1-10 scale- How much will I hate can lights in 8' ceiling under loft?

[gsuty17]

I have designed my shop to have a work area under my loft and it only has an 8' ceiling. I'll have cabinets down the long side, a work bench, lathe, mill, and welding table under it. Due to the low ceiling (and I like the look), I want to run can lights. Tentatively planning on 16x can lights (8" dia) in a 32" x 48" grid under my 10' x 24' loft. On a scale of 1-10, how bad of an idea is this? I'll have task lights on the lathe and mill, and have excellent lighting in the rest of the shop, FYI. Any thoughts or recommendations on lights?

I was planning on using these:

RUN BISON 8 in. CCT Selectable New Construction or Remodel IC Rated Integrated LED Commercial Downlight (10-Pack) HT-US-ICCDR8-827/277-30112-C03-0-V1 10PK - The Home Depot

Light up your living space by using this RUN BISON CCT and Wattage Selectable New Construction or Remodel IC Rated Integrated LED Commercial Downlight.

www.homedepot.com

 

[u2slow]

I have a similar mezzanine at that height. (Roughly 7'x30').

My go-to is 4' single strips of LED. I put up 8. Five for basic area light, and 3 more that I can flick on when I'm using the lathe or drill press.

 

[wssix99]

You will love the look but hate the light. They were all the rage in the '80s!

Fast forward to 2025, you can now get flat panel LED lights in any size that are only 1" thick for surface mounting. If you want something flush, you could get drop ceiling lights and mud those in if you are going to fir out the drywall from your joists.

NuWatt 1 ft. x 4 ft. LED Thin Flush Surface Mount Panel W/Built in Internal Driver, 5 CCT 2700K to 5000K, Dimmable, (2-Pack) NW-SM-1X4-40W-3CT-2P - The Home Depot

Provide a fabulous and striking appeal to your space by choosing this NuWatt LED Thin Flush Surface Mount Panel W Built in Internal Driver Dimmable.

www.homedepot.com

^ I have 2X4 tube fixtures in my garage that are about to be replaced with something like this. Better look and no more bulbs to change!

 

[gsuty17]

You will love the look but hate the light. They were all the rage in the '80s!

Fast forward to 2025, you can now get flat panel LED lights in any size that are only 1" thick for surface mounting. If you want something flush, you could get drop ceiling lights and mud those in if you are going to fir out the drywall from your joists.

NuWatt 1 ft. x 4 ft. LED Thin Flush Surface Mount Panel W/Built in Internal Driver, 5 CCT 2700K to 5000K, Dimmable, (2-Pack) NW-SM-1X4-40W-3CT-2P - The Home Depot

Provide a fabulous and striking appeal to your space by choosing this NuWatt LED Thin Flush Surface Mount Panel W Built in Internal Driver Dimmable.

www.homedepot.com

^ I have 2X4 tube fixtures in my garage that are about to be replaced with something like this. Better look and no more bulbs to change!

I am a child of the 80’s…. Have you seen the flat panels in person? I had considered those, but wasn’t sure.

 

[wssix99]

I actually have some LED can lights with flat panels inside the cans and have seen them in office settings. Maybe someone here can chime in with experience using them in a garage.

They are all over in office situations but are hard to discern from recessed tube fixtures except that the light is even. If you have ever had an MRI, they were probably over you in that room: (they are non-magnetic)

 

[cybrdyke]

With 10 being the worst, you're at about an 8.
Those are commercial downlights, at 2700 lumens each in the highest setting. Too much for an 8' ceiling and a 3' work plane. Those are designed to have a beam for a ceiling of about 12', which will be too tight for an 8' ceiling, in other words, you wont get good, even coverage. Your spacing is also too close to the cabinets. Finally, they'll get dirty, and they're a pain to clean, and there's 16 of them.
Get some integrated LED strips lights and surface mount them. There are dozens of styles out there and they're really small these days. You should be easily able to find them that are between 1" and 3" deep and 4' long. Move them forward, away from the cabinets about 24".
Good luck,
CD

 

[dave*99]

I have a Lithonia 4000 lm CPANL over my workbench in the garage area where the ceiling is 8’. It provides great light. I used the higher output 6000 lm units with an 11’ ceiling. I stayed with a reputable manufacturer.

And I agree the cans are the wrong choice.

The design info is here:

Lighting for 24x28 shop

So I think I'm off to a rocky start..... I've been reading the best light fixture ever thread for a long time. And I still think I need some help. The basics: Woodshop above garage. Under construction. I have some woodworking machinery to go in the shop. It will have drywall finished...

www.garagejournal.com

 

[billconner]

I'd prefer the cans because of much less glare. lay in or flat panel at 8' would give me a headache and make it harder to see things at work height.

 

[Firebrick43]

 

[Hank11]

I’d run another row for a total of 24 lights. Be sure to buy dimmable lights so you can adjust to suit your needs. It would be lots easier to do low profile surface mount strips. I think 24 cans would be nice and even if you pay attention to the light distribution of the units you select.

 

[gsuty17]

I have a Lithonia 4000 lm CPANL over my workbench in the garage area where the ceiling is 8’. It provides great light. I used the higher output 6000 lm units with an 11’ ceiling. I stayed with a reputable manufacturer.

And I agree the cans are the wrong choice.

