Best type and placement of lighting for a garage

**Stylinhonda** · 11-19-2009, 10:21 AM

Anyone ever tried mixing bulbs? I`ve got 10 lights, say in 5 of them put 6500k and in the other 5 put 5000k. Placing maybe one side of the garage with 6500k and the other the 5000k, or the front 6500k and rear 6500k.....Or would mixing everyother one 5000k/6500k 5000k/6500k be beneficial?

Just a thought!

**Greg Nichols** · 11-19-2009, 10:52 AM

I`ve been working on getting my lighting done. While the placement is critical, make sure you place them so the lighting overlaps on the ground, place them closer than you think to each other. Get as much lighting as you can afford, buy more later. I like 5100K as its not too blue. More important than color temp (k) is the CRI index (color rendering index) this is how intense the color is, 100 is the best halogens are 100 in many cases. I have 92 CRI and 5100K bulbs, they cost more but the color is true and bright. The bulbs you get at Home Depot are like 72 CRI, and there is a huge diff between 92 and 72.

These are my opinions for what its worth.

Cheers,

GREG

**BobD** · 11-19-2009, 11:39 AM

Originally Posted by Stylinhonda

Anyone ever tried mixing bulbs? I`ve got 10 lights, say in 5 of them put 6500k and in the other 5 put 5000k. Placing maybe one side of the garage with 6500k and the other the 5000k, or the front 6500k and rear 6500k.....Or would mixing everyother one 5000k/6500k 5000k/6500k be beneficial?

Just a thought!

I thought of that but I think you`d be better off having different bulbs on different switches. I think it`s be goofy on the eyes with a bunch of different type lights.

**BobD** · 11-19-2009, 11:43 AM

And don`t forget to get fixtures made for cold weather if your garage is not heated. And I recommend them even if you have a space heater because it still takes a while for the heat to get to the fixtures to heat up.

**fergnation** · 11-19-2009, 12:31 PM

Originally Posted by Danase

And don`t forget to get fixtures made for cold weather if your garage is not heated. And I recommend them even if you have a space heater because it still takes a while for the heat to get to the fixtures to heat up.

Good call, walked out to the garage yesterday and wondered why I didn`t have any lights working. You get what you pay for I guess.:think:

**Stylinhonda** · 11-19-2009, 12:32 PM

I got 10 of these black fixtures for now. Say`s cold weather start. 0 degrees. How many feet are you guys spacing the lights apart from eachother?

As for the bulbs, I found some at home depot in 5000k and 6500k at 86 CRI...I honestly like the blue look of the 6500k`s but have not tryed to detail a car with them. The 5000k`s are about 10 bucks more a box or so.

I`m going to have 3 switches for the lights. An existing one from inside the house to turn on one or two lights, just for easy access. Then 2 more in the garage itself for all of the lights.

**BobD** · 11-19-2009, 12:38 PM

Originally Posted by fergnation

Good call, walked out to the garage yesterday and wondered why I didn`t have any lights working. You get what you pay for I guess.:think:

For sure. My other house we just did the cheap fixtures and the lights had a hard time coming on in the winter. So far the lights we did in the new place have not had that trouble.

**BobD** · 11-19-2009, 12:39 PM

Originally Posted by Stylinhonda

I got 10 of these black fixtures for now. Say`s cold weather start. 0 degrees. How many feet are you guys spacing the lights apart from eachother?

As for the bulbs, I found some at home depot in 5000k and 6500k at 86 CRI...I honestly like the blue look of the 6500k`s but have not tryed to detail a car with them. The 5000k`s are about 10 bucks more a box or so.

I`m going to have 3 switches for the lights. An existing one from inside the house to turn on one or two lights, just for easy access. Then 2 more in the garage itself for all of the lights.

That`s the brand i used as well.

My lights are about 4` apart.

**ringer** · 12-08-2009, 10:03 PM

I agree with the previous poster- you can not have too much good overhead light. Put up as many as you can afford and your circuits will accept.

I like ceiling mounted flourescent lighting, but I also like using halogen lights for swirl and imperfection spotting (trust me you can see lots). I mounted some directional halogens about 7 foot from the floor. Just be careful mounting halogens on the wall, dont get them to low or you cant see anything will facing them because they are soo bright they can wash out your vision. Also be careful a standard 20 amp circuit ill only carry 2000 watts, so a few halogens add up quickly.

As another poster suggested, you would be surprised at how much light a coat of semigloss white paint will reflect. Even if you do not tape/mud the sheetrock, it is a nice upgrade in the shop and makes it a lot more comfortable with some insulation.

Here are some pics of my shop. The ceiling is 14 ft, so the twelve 8 foot flourescent lights on the ceiling are just ok for general lighting, but the light from them is pretty diffuse . If I am doing anything that requires a lot of light, I use the halogens. Hell, they put out soo much heat, they warm the shop a bit if I have several on.