Another lighting question

[Flatblk1]

I am new on this site, I have been looking around on here for awhile now and found a lot of good information. I am in the process of building a new shop and am ready for wiring, I started looking on here for lighting information and found a lot of information but not exactly what I am looking for and now I am more confused than ever. So now for my question. My shop is 36x48x12 with vaulted rafters. The back 8x36 ft are going to be a bathroom, office, and storage room with a loft above for more storage. The walls for these rooms are going to go all the way to the ceiling to enclose the loft or upstairs, so I am left with 36x40 shop left to light. My ceiling is 12ft on the walls and 16 at the peak. Each side of the ceiling is about 19.5'x40.' The ceiling and walls will be sheetrocked and painted white. From what I have read I was planning on using t8 lights and having about 1.5 watts per sq foot. What I am wondering is how to lay them out the easiest would bestow put 4 rows of 4 8ft lights across the rafters from front to back the bad part is if I put the first row 4 ft from the wall the other rows are going to be about ten ft apart. My other option is to use 36 4 ft lights and run then parallel to the rafters they would all be mounted seperatly. I would end up with 2 rows of 9 lights on each side of the roof, but the rows would be side to side not end to end, 4ft apart. It just seams like this way the ceiling would be really cluttered, I'm just wondering if this would be that much better lighting than having the four clean looking rows? Another thing I was wondering is your opinions on defusers to cover the lights. I thought about using the cut in troffers with diffusers to clean up the ceiling just curious how much light I would loose with them. I hope you can understand what I was asking in my description I wish I could draw it for you. Thanks for any advice or pictures of a well lit vaulted ceiling would be great! Or maybe I am completely wrong and need to go a different direction let me know!

 

[2ManyProjects]

I am new on this site, I have been looking around on here for awhile now and found a lot of good information. I am in the process of building a new shop and am ready for wiring, I started looking on here for lighting information and found a lot of information but not exactly what I am looking for and now I am more confused than ever. So now for my question. My shop is 36x48x12 with vaulted rafters. The back 8x36 ft are going to be a bathroom, office, and storage room with a loft above for more storage. The walls for these rooms are going to go all the way to the ceiling to enclose the loft or upstairs, so I am left with 36x40 shop left to light. My ceiling is 12ft on the walls and 16 at the peak. Each side of the ceiling is about 19.5'x40.' The ceiling and walls will be sheetrocked and painted white.

Will this ceiling be flat, or will it follow the underside of the roof rafters? Either way, what are you planning on for insulation?

From what I have read I was planning on using t8 lights and having about 1.5 watts per sq foot.

Don't muddle the issues by worrying about "watts per sq foot". The only really pertinent figure is LUMENS per ft.^2. How you get those lumens, and how much power you use to do so, are separate issues. Typical brightness targets for shops such as yours are 50 lumens/ft.^2 for casual work, and 100 lumens/ft.^2 for critical and/or finely detailed work; in both cases, this is at WORKING height.

What I am wondering is how to lay them out the easiest would bestow put 4 rows of 4 8ft lights across the rafters from front to back the bad part is if I put the first row 4 ft from the wall the other rows are going to be about ten ft apart. My other option is to use 36 4 ft lights and run then parallel to the rafters they would all be mounted seperatly. I would end up with 2 rows of 9 lights on each side of the roof, but the rows would be side to side not end to end, 4ft apart.

Without seeing a sketch, my initial reaction is that the second arrangement will be MUCH better than the first, at least from an illumination uniformity point of view.

But really, the BEST lighting layout will be almost completely dependant on exactly what you're going to be doing in that shop, and specifically where you're going to be doing it. There is no "rule" which states that the lights have to be installed in a completely uniform and symmetrical pattern, covering the entire space (even if at least most online "lighting calculators" stupidly assume that). You should put the light wherever you're going to NEED that light. Also, don't overlook dedicated task lighting for any permanently installed machinery.

It just seams like this way the ceiling would be really cluttered,

What else were you planning to use the ceiling for, that the "clutter" would become an issue?

I'm just wondering if this would be that much better lighting than having the four clean looking rows?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Hence, any and all aesthetic judgements are solely yours to make. But for MY money, "form follows function" (at least within reason).

Another thing I was wondering is your opinions on defusers to cover the lights.

In almost all cases, diffusers are preferable to bare tubes. Your application is like many others, in that the primary issue is NOT how to get "enough" light (that part is easy); but rather, how to ensure that light is evenly distributed everywhere you're going to want/need it.

That said...

I thought about using the cut in troffers with diffusers to clean up the ceiling just curious how much light I would loose with them.

You will lose far more from the fact that the fixtures would be recessed into the ceiling (thus limiting their ability to disperse their output to the sides) than from a properly designed/made diffuser. Over the long haul, you WILL need to keep the diffuser/lens clean; but so too would you need to clean bare-tube fixtures periodically, if you want them to operate as efficiently as possible.

Also, if you go for ANY sort of recessed fixture, you need to be sure that it is rated for "Insulation Contact". Most "troffer"-type fixtures are not so rated; and as such, they would constitute a serious fire hazard if placed within an insulated ceiling.

I hope you can understand what I was asking in my description I wish I could draw it for you.

Surely, you can. If you're lacking the tools, see:

http://librecad.org/cms/home.html
http://www.libreoffice.org/features/draw/

The former, in particular, will surely prove useful to you for reasons far beyond just providing visual aids for this thread.

Thanks for any advice or pictures of a well lit vaulted ceiling would be great! Or maybe I am completely wrong and need to go a different direction let me know!

Start with as thorough a description as you can muster of exactly HOW you will be using this space.