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It really wasn't bad. 14' was just short enough that I could use a stepladder instead of an extension ladder. I used a set of straps as a sling to hold the lights in place when attaching them so all I had to do is slide them into the sling and then screw them it. That's the tradeoff, fewer...

Now, there are tradeoffs with using residential ballasts. Essentially the only advantage is lower FM/VHF TV band RFI. The commercial ballasts often are rated to withstand higher temperatures, which can lead to longer life. They often have the ability to start the bulbs at cooler temperatures...

Lights that use a high-frequency switching power source (LED and electronic ballast fluorescent) can cause RF interference. Lights that do not use these (magnetic ballast HID or fluorescent, incandescent, halogen) do not. The thing to look for with any high-frequency power source lighting is...

I thought I would post my research and experiences with lighting my 50x80x14 metal-sided pole barn outbuilding for others to use as this site has been very helpful for me. First, a little about the building. The purpose of the building is essentially a large detached garage. I will be storing...

There is definitely a "sweet spot" for roof pitch, and it depends on the style and configuration of the house. Too steeply pitched of a roof leads to the visual mass of the roof overwhelming that of the rest of the house, it looks like the house has a giant hat plopped down on top of it. The...

I am six poles and 1600 feet away from the utility's main 3 phase distribution line. Their policy is that an engineer has to approve all brand-new services and also any requests for service changes, so they came out to my building site to determine the line routing and also how much service I...

A 60 HP RPC requires a 75 kVA transformer, according to the manufacturer of my phase converter. They also require a minimum 250 amp single-phase service to the converter which would require a load center larger than a typical 200-225 amp residential/light commercial unit. The OP got the power...

I would recommend something a little better than the $20 Chinese LED shop lights from Harbor Freight and other sellers, they have a pretty short lifespan according to others here. You will also need to wire up receptacles for these to plug into and connect a switch to the receptacles. If your...

UFOs concentrate a lot of light into a small fixture and cast a fairly narrow beam of light downward. I would be very careful with using them with a ceiling as low as 14'. If you do want to use one, I would pick one with a low lumen output (12,000 or fewer lumens) and make sure it has a frosted...

Your original house is a 5/10. It is a typical postwar ranch, which is largely a single story Cape Cod with 8 foot ceilings and a shallower-pitched roof. I see nothing wrong with it. There are prettier houses and there are certainly a LOT of uglier houses. As far as the addition goes, it has...

This is going to be an expensive project, the smaller garage is going to be about $100,000 according to your figures and the larger one about $125,000. As far as what size to build, what size do you really want/need and what can you afford? A difference of almost $30 large isn't a small sum of...

LED tubes do not have a 360 degree beam spread like fluorescents do. The spread varies, typically from 120 degrees to 200 degrees, as the substrate the LEDs are mounted to at the top of the tube prevents light from emanating from the portion of the tube that sits above it. Thus a larger fraction...

It depends how much lighting you want. Four evenly-spaced rows of four of a 12k lumen highbay with the typical 18" suspension length will give you just under 100 fc with the white walls and ceiling if the stairwell wasn't there, and somewhat more since it is there and you will likely adjust your...

If you already have a large number of these fixtures, you can always delamp (not put in all of the bulbs it can fit.) These fixtures will have 2 ballasts, and generally they are a four-bulb and a two-bulb or two 3-bulb ballasts. If you only connect power to one ballast and only connect the bulbs...

My experience in using linear LEDs vs. traditional T8 fluorescent bulbs gave me a few insights that may be helpful for you: 1. A typical decent new 2800-3000 lumen 32 watt T8 4' fluorescent on a ballast with an average 0.88 ballast factor in a fixture with a reflector will put about as much...

It depends on how well lit you want the shop. Fortunately, if you know how well lit the shop needs to be, Acuity has a free tool (https://www.visual-3d.com/tools/interior/) where you can select their products such as the IBZ and determine this. If we assume the typically recommended 93 foot...

I am doing this as the slab on my building will extend at least 2 feet from the perimeter of the building on all sides. Any sweep would have to be buried below the slab, so there's no reason to have the conduit surface through the slab outside the wall and then elbow in. The only other option...

You will need 1AWG or larger for 100 amps as 2AWG aluminum is only good for 90 A to an outbuilding at any distance. 218 feet is a long way and you will need to upsize the wire to 2/0 Al if you actually intend to draw a full 100 A and keep your voltage drop below the typical 3%. 1/0 will get you...

Gravel is generally only used as a floor in a pole barn that is used to store machinery to keep it out of the rain. The pros are that it's quick to install and less expensive than concrete. The cons are that it is far difficult to move equipment on gravel, you will have moisture coming up...

You can use the lighting layout tool on the Lithonia website or download Dialux. Both are free.