Like many of you, family comes first and the hobby got the least attention. I have saved for quite some time and I am finally having my dream garage built. It is 30x40 with 12’ walls. Question is what is the best way to light it on a budget? I want a bright work area and the other areas I want it bright enough to find junk I have on shelves I plan to build, but it doesn’t have to be super bright. Should I mount lights on the wall in the work area? I do not have the budget for insulation or drywall, but do plan to hang some sheets of drywall on the wall where I will be working. Thanks for your advice in advance!
I have been happy with the 4ft fixture of led lights. Any big home imp. store. Easy money, bright light, low wattage (42)
A friend and I both have 30X40 storage units we use as shops. He's smarter than me and planned on the lighting from the start. He bought 20 LED 4 ft fixtures from Amazon for less than $300 and has them on the ceiling n 4 rows of 5 lights. These fixtures are designed to be "daisy-chained" with a short cord on one end and a receptacle on the other. It required only 4 initial outlets. He rented a "Man Lift", and we installed them in one day. The results are spectacular; more than adequate for any of our needs. Me, I had so much junk from the start that I couldn't install such a system. I am getting along with some portable LED's from Amazon, but they are clearly inferior. You are making the right decision to pre-plan your lighting.
I like Tow Truck Tom's idea, This is what I've been doing as a replacement plan and a few at a time as budget allows.
The 4 foot LED are great. You only have to buy a couple at a time, so budget friendly. A friend welded some pipe on a wheel for a stand then mounted one on it. It lights up everything everywhere he needs it
Hello, Obviously, our garage experience is not as large as yours. But, for any size of garage build, storage is always a necessity and with that, more efficient workspace can be planned and installed. a huge garage all lit up with enough lighting to see a cat's whisker is a little over the top. We had planned on a large 3 car garage as the end result of a house search one year. We knew that any work area of a garage needed lights. But, for a blank work area, several electrical outlets and wall switches were necessary for a 3rd car workspace. So, as the new house was being built, the contractor was adding those added expenses for just the work area. Now, the whole area was lit up with bright ceiling can lights with the maximum bulb possible. My wife had a say in the final design as she wanted her space in the garage and got a huge wide open door entrance and exit for her daily driver. No hindrances with three cars lined up close to each other. But, she wanted the garage to look like the rest of the house in feel and structure. We already had a built in fire sprinkler system in the house and garage, so, the custom can lights added to the dry wall surfaces. Now, we had new custom cabinets built in place to act as hidden storage compartments for large floor tools and rolling machinery saws, etc. Upon entering when the garage door was open, the whole place looked like the interior of a nicely finished room in the house. Jnaki We knew that the can lights would give good lighting all over the whole large 3 car garage. Each area had its own switch. No need to light up the farthest reaches of the 3rd garage area, if one is not using it at the same time as the hot rod workspace. Also, my neighbor had the brightest ceiling lights for his 3 car garage and it lit up the whole 3 car garage with one switch. But, for us, there was no need to light up the far reaches if I was not going to be working there. The long counter and drawers on the single car work area was lit up with lights and it was bright enough to pick up little screws on the floor, etc. Just make sure you have enough electrical outlets handy in the work area for extension cords, etc. Now, for the detailed work inside of cars: No amount of outside whole garage lighting system is going to give you brightness inside of the work area of any car or station wagon. The motor compartment is always shaded from the open hood. The under the dash area is also blocked from the ceiling lights. Under the car(s) …dark while the other spots would also need a brighter light to make the detail work better on the tired eyes. A portable bright light extension unit is necessary for those whole garage lit up areas. But, the darker work areas inside, are now bright enough for better working conditions. So, set up your overhead lights with the current LED long lights and those under the overhead cabinets counter workspace under them with bright flat LED units for detailed work. Whether the whole garage is lit up or individual car space is lit up, that is your choice. There are corded versions and rechargeable, walk by, instant on units that give bright work lights when you move in a dark garage. A switch allows the lights to stay on while doing intricate counter work. But, it can be switched to provide automatic sensor lighting as a normal "see the door" scenarios. There is no need to light up everything when you are not working in that far away area of the garage. YRMV Note: Of course, any wall insulation behind the drywall sheets will make your garage warmer and more sound deadening, too.
