Lights in the floor

What is your thoughts on this idea....laying lights into the floor so it would eliminate having to take a shop light under the car with you while working on it if you dont have a lift....or heck even if you do have a lift.....plus this would be great for guys that have these huge multi car garages to help present there automobiles in a museum sort of way....Of course the cover would have to be weather and moisture proof....and of course would be alot easier to do when pooring the slab and foundation

What is your thoughts on this idea???

The search tool is there for a reason

http://www.garagejunkies.net/showthread.php?t=265&highlight=lights+floor

Yea yea yea...search smearch

If I had searched then.....oh whatever

Lets all have a drink

Have another look in that thread - I was able to add an idea.

My father-in-law used to work at Pittsburgh Corning Glass Block and I remembered a product they had that might fit the bill - a 1 1/2" solid glass 8 x 8 paver. If you had a frame welded up that you could drop the pavers into and maybe use some compact fluorescents....

http://www.pittsburghcorning.com/architects/loosegbcat.asp?cat=PREMIERE_SPECIALTY

Look at the Vistabrik Paver at the bottom...

Yea that is pretty cool....put some nice lights underneath that....mooooodd lighting oh yea

I didn't bother reading the link that othere thread however, I am constantly rolling floor jacks and placing jackstands every where. Would they be able to handle 3500 to 4500 pund cars on jackstands on the lights.

Chemical spills

I would strategically place them were the car wouldnt roll on top of them...at the same time when driving into the garage aim were the lights werent

As for chemicals....hmmmm that is a good question...especially with the whole meth lab and everything we all have....because come on we all know we dont go into our garages for cars sheesh

The other problem is 'heat'. Welding and torch work would melt the lense, unless it was glass. If you took those light cubes and mounted them on rollers like a dolly.....

Or you could go old school and do the entire floor different colors...kinda like a disco floor ya know? And have Saturday Night Fever playing 24/7 that is pimpin

dink said:

Or you could go old school and do the entire floor different colors...kinda like a disco floor ya know? And have Saturday Night Fever playing 24/7 that is pimpin

Click to expand...

HAHA as soon as I saw this thread, I thought pretty much the same thing lol. I can hear it now....

lol

Jim

I think something like this would only really work if you were laying down fresh concrete....it would be WAY to much work with pre-exsisting concrete

I'd be real careful about putting lights in the floor of a garage. Besides moisture (and snow and ice if you live in the north part of the country) there's gas, oil and all kinds of other flammable fluids that will get on the floor, and no matter how well a fixture is sealed there's always the possibility something will leak in. Also, you have to worry about explosive fumes that collect at floor level; you don't want an accidental spark blowing the place sky high.

There are LED and fiber optic lamps that would be a lot safer than incandescent or fluorescent lamps; do a google search on "driveway flush luminaires" and you'll get some hits, or go to this link and scroll about halfway down the page:http://www.thelightingcenter.com/products/40/

Here's another possibility: go to http://www.hadcolighting.com/, click on Products and scroll down to Inground fixtures. Low voltage rope lighting that's rated for outdoor use may be something to consider, too.

There are probably other light fixtures that would work but I can't give you any specific suggestions off the top of my head. I'm an electrical engineer so I know a little about this stuff, but there are so many different brands and styles of lights it's hard to keep up on everything that's available unless you're a specialist (at the office we have a shelf eight feet tall by twelve feet long filled with nothing but light fixture catalogs.) If there's a commercial lighting store in your area, you may want to stop by and see if they can help you out.

Again, be careful - a garage floor is a harsh environment and you don't want to use anything that's not specifically designed for this kind of application.

Yea yea yea Stuart dont ruin my perfect world hahahaha

TOMWELDS said:

...and mounted them on rollers like a dolly.....

Click to expand...

How about a dolly like this?



It is two office furniture ambient light fixtures, screwed and wired together with wheels underneath. I made two of these assemblies...

My future plan is to make a wheeled cart for them to stand up in so I can use them for painting/finishing work too.

Can't have too much light.

Griot's has them in his garage. I saw them in the catalogue. Don't think they're for sale, though.

I can't imagine any need for lights in the floor except under a lift, maybe near the columns so the lights would not get in the way of floor jacks, etc. Are we working in the garage or showing it off ? I don't see why you can't have a nice garage and show off a little while working but this is a case where lights would impede work not help it.

But then again, I think a garage is a work place not a show place, and not a show place where you also work.

And BMW you are right, Griot's does not sell his lights, I called and asked because I thought one on each corner of my lift would really help me when I am working on the car and not actually storing it. I ended up getting those little halogen floods and clamping them at the base of my lift legs when I work under there, I ran the wires under the racedeck flooring, worked out great. I can plug them in when I work and keep them out of the way the rest of the time.

A friend of my dads (a mechanic) has halogen lights on tripods like they sell at sears, for each corner of his one lift. if illuminates EVERYTHING, and because there is light comming form all 4 corners, you have minimal shadows and it eliminates the need for a drop light.

Jim