LED lighting suggestions

[Jeff May]

I recently bought a new house.
I will be moving all of my wood and metal working equipment into its basement.
The ceiling is a bit over 8’ tall with the joist and insulation exposed.
I’m searching for suggestions as to what type and size LED lights I should be looking for.
As an FYI, seems the older I get the more light I like/require.
My old shop I had used converted 4’ fluorescent fixtures with new LED tubes.
The brighter the better…..LOL….
Thanks in advance
Jeff

 

[ddawg16]

I can relate on the 'older' ****....I just had new eyes put in.

May I suggest you cover the joists with something like that dropped ceiling panel stuff. Pretty cheap and not only will it knock down the noise going into the upper rooms, the white color will reflect a LOT of light. Those joists and insulation will such the **** out of any lighting.

With the leaps in LED lighting, I'd suggest a 3 stage approach.

1. Use LED strip lighting for what I call 'access' lighting. In other words, this is the lighting that lets you navigate the area without falling over ****.

2. General lighting...this is the basic lighting of the space. Break it up in zones. The first floor of my garage has 3 zones. I'm using can lights (18 total) with LED trims in them. One of the advantages....I'm not going to smack a light swinging a board around.

3. Task lighting. This is the concentrated lighting over a specific area. I have 3...main work bench, Compound miter saw area and table saw. Each of those are in one of the zones and have the ceiling lights (cans)...but I can also turn on the local task lighting for more light.

It all works well for me.