LED's are a great idea but I have mine wired up in zones so if I'm only in one area; no use lighting up the whole garage.
I converted my flourescents to LED in the side of my shop I work in. 32 X 48 building with 10' ceilings and a just-off-center divider wall so my "shop" area is 32 X 26 and has 10-4' fixtures. Two center fixtures come on with a switch at the door, and there are 2 more switches that turn on the "left" and "right" rows of 4 fixtures. Very happy. Lynn
I love my LED's. These are the ones I have, plus they are on sale right now. I tell my kids to get these for me for Christmas! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08LQ852BQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
Another idea to consider, like many body/paint shops, I installed the same 4' led units on the walls of my garage, about 15" above the floor. Super helpful when you are working underneath your car or on the brakes/wheels. Put them on a separate switch to only use them when needed.
I’m using six of the daisy chain 4 foot LED lights that I purchased from Rural King. They are ideal for my18’ x 20’ garage.
I converted ALL of my 8ft dual bulb fixtures (Lithonia Electric from Home Depot) to Led bulbs probably 6 years back & when I built my addition I wanted everything to be the same, so back to H.D. for the same fixtures, ripped out the ballasts & installed the LED bulbs in them as well. The idea of fixtures on the walls is a MUST if you paint like I do. Also they can be a big help to any particular project such as a brake job. With about 45 of those 8ft fixtures the savings over the florescent bulbs is definitely noticeable when the electric bill comes each month. Obviously mine are on multiple switches for the different rooms/areas as well. Since you are on a budget, you might check out garage sales or auctions for old florescent fixtures you can easily convert to LED. God Bless Bill https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ar-transport-hauling-open-or-enclosed.614419/
I went with the 4' LED's in my garage. The ones I have are from this manufacturer and were pretty cheap at Costco at the time. You can hang them or surface mount them and they chain together. I had four in my less than 400 square foot garage and now I have 18 in my 1200 square foot garage with 12' ceilings. You said you don't want it bright, but I found when we moved that my garage was so dim I didn't want to spend any time in it and always needed extra light because I couldn't see what I was doing. Now I love it and often don't need extra light. I want to add probably 6 more lights in certain areas. Mine had 6 boxes on the ceiling on individual switches, so there's one box at each end of each car bay. I like that I can only use light where I need it if I want, but usually they're all on if I'm in there for more than a few minutes. I changed the boxes over to an outlet with a plate, and have 2 lights plugged into each outlet with the remainder daisy chained to those lights. It works great!
My garage is pretty big, and I had around 10 8 footers, put in when I built it. Flourescent. I changed over to LED as the ballasts went bad, and couldn't be happier. Mounted them around 12 foot off the ground, but around the edges of the shop, over my work benches/storage, I hung them around 8 foot high.
My shop is 30 40 10 foot ceiling height.I have 7 screw in fixtures on two switches. I have the led screw in garage lights and totally satisfied with the amount of light. The original ones were single bulb with a shade. But when they go bad I will replace with the four paddel ones I like them better it’s been 6 years and a lot of on time and there still going strong.
My wife found a deal for a 2 pack of 4foot long twin bulb hanging lamps for 50 bucks (4 bulbs total). They came with blue tooth speakers, tie together with an included audio cable. Made by Honeywell. Couldn't beat that deal with a stick... Cant promise it's the exact part number but these look just like the ones we bought from amazon... Honeywell 4-ft 5000-Lumen Steel LED Bluetooth Linear Garage Shop Light (2-Pack) at Lowes.com So those went in the middle of the ceiling and the existing 4 footers over the bench and ends of the garage got upgraded with LED bulbs and relieved of their ballasts. -rick
4 footers like everyone else 'cept mine are florescent in my 24x60 shop. I just spaced them around by eyeball. Have 4 switched areas, metal shop, car hoist, wood shop and a separate paint booth with ceiling and wall lights, inlet air filters, 4' Home depot circular fan with exhaust filters. Use cheap furnace filter mats instead of $$$$$$ official paint booth filters. Lights are more than adequate for my needs.
