is not cutting it.



I am thinking a bunch of Flourecents, but want your opinions!

detailing doors up or down?



with down, I`d say 3 rows a florecent lights all the way across. Connect each "door" of lights to a single switch. Aways have pull down lighting too.

In my 2-car garage I recently put in 4 recessed lights, along with 2 florecents. The recessed lights give the garage and the cars a nice glow, while the florecents show every imperfection. That can be good or bad... :nixweiss

Add a Halogen light tree.

Personally, the halogen light trees get on my nerves, since they are hot and are more like spots - too many areas of the car seems to stay in the shadows.



I was thinking about flourescents also. Hope more garage owners (RedCarGuy!!) chime in on this!!

You really need a combination of lights to do the trick. I agree that multiple rows of flourecent lights are required. In the past, I have used a double row of flourecent tubes over each car bay, plus a double row down each side of the garage (pointing outward), hung 8-12" down from the ceiling. Be sure to get flourecent lights with a good defuser. Don`t run an open bulb. A good defuser will hel to eliminate the shadows.



Between the rows of flourecent tubes, I run tracks for track lighting and install the 2" halogen bulbs. This is "fill" lighting, and gives a more natural light source that`s offsets the blue or pink lighting created by the flourecent tubes. The halogen tracks should be on a dimmer so you can adjust the light level. I also put the halogen lights over my work bench area.



If your garage is finished (drywalled), you can use plastic conduit tracks for the wire. If your garage is not finished, you need to thing about hanging drywall or you`re wasting your time with the lighting. You need a bright white wall to help reflect the light.



Some people thing the lights should hang down from the ceiling, but I don`t think it much matters unless you have a 12` or higher ceiling.



As long as you`re wiring stuff, you might want to think about install a ceiling fan to keep your garage comfortable.



db

you say 3 car but how big is it>?

I`ve got a 3 car garage, if I remember right its about 32 ft X 25 ft. I put in 4 eight foot flourescent fixtures, 2 bulbs per fixture. They put out a lot of light, can`t complain there. But they do hum a good bit. I wish I had a different alternative that would put out similar light, not hum, and not put out excessive heat like halogens do.



And, if anyone is building a garage, I second David`s comment that you should wire for a ceiling fan or two. I`m trying to figure out how to add them now.

http://www.squick.org/~frederf/iclub/beforeafter1.jpg



Sorry about the pic, wrong topic...but it looks good anyway so I`ll leave it :D



BTW, I LOVE MY DUAL HEADED 1000Watt lights... now I can detail at midnight and see more detail than sunlight!