First post intro and question about my garage.

[JPowles]

First off would like to introduce myself im James from the Chicago suburbs. My wife and I purchased a new construction home that will be nearing completion in about a month and a half. I did a few things in my current two car garage in our townhouse such as epoxy floor and painted the walls. The new house has a three car which I cannot wait for

Basically, I would like a couple suggestions from everyone on here. First, I did the floor in my current garage myself using the Rustoleum epoxy kit then also applied the rustoleum high gloss clear. Overall I like it a lot. Turned out very nice and has been extremely durable for the last couple years. I may want to try out something a little different for our new house maybe something thats not as slippery and more textured, but still very glossy. I would prefer to save money and DIY, but curious about having it professionally done as well.

Second question, on the exterior of the garage it has some pretty nice light fixtures, however each fixture uses three what appear to be 60 watt candle type bulbs. Thats a total of nine 60watt bulbs and I like to have mine on every night since I will be installing a light photo sensor. Does anyone know if there is a more economical bulb that will fit these fixtures but still put out nice light? I just dont know if they make a CFL or LED type bulb that will fit these fixtures. I prefer a nice warm white color output close to the standard incandescent bulbs.

Any opinions and suggestions appreciated

Thanks,
James


Here are a couple pictures of the inside of the garage as of now. The home builder has one other home identical to mine that is already completed so the one exterior garage picture is of that home thats already completed, but identical to mine so you can see the light fixtures. The last picture is of my home during the contruction process as of today.

 

[koditten]

There are LED's available for those lights, I like them for decrative factors fist and for security second. Nice place you got there. Welcome to the club.

KO

 

[volvo]

...
Great looking home...I would RUSH to have the builder or yourself to get some garage floor protection down before it gets all messed up from drywall finishing / painting.

 

[Burn1]

James,

Welcome and always nice to start off with a clean canvas to build your garage space. Regarding your question about lighting.

Would recommend letting those filament lamps burn themselves out before replacing. Incandescent lamps(bulbs) look nicer as they have a warmer color temp, better CRI(color rendering index) and housed within a clear glass lighting fixture, and look nicer from a visual perspective.

When those original filament lamps burn out, LED replacements will be even cheaper and better in quality(more lumen's per watt). Should you see the need to save money over the next 10 years or whatever your payback calculation comes up with(higher lamp replacement cost up-front vs. energy savings over time), the LED market will have more efficient replacement lamps by then. The LED lamp industry continues to make improvements in lumen/watt ratio along with nicer color rendering advancements thru technologies such as special coatings which improve color temp/CRI. Bottom line, better product/cheaper price point for those who can wait.

I'm in the lighting business and have not changed to LED in my own home. I value the filament lamp visual performance(color temp/rendering) more than any energy savings calculation right now. Plus, when your filament lamp does need replacing, the fixture glass needs cleaning and dumping the dead bugs out of the fixture anyway.

One thing that should be factored in since your lighting fixtures are on the exterior is that a typical screw in replacement LED lamp does not like high moisture applications. I assume it does rain and snow in Chicago from time to time. Check the box on the lamp your looking at and read the label. I'd bet it will make mention of moisture..

Don't even think about the screw-in "curly cue" CFL's. CFL's are bad by radical environmental camp's standards. Mercury in landfills, bla, bla... Regardless, CFL's look like ****, visually.

 

[JPowles]

...
Great looking home...I would RUSH to have the builder or yourself to get some garage floor protection down before it gets all messed up from drywall finishing / painting.

Yeah I know what you mean, but I bought my townhouse new as well and the concrete was just fine through all that. Any paint or spackle that got on the floor was easy to get up, plus I dont think I could epoxy that floor for a while anyway since its brand new, and winter time anyway. Either way you look at it it will be better than dealing with epoxying a old cracked and chipped slab.

James,

Welcome and always nice to start off with a clean canvas to build your garage space. Regarding your question about lighting.

Would recommend letting those filament lamps burn themselves out before replacing. Incandescent lamps(bulbs) look nicer as they have a warmer color temp, better CRI(color rendering index) and housed within a glear glass lighting fixture, and look nicer from a visual perspective.

You make some very good points. Now that you gave me some additional information I think I will take your advice and leave them in there. You are absolutely correct that the bulbs that are in there now look absolutely gorgeous at night. I would rather pay a few bucks extra each month and have a nice lighting setup. Its also amazing to see how the LED industry changes so quickly, so like you said about checking again when these bulbs start burning out, maybe by then a much better bulb will be available and for a good price.

Thanks very much!!

James

 

[Burn1]

James,

No problem at all. Regarding your new garage floor. Have you considered staining your new concrete since you mentioned doing something different than the epoxy coated floor in your last place?

I mention this as you have virgin concrete and some nice imbedded lines in the floor already. You should check out staining/sealing since your prep time would be pretty easy as long as the concrete has cured properly. Staining/sealing looks very nice.

A second vote would be for the PVC tile flooring. Real nice stuff is available these days and no adhesives to worry about should you do something different down the road.