The design info is here:

Lighting for 24x28 shop

So I think I'm off to a rocky start..... I've been reading the best light fixture ever thread for a long time. And I still think I need some help. The basics: Woodshop above garage. Under construction. I have some woodworking machinery to go in the shop. It will have drywall finished...

www.garagejournal.com

I like the sound of this. I’m running Lithonia lights in the rest of the shop and they are the cat’s ***!

 

[dave*99]

I like the sound of this. I’m running Lithonia lights in the rest of the shop and they are the cat’s ***!

Read up on the CPANL. They have 2x4, 1x4, and 2x2 panels. Some high output, some adjustable color temp, dimmable with a switch, dimmable with 0-10v.

The 4000lm unit I have was off the shelf at HD. The 8 with higher output in the woodshop were ordered from HD.
I'll be adding more of the 4000lm units to the section with an 8' ceiling in the future.

 

[rlitman]

I have designed my shop to have a work area under my loft and it only has an 8' ceiling. I'll have cabinets down the long side, a work bench, lathe, mill, and welding table under it. Due to the low ceiling (and I like the look), I want to run can lights. Tentatively planning on 16x can lights (8" dia) in a 32" x 48" grid under my 10' x 24' loft. On a scale of 1-10, how bad of an idea is this? I'll have task lights on the lathe and mill, and have excellent lighting in the rest of the shop, FYI. Any thoughts or recommendations on lights?

I was planning on using these:

RUN BISON 8 in. CCT Selectable New Construction or Remodel IC Rated Integrated LED Commercial Downlight (10-Pack) HT-US-ICCDR8-827/277-30112-C03-0-V1 10PK - The Home Depot

Light up your living space by using this RUN BISON CCT and Wattage Selectable New Construction or Remodel IC Rated Integrated LED Commercial Downlight.

www.homedepot.com

When I renovated my basement with 7' (or a little under) ceilings, I went with a similar spacing, though I used 6" round flat panel lights. I needed such tight spacing with so many lights to avoid dark areas between the lights. The down-side is that the light output of cans is designed for high ceilings and larger spacing, so now you have twice as many lights as expected. I got around this by using dimmers in every room that were pre-set to stop at 40% in the bedroom and 60% elsewhere except the kitchen. At 100% in the kitchen, you're at full on task lighting levels everywhere.

The 8" lights you chose are going to be VERY bright at that spacing (and you'll get light and dark zones if you use half as many). I suspect you could get away with 6" flat cans and still not need task lighting. Or install the 8" with dimmers and wear sunglasses.

 

[d300]

I have used some of the 8' led strip lights, ebay stuff. They are maybe 1½" deep and give amazing light. No, I don't spend much time looking at them so for some installs they might have a glare issue.
My ceilings are at 9'. One advantage is that I can daisy-chain these lights if I want more.

 

[gsuty17]

Read up on the CPANL. They have 2x4, 1x4, and 2x2 panels. Some high output, some adjustable color temp, dimmable with a switch, dimmable with 0-10v.

The 4000lm unit I have was off the shelf at HD. The 8 with higher output in the woodshop were ordered from HD.
I'll be adding more of the 4000lm units to the section with an 8' ceiling in the future.

I think I'll go buy one of these from HD and see how it looks mocked up and maybe go this route. I still have a hardon for can lights though, might buy a couple 6" lights and mock those up to compare. Probably won't be much to compare, but still...

 

[dave*99]

I think I'll go buy one of these from HD and see how it looks mocked up and maybe go this route. I still have a hardon for can lights though, might buy a couple 6" lights and mock those up to compare. Probably won't be much to compare, but still...

Add these to your research. Having the disk recessed like these can reduce glare. I researched 6" and 8" disks for my shop. But in order to get the light levels I wanted it required too many disks.

 

[dave*99]

With 10 being the worst, you're at about an 8.
Those are commercial downlights, at 2700 lumens each in the highest setting. Too much for an 8' ceiling and a 3' work plane. Those are designed to have a beam for a ceiling of about 12', which will be too tight for an 8' ceiling, in other words, you wont get good, even coverage. Your spacing is also too close to the cabinets. Finally, they'll get dirty, and they're a pain to clean, and there's 16 of them.
Get some integrated LED strips lights and surface mount them. There are dozens of styles out there and they're really small these days. You should be easily able to find them that are between 1" and 3" deep and 4' long. Move them forward, away from the cabinets about 24".
Good luck,
CD

This is important. Assuming top cabinets are 12 to 16" deep, lights will need to be much closer to the center of the room than your drawing shows. If you are mocking things up, try adding a cardboard box on the wall to represent the cabinets.

 

[billconner]

If counters or work tables I start with a row over counter edge so I don't shadow light on surface.

 

[dave*99]

LED strips under the upper cabinets are nice if you have a countertop to illuminate.

 

[LOW1]

I have can lites in my shop. Great for general liting but you will need workbench or other spotliting on your project.

 

[Steve W.]

I have 16 1x4 two-tube fluorescents in my shop that will soon be converted to ballast bypass LEDs, but in the house, we installed "canless" lights like @dave*99 showed just a few posts ago. Ceiling is a bit less than 8', lights are 3' from the longer side walls and about 6' apart.

Works out quite nicely for the kitchen, dining room and family room where they are installed. They are separated into functional zones, with a dimmer/switch for each zone. Not quite the same lighting needs as the shop, but overall, good lighting.

.