Direct and indirect garage lighting

[Lelandwelds]

I thought lighting my future garage would take mounting a couple fixtures and flipping a switch. It turns out the job takes more light, more fixtures, more thought, and more money! I have been scouring photos, you tube, and the internet to see what others have done.

I used to do a little portraiture on film. I used a little two (rarely three) source lighting for most of it. (Main light above and in front of subject. Small light or reflector facing upward to soften face. ) Many office/retail/ public space lighting seems to be using a similiar effect with direct and indirect lighting fixtures.

Has anyone used , say, 12 ea 100 watt LED suspended fixtures in a 24 x 40 garage? And, mount 12 ea 20 watt uplighters directly over each fixture? Switch each independently?

You could use both for greatest, smoothest lighting. Use just the small uplighters for socializing.

 

[CJ7VFR]

Nice suggestion.

Your suggestion would work great for people whose garage ceilings are finished or painted in a light color. The downside to indirect lighting is if the ceiling is not a light color, you will not get too much of the indirect light bouncing back down.

In my garage, I have no actual ceiling to speak of. I just have the exposed rafters/joists. My walls are the same also, they are just exposed framing. I don't have any drywall on them.

For me, indirect lighting would not work, as the dark colors of the exposed wood would pretty much just soak it up.

Jim

 

[Lelandwelds]

Yes, well, when I dream, it is with shiny white ceilings. I have tolerated **** spaces for too many years. I hate overhead sheetrocking but if you get the shiny epoxy floors you have to get smooth white ceilings, right?

I bet it is easier to add two wires and a dimmer. Is it better to put each end on a different circuit or go the added contactor route?

 

[Lelandwelds]

For me, indirect lighting would not work, as the dark colors of the exposed wood would pretty much just soak it up.

Jim

In some restaurants and commercial spaces, they just paint everything one color rather than finishing it out. Have you considered spreading some white house paint around just as it is now?

 

[Platonic Solid]

You can purchase single fixtures that have differing percentages of up and down light.

IES description of each luminaire distribution type:

• Direct (90 to 100 percent of the light is directed downward for maximum use.)
• Indirect (90 to 100 percent of the light is directed to the ceilings and upper walls and is reflected to all parts of a room.)
• Semi-Direct (60 to 90 percent of the light is directed downward with the remainder directed upward.)
• General Diffuse or Direct-Indirect (equal portions of the light are directed upward and downward.)
• Highlighting (the beam projection distance and focusing ability characterize this luminaire.)

Adding uplight will make the space feel bigger and reduce the cave effect even if the ceiling isn't white.

 

[Lelandwelds]

You can purchase single fixtures that have differing percentages of up and down light.

IES description of each luminaire distribution type:

• Direct (90 to 100 percent of the light is directed downward for maximum use.)
• Indirect (90 to 100 percent of the light is directed to the ceilings and upper walls and is reflected to all parts of a room.)
• Semi-Direct (60 to 90 percent of the light is directed downward with the remainder directed upward.)
• General Diffuse or Direct-Indirect (equal portions of the light are directed upward and downward.)
• Highlighting (the beam projection distance and focusing ability characterize this luminaire.)

Adding uplight will make the space feel bigger and reduce the cave effect even if the ceiling isn't white.

Cool, I guess this idea is better than 2 huge lights or 18 cans?

I had not found both indirect/direct in one fixture yet. I have been studying the glossy trade mags and coffee table books trying to form some preferences. 80/20 direct vs indirect and a bit of unnecessary wall washing are my current favorites.

Will heat be a problem if 20 to 40 watt LED is mounted upside down to shine on the opposite ceiling?

Now that I am noticing such things, I see the professionals are all over the map in light level and techique. I admit much of it is too artsy for a garage.

 

[Platonic Solid]

Will heat be a problem if 20 to 40 watt LED is mounted upside down to shine on the opposite ceiling?

Turning medium screw base or 4ft bypass bulbs upside down will have no adverse effects - might even slightly improve driver life. Same applies to most LED fixtures.

 

[CJ7VFR]

In some restaurants and commercial spaces, they just paint everything one color rather than finishing it out. Have you considered spreading some white house paint around just as it is now?