I used these in my 24x30...like noon at midnight https://www.amazon.com/Barrina-5000...jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==
You can always turn off those that are too bright, but it's a bitch when you need more light & don't have enough...
At first I was a bit standoffish to LED lights. It seemed confusing initially as some still had a ballast / transformer and some did not. And each required a specific bulb. Two years ago I put a 24' X 25' addition on the back of my existing 24' X 32' garage. I made the jump and installed four 4' two bulb fixtures that are direct wire so no ballast or transformer. I think they are fantastic. So much so I have replaced the 8' T12 fluorescent lights in the original garage. Made a significant improvement in the shop lighting. They would have no issue with your 12' ceiling height. I sourced them from Prime Lights in TX. The fixtures are made in TX and they answer the phone if you have any questions.
At the risk of sending you down a very deep rabbit hole, I'd suggest visiting the sister site, https://www.garagejournal.com/ Follow the link or just go to the top right of this page and click on the "A". I haven't visited in a while, but lighting is always a topic for discussion. Be careful, they have some stuff over there that will make your wish list long and expensive!
I followed the advice from this garage journal thread on lighting when I added onto my shop. https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/the-best-light-fixture-ever.278420/ I looked into the 4ft LED lights from Costco, but if one craps out years later, what are the odds of finding the same light again? I also prefer hard wired lights. I liked the LED tubes so much, I eventually converted all of the T8 and T12 fixtures in the rest of my shop to LED. Edit: I also used an online lighting layout tool to properly place my fixtures in order to get the effect I wanted. https://v1-zonal-tools.luxiflux.com/ Dave
With LEDs make sure your new lamps have a good size reflector and/or diffuser panel. If you have an unfinished ceiling try to hang the lamps at closer to 8" instead of 12". you may be able to get by with a few less fixtures. My eyes seem to be a bit more sensitive to "blue-ish" lighting which seems to be pretty commonly used with cheaper LEDs. Look at some warmer bulbs rated at like 2700k to 3000k and compare it to something colder like 4000k-5000k. You may find that the warmer lights are easier on your eyes.
@ClayMart brings up a good point! Everyone's eyes are different....My Wife & I go back & forth about lighting in the house daily! I am in the camp that "Brighter Is Better" . I enjoy very bright crisp, clear lighting where as my Wife prefers very little light (especially in the morning) To be clear....my shop interior is completely done in bright white Fabral metal, so it is a terrific background for the bulbs & no deflectors are needed. I prefer 6500K Bright White Led bulbs! In the main part of the shop I use 35W bulbs & in the paint room, they are 48W. Your results may vary By the way....I still have a bunch of new ballasts & florescent bulbs upstairs if anybody needs them for free! LOL God Bless Bill https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ar-transport-hauling-open-or-enclosed.614419/
No we have not had either. God Bless Bill https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ar-transport-hauling-open-or-enclosed.614419/
My shop is 20X40, wood framed, ceilings are 9’ in the back half (+ loft) and 16’ the front half. I ran 4 separate zones so I can use what I need based on what I’m doing at the time. This is relatively inexpensive to do and it opens up many possibilities. The first zone is a three way circuit with a switch at each door and two screw in LEDs, one in the front and one in the back. I use this when I just need to get in and out etc. For circuits 2&3 I installed 110v outlets all over the ceiling. 6 in the back and 8 in the front. For the back I ran 3 rows of fluorescent T8 fixtures with 3 four foot fixtures each. I don’t like the light produced by LEDs and the back area is a machine shop so I need good lighting. For the front I hung 16 super cheap clamp on spotlights with the highest wattage screw in style bulbs I could find. This technique makes it super easy to add or remove lights quickly based what you have in and around the shop. The fourth circuit is in the loft and I just popped in one outlet and one light bulb.
I had fluorescent lights and a lot of switched areas. Nice but as I got to around 65 yrs old I thought I should go LED. I started in the garage addition with 12' ceiling and and a 4 post lift. I used existing fixtures taking out the ballasts. The difference was astounding, I no longer need a drop light for under car lift use! I promptly changed all the others..
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