Thanks the responses guys.
I’ll try and answer some of the questions, and better explain what the space will be used for.
JoeFin,
The “vision” is to have some combination of shelves/overhead cabinets. I have removed those lights in question, not sure what I was thinking when I put them there, thanks for mentioning that issue.
Unfortunately, you now appear to have gone too far in the other direction, and have left that workbench/bar area COMPLETELY devoid of general area lighting. Even if you are presuming LOTS of task lighting, you still need SOME general area illumination.
I have removed the center row of lights in theNo.2 bay as well. I also adjusted the layout of those remaining to address the door hiding them issue.
That's an improvement; but this time, you need to take it a bit further. The right-hand run of four fixtures will be at least half-blocked when the door is up. And since (per your later comments), this is the primary vehicle maintenance area, that's not good. You're really tight on space between that edge of the door and the wall; so your placement is at least somewhat understandable; but it's still far from ideal. I would suggest moving them out to JUST past the edge of the door (which would put them about 2.0-2.5 feet off the wall). Have you yet determined your ceiling height? In general, higher is better (at least up to a point); and if you have more than 8.5-9 feet to play with, it is probably worth specifying to whomever installs your overhead doors that you want the tracks to run extra high (so the door is held within 0.5'-1.0' of the ceiling when open), which will in turn make dropping the lights to just below door-track level (so they can throw some light into the area "covered" by the door) more feasible.
I would also put at least a couple fixtures running "crossways" near the "rear" of the main maintenance bay, to better illuminate the "business end" of the vehicle you're working on (and especially to throw some light into the open engine compartment).
2ManyProjects,
WOW, some great stuff, much I never thought about or missed on completely.
You're welcome. Better to raise those issues now, than after you've already carved some things into granite (or concrete, as the case may be
).
Let me try and clarify what the space will be used for.
The vehicles will be parked as you see them, wife on the left, single stall and myself on the double stall side.
The main work/maintenance area will be the right double stall area. This will be used for vehicle maintenance, washing and detailing vehicles, small welding projects and most other “dirty” work needed to be completed.
The left stall will be parking only for the most part.
In which case, you really don't need all that much light in the left-hand parking bay. The "spill-over" from the row of four fixtures between the two bays will provide at least most of what you'll need in this area. But if you still want to brighten up that side a bit (and particularly for illuminating any wall-hung storage there), two fixtures where you're currently showing three should be more than adequate.
The area where the cycles are parked will eventually be a photo area for RC projects and future game area, IE pool, darts, etc. The cycles are actually scooters, parking there and getting them out will not be an issue and they stay out of the way there.
Fair enough. But note that if/when that pool table goes in, your lighting needs will change yet again. In the meantime, if all you're REALLY using that space for is storage, then either two twin-tube fixtures, or perhaps 4-6 single-tube fixtures (so that they can be laid out to more evenly cover the cabinets & shelving) will likely be sufficient. HOWEVER... Fluorescent lights will NOT make any photographic work you do there easier -- far from it, in fact (fluorescent ***** at rendering color; and matching photo-flash to it, such as for fill-flash applications, is next to impossible). If you're semi-serious about making that area into a mini photo studio, I would suggest some high-CRI halogens with tightly controlled color temperatures, maybe in track-light form, so you can easily adjust the aiming as needed at any given moment. But then, for REALLY serious photo shoots, you will near-certainly avoid be using ANY of the room's ambient lights anyway, in favor of a set of photo floods or strobes.
The work bench area will be for bench projects, mostly RC (soldering, brazing, assembly and some welding) this will also be the Bar/Game TV area with stools and a TV in the upper corner. I have removed the lighting from here.
Yeah; but as mentioned above, you need to put SOME of it back
I do have some hanging bar lights that will go up over the “bar” section, the rest of the lights will be under cabinet and/or task lighting.
I'd have to see those "hanging bar lights" to make any real judgement about them. But I strongly suspect that these would provide mostly the sort of subdued, warm "downlighting" which might be suitable for when the area is indeed being used as a bar, and for TV viewing. If so, then you'll still want at least one or two fluorescent fixtures on the ceiling for when you're actually trying to work there (and to cover the "No Man's Land" between the workbench area itself, and the scooter-storage/pool-hall/photo-studio area).
I do apologize for the first picture. I am attaching another cleaned up and labeled version. I do hope this helps.
It's a definite improvement.
I still have some questions on light placement and zones.
The side walls will be 3’ from the garage doors, is this enough space to hang the lights as seen below?
Yes.
As a general rule, assuming "typical" wall storage & similar, you want the lights at least 1.5 feet off the wall, if at all possible; 2-2.5 feet is generally better; 3-4 feet is about max., unless the ceiling (and thus the fixture-mounting height) is exceptionally high. In all cases, this assumes that you're NOT moving them so far away from the walls as to let them be blocked by overhead doors and such.
What would you suggest on zones and do you see any “dead” spots?
I've already mentioned the "No-Man's Land" near the doorway to the house.
Normally, in a space of about this size or smaller, I would not get too hung up on (or even seriously suggest) "Zoning", per se. However, in this particular case, there are such clearly demarcated separate areas for various activities, that a zone-based approach to both the lighting layout itself AND the switching is clearly called for. Which brings us to...
Given all you've got going on in there, and the complexity of all the different activity-defined lighting permutations, I would suggest that you strongly consider going with Insteon for the switching & control system. This will not only make it easier to maintain flexibility; it also "future proofs" you to a certain degree, since at least most of the "switch" assignments would be only "virtual" in nature (and could thus be changed on-the-fly if desired). Plus, you're showing at least three entry-point locations where you would want switching control (i.e., adjacent to the two service doors and on the short "jog wall" between the two overhead doors); which means implementing conventional "3-Way"/"4-Way" switching for everything would be relatively complex & expensive. With Insteon, a single keypad (two at the most) in each of those locations can take care of everything; and the wiring becomes much simpler.
And finally, I'll again beat the drum for working a smallish dedicated "Mechanical Room" into the plan, for all the reasons already explained.