I did think about doing that when I first moved in, and the garage didn't have anything in it.

8 years later, and with shelves, benches, tools, air lines, lights and all the other stuff that has been installed in my garage, to try to paint the exposed walls and ceiling would take forever, not to mention the patients of a saint.

That, or I could remove everything and get it back to where it was when I first moved in, but I would need a storage facility the same size as a two car garage to put the stuff!!

I use my garage as a garage. I work on cars, paint stuff, work on woodworking projects, grind metal, and basically get everything imaginable all over the place. I am not neat that way.

But I don't really care because to me it is a space that is made to get dirty. I think if I had shiny painted walls, a nice white ceiling and all of that, I would be afraid of getting them dirty, and never do any actual work in there.

I do still wish I had painted the whole thing when I first moved in though.

Jim

 

[Lelandwelds]

I did think about doing that when I first moved in . . .

I do still wish . . . though.

Jim

Several times tonight I have come back and read your post. I finally had to get up out bed. I couldnt leave this alone.

That vague feeling of "I wish", "I should have", "why didn't I" can just linger and eat on my mind. I try to avoid (regret is too strong a word) this by some "soul searching" and planning.

My biggest complaint is clutter and specifically an organizational storage problem. I have always been forced to share an inadequate space with holiday decorations, a dozen unused bicyles, lawn care and gardening tools, childhood clothes and toys, and box after box of **** untouched for years. My current project gets covered with layer of re shuffled clutter and some key part gets buried in some box with some unrelated stuff.

I want a controlled space I dont need to share.

When we moved I called and gave everyone two months to remove what they wanted to keep. Everything else was sold, given away, or trashed. I have never been so happy to FILL a roll off and haul stuff to the dumpster at work. Its all gone and its not creeping back.

I know ( and hear from others) that whatever isnt done the way I want when I start using the space, will never happen. OK, hijacking rant is over.

 

[CJ7VFR]

Several times tonight I have come back and read your post. I finally had to get up out bed. I couldnt leave this alone.

That vague feeling of "I wish", "I should have", "why didn't I" can just linger and eat on my mind. I try to avoid (regret is too strong a word) this by some "soul searching" and planning.

My biggest complaint is clutter and specifically an organizational storage problem. I have always been forced to share an inadequate space with holiday decorations, a dozen unused bicyles, lawn care and gardening tools, childhood clothes and toys, and box after box of **** untouched for years. My current project gets covered with layer of re shuffled clutter and some key part gets buried in some box with some unrelated stuff.

I want a controlled space I dont need to share.

When we moved I called and gave everyone two months to remove what they wanted to keep. Everything else was sold, given away, or trashed. I have never been so happy to FILL a roll off and haul stuff to the dumpster at work. Its all gone and its not creeping back.

I know ( and hear from others) that whatever isnt done the way I want when I start using the space, will never happen. OK, hijacking rant is over.

I can absolutely feel your pain! My first marriage was like that. I used to tell my ex-wife to please clean up her **** that was all over the place. I said I only want the garage and basement as "my" areas. She could have the entire house to put her **** in, as long as it didn't find it's way into the garage or basement.

Nope. Her greatest accomplishment towards "cleaning up" was to take what she had stored in 3 boxes, remove everything from those boxes, sort the **** into 7 piles, and then put those piles into 7 boxes.

So now instead of 3 boxes of **** there were 7 boxes. I asked her, how is that cleaning up? You just made it even worse!

Flash forward to my current wife, who is 180 degrees off of the first. My wife is great with organizing and cleaning. She respects my areas and I respect hers. She never, and I mean never, puts anything onto any of my work benches or other work areas where I have a project going unless she is asking me if I can fix something for her. And I do the same for her. I never, ever, leave my **** anywhere in the house to junk it up.

I do wish I had painted the exposed walls and ceiling of my current garage, but using all downward facing lighting and floor lamps has worked out great for me. The one area I may still "fix up" so I can use some indirect lighting is over my "big" workbench in the garage. There, I would love to have some indirect lighting so the light isn't shining down right near my head when I am working.

Jim