Floor Lighting Idea

[garboui]

Hey Guys, new to the forums here (why didnt know about this place earlier). Reading the thread about why no dark floors and the discussion of having the floor light coloured for better light reflection.

Thats the point that fiber optics popped in to mind. If the epoxy coat is thick enough areas can be light up with hundreds of FO ends. Embedding them in a clear top coat over a white base would probably give some decent transmission.

 

[apexit1]

Sounds expensive. How fragile are the fiber optics?

 

[mckeown22]

Hey Garboui,

Welcome to GJ!
Im new too. Like your post!
Please view mine and provide any pointers to my plan:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1599631#post1599631

Thanks,

MCKEOWN

 

[garboui]

@apexit1 - FO can be fragile but because it will be encapsulated within the epoxy coating there really shouldnt be any crush or break issues even if using bare metal casters. Worst case I could see would be dropping something sharp that would cut a fiber; in that case you would still be emitting light at the break.


I guess now I should ask. Anyone got leads on FO strands?

 

[EdT]

I think the idea of the light colored floor is to reflect light (usually from the ceiling) back into the room rather than having it absorbed by a dark colored floor. I would think that putting fiber optics in the floor surface might make the floor light up (like a disco), but it would probably not be practical to put enough into the floor to illuminate the room to any meaningful degree. Also, there are some real istallation issues involved in getting fibers properly oriented with polished ends so the light comes out etc. That said, it might look cool, but it would probably not contribute much to the usefulness of the space and I'll bet it would be pricey. Just my opinion, value it as much as you paid for it

 

[apexit1]

Thinking about this, another option might be to install transluscent floors and light them up from underneath. You could put that on its on switch so that it's only illuminated when detailing or working underneath the car. Not sure how feasible this is in regards to the floors strengh. I have seen glass(?) floors before so there is definately a way.