Idea for lighting 24x24 garage. Anyone shed some light

JBAUTO · Sep 3, 2010

I build a 24x24 garage and im planning the lights . The lower of the pics are the garage door openings in the pics.

I was thinking 9 48" dual bulb T8 fluorescent lights. Here is my idea.

HOTFR8 · Sep 3, 2010

I suggest you try one in an area for a start to see what light it gives you as in my 40 x 30 I have four Flouros tubes. I have two in my enclosed office and have conventional globes 100w in areas that I need more light. I only turn on what I need.

JBAUTO · Sep 3, 2010

Yeah i was thinking of picking up one tomorrow and see how one shines up at 10 feet.

Boyd Who · Sep 3, 2010

My lights are set up like the top left pic...three rows of three 4' T-8's. The two outer rows are on one switch, the center row is on another. My shop is a little smaller than yours at 20x22 and I rarely use more than just the outer two rows. It's nice to have the extra light when you need it, though.

JBAUTO · Sep 4, 2010

OK i just wanna put all the wiring up and buckets and make sure that i have enough light i dont want to have to go up in there and re do it after i drywall the garage lol

scuba0459 · Sep 4, 2010

If you want to add more light the Canadian electrical code will let you just loop the power from one light to the next. Or that's the way I understand it it to read. So adding more lights won't be that much of a hassle. Just hang the fixture, drill a hole and poke enough wire up up the hole to make it to the next fixture. I would need to read the code again to find out how many connections you can make in a fixture but I know that if you went to the "last" fixture there would be no problems as long as you secured the wire properly.

My plan is to install 4 boxes in the ceiling, one for each row of lights and then wire from one fixture to another.

Hope this helps!

Albert

Gunfighter · Sep 7, 2010

I am running 9 two bulb t8 fixtures in 3 rows of 3 in my 24x24 garage and I have more than enough light. The only draw back to the way I ran mine is when the garage doors are open they block the first row of lights. But there is still enough light from the other 6 units. Here's a couple pics at night. Once I get sheetrock up and painted I'm sure it will be even brighter.

aqr81 · Sep 7, 2010

You might find this helpful HERE

GarageEnvy · Sep 7, 2010

I went with a layout like your top right photo so the door so the least amount of light would be obscured when the doors were opened. By lining up the outside rows with your posts you only block the light from the middle front light.

JBAUTO · Sep 7, 2010

Thanks alot gunfighter for the input. The whole day i was himing and haing on what to do. Seeing what the 9 looks like ill do the 9. I was just worried that i would have dark spots. Only thing im gona do is add 2 lights on a seperate switch that is right at the front of the tops of the garage door or just one in the middle between the door so i get some light when there open

Gunfighter · Sep 8, 2010

You're welcome. Always helps to have a pic to see for yourself. If I need the extra light where the doors are I simply drop the doors down about half way and that does the trick. I live in south Louisiana so if I'm out in the garage the doors are up about 8 months of the year and I haven't had an issue with light yet. Good luck to you and post some pics.
Tom

bill9860 · Sep 8, 2010

I used a dozen 2 light lithonia T-5's in my 26 x 28. Configured like your second drawing (had to stagger one for a pull down stairs). Lighting is perfect for my needs.

mhm993 · Sep 8, 2010

My 21 x 28 has 6 eight footers, so that's like 12 of yours. I needed to place them like the upper right because the ceiling has different heights and protrusions, except you need to pull them a bit more away from the walls, if possible. Also try to place them so the open bay doors don't block the fixtures.

With 24 tubes on three switches, it's pretty much daylight.

drcheap · Sep 11, 2010

I have a 20'x35' space, which includes one single and one double garage door. I ended up with 10 4ft fixtures arranged in a bit of a hybrid between the two top images in the OP.

Something like this...

Code:

  --   --   -- 
                  | 
  --   --   -- 

|     |         |

The ones adjacent to the garage door tracks are suspended down a couple of feet so that they are not obscured when the doors are open.

ddawg16 · Sep 11, 2010

Have you considered recessed cans? I used 16 6" cans with CFL's in them. The below pic is taken during the day and the cans have 23w bulbs in them.....I'm getting ready to order some higher wattage bulbs soon....

I went with the cans because I do wood working and I didn't want something hanging down that is going to get smacked with a 2x4. I also like the flexibility of the slection of wattage and colors available....you don't have that much flexibility with tubes.

Something to consider as well....do a combination...some tube...some recessed. Put the cans in places where you don't have room for a tube.

Idea for lighting 24x24 garage. Anyone shed some light

JBAUTO

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HOTFR8

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JBAUTO

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Boyd Who

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JBAUTO

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Gunfighter

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