20x18 two bay; 4 8' t8's....Go

[glsmaverick]

So I have an 20Wx18D garage. It has 14' ceilings and a single 16' door.

I picked up 4 8' t8 bulb fixtures off craigslist a while back and will be installing them this spring after I paint the ceiling. I dont really have the money to buy more 8 footers so I am trying to get the best arrangement for the four I have. I will do seperate lighting over the work bench areas so I am not worried about covering those at the moment. Below is my idea showing the floor plan for the garage as it sits currently.

What do you think would be the best arrangement for optimum general lighting?

 

[glsmaverick]

So it looks like I am going to be painting and installing lights on the 26th.

Anyone have any input on lighting arrangement???

 

[dangle]

For general lighting, i'd recommend a 2x2 pattern running the lights parallel with the 20' dimension of the garage.

 

[wormwood]

Thats going to be plenty of light even with the 14 foot ceilings.

you may consider running 2 circuits, placing the lateral 2 on one circuit and the middle and crossing one on another so you use less electricity when you don't require all those lumens.

I like your arrangement, it gives good light into your engine bay.

 

[silber]

I just finished my lighting project a few weeks ago so may be able to give some input.

I have a 20x24 2-stall with a 16ft door. I chose to use six 4ft 4-bulb t8 fixtures from Home Depot. I have three in parallel and the fourth perpendicular similar to how yours are in the picture on one circuit. I then have two more (one parallel to each outermost fixtures from the pic above) at the back of the garage. This way I can turn that circuit off when the garage door is up. Overall I am very happy but I am thinking of adding one more fixture in the rear, center location.

 

[glsmaverick]

Thanks for the tips guys. I am putting them in this weekend; unluckily my electric confidence is low so I am having a buddy put them in after I get the ceiling painted. I will let him make the final call on how to arrange them for ease of wiring.

I would like them on the current switch so I may just have them wired into the socket locations that already exist for the two bulbs currently in use. There are actually plugs in the ceiling but I dont know if they are wired into a switch.

 

[glsmaverick]

Quick update:

I ended up wiring them myself; it wasn't to hard except I could use the built in daisy chains like I wanted too. Either way I went with the same set up that I had drawn above. It provides a ton of light for sure. I will probably do another light over my workbench when that gets built and possibly another at the back of the garage but probably not.

If you want to see how it came out....

http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=59907&page=2

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