How many exterior lights? Detached garage

[lynchmob723]

Do most of you guys put 1 light to the left and right of the garage door and then a flood up near the peak in the middle above the garage door and one light at the service door?

Or is the flood at the peak overkill?

 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

Does foo gas count??? It burns them up and illuminates well enough for shooting at the same time.


I just use a two bulb flood at opposite corners.

 

[Gary S]

I put up florescent lights. They spread the light out very well so I needed only one on each side of the garage. 4 lights do the entire yard.

 

[Stuart in MN]

It's pretty hard to give an answer, it depends on what you need. Are there local code requirements for what you have to have? Do you want them for security? Will you be working outside the garage at night? Are there any other light sources (on the house, streetlights, etc.)?

 

[D KRAGER]

I have a pole light (security light) at the peak on the front. Then I've got a decorative light be the walk-in door. Then a halogen flood light on each side.

 

[Falcon67]

I like dual spots on opposite corners - sends light down each wall. I use motion detectors on the rear and driveway. The way our house, driveway and garage are arranged, I put a dual motion flood on the house peak (under eave) facing the drive and one on the front of the garage under eve. Pull in the drive, you get light all around. They are set for about a 3 minute cutoff so as not to be annoying. Also, it's nice that anybody comes up the drive near the house or garage sets off 4 floods and one facing down the side of the shop (alley).

 

[kenners]

End of shop facing the street is 30' with two 10' X 10' doors with a motion sensitive halogen light between door and edge of building at around 12' of height.
Side of shop facing the house has same lights above the two man walk thru doors.
Total of 4 lights, they run at around 30 watts dusk to dawn, up to 100 watts with motion.

 

[Mattlt]

Not sure of the code requirements, but it certainly would be nice to have the outside garage lights on a 3-way switch in the house. Sure as can be, you'll go in the house and not realize that you left some garage lights on.

I have a flood over my shop door. Wish I had more light by the man door. Plan on lighting between the house and garage. Maybe motion detector?

 

[tdkkart]

Codes nomally only require one light next to the service door, anything beyond that is personal preference. Personally, I have a night shift job(by preference), RARELY am I out after dark so I don't bother with exterior lights.
The thing I consider ridiculous is people that think their entire property has to be lit 24-7. I'm often out at 2am, can't believe the people that have all kinds of "accent" lights around their house burning at that time of day. God made it dark at night for reason, and I really despise paying electric bills for things that are of no use to me.

 

[Kevin54]

I have double doors so one light is to the left of the set of doors and one light to the right of the set of doors, then around the side I have a light by the man door. All three are coach lights and on a dimmer and they stay on low where it is just enough light to illuminate and be able to see to walk in the dark. Then I have a halogen flood in the front corner under the soffit and one in the back under the soffit just in case I want to illuminate the driveway or backyard.

 

[Chris Adams]

Codes nomally only require one light next to the service door, anything beyond that is personal preference. Personally, I have a night shift job(by preference), RARELY am I out after dark so I don't bother with exterior lights.
The thing I consider ridiculous is people that think their entire property has to be lit 24-7. I'm often out at 2am, can't believe the people that have all kinds of "accent" lights around their house burning at that time of day. God made it dark at night for reason, and I really despise paying electric bills for things that are of no use to me.

WOW you must live in a very nice neighborhood. Wish I lived there, I wouldn't need the bright lights. My neighbor was so afraid I would shut off my lights on his side he offered to pay part of my electric bill. I just mentioned that if they bothered him, I would turn them off, or put them on a timer. He was afraid I would shut them off and he would have to hire someone to string lights to cover his yard on my side. He's fine on the other side and has three porch lights. His big dogs are in the back yard, so he doesn't need to light it much.

Lights keep the boogie man away...
And by boogie man, I mean the kids, thieves, home invaders, etc. that prey on people who like it dark at night.
The dark houses on our street get hit regular as clock work.


For those in blessed neighborhoods or for inner yard lights consider putting a 12 hour timer on the garage lights. I use one on my shop, turn it to about 30 minutes, it lights up the big florescent, then I can walk back to the house down a lite up sidewalk, no falling, no snakes, etc.

If I go out to the shop at night I turn on the porch light or the big Mercury vapor on the roof.


But working in the shop it gets dark and I would have to find my way back with no light, or leave the light on all night, so rather than string 100 foot of wire and make a complicated setup, I just used the 15 buck timer.

 

[Falcon67]

The thing I consider ridiculous is people that think their entire property has to be lit 24-7. I'm often out at 2am, can't believe the people that have all kinds of "accent" lights around their house burning at that time of day. God made it dark at night for reason, and I really despise paying electric bills for things that are of no use to me.

You don't live in a big city do ya? Or must live in a gated community or way out of town. Every neighborhood I've lived in, I lit the place up like a 7-11. Our stuff generally stays put, people with dark houses regularly have stuff come up missing. When we lived on the east side of Ft. Worth, I had one big merc vapor and 5 smaller lights going after dark, all night every night with spares on the shelf. Even our porch light here has a motion sensor. Lights that pop up when things approach are an excellent "Who Goes There?". I have given up some on the Stalag lighting concept and gone a bit to the festive - the back porch late night lights are a couple of strings of C7 christmas lights.

 

[ColoradoBob]

I'm another one who likes it dark at night. In our area, virtually no one has outdoor lights on at night, so it gets really dark. It's great to be able to see the stars.
That said, I have a small light outside each service door, and 2 coach lamps on each garage (each garage has a 1 car door and a 2 car door). I've seen people put another lamp between the 2 doors, but it just doesn't look right.