lighting for 1.5 car garage

[sadler]

I need help lighting up my small 1.5 car garage, I like to detail my cars and do repairs when needed so i need really good light with no shadow effect. i Have to measure again but i think its something like 18x20x8 so yea its small, but also its a condo in Chicago. whats the best placement and what fixture type should i get. i will get more photos soon since it was pouring outside when i took these.

 

[5mall5nail5]

I just put in (2) 8' Lithonia T5HO fixtures and (2) Lithonia 4' T5HO fixtures in a 2 car and it is BRIGHT.


Garage lights done by Jon Kensy, on Flickr

Excuse the horrible mess (working on stuff) - its BRIGHT. Seriously. Amazing for detailing I can't wait to.

 

[sadler]

how high are you ceilings? i was looking at maybe (4) 4ft t5 or (2) t5ho 8ft I need bright

 

[2ManyProjects]

I need help lighting up my small 1.5 car garage, I like to detail my cars and do repairs when needed so i need really good light with no shadow effect. i Have to measure again but i think its something like 18x20x8 so yea its small, but also its a condo in Chicago.

For an urban condo, that's really not too bad. Automobiles (and the facilities to accommodate them) tend to be treated as Red Headed Stepchildren in such environments.

whats the best placement and what fixture type should i get. i will get more photos soon since it was pouring outside when i took these.

Given the relatively low ceiling, you're going to want as much dispersion/diffusion as you can get. Furthermore, placing (most of) the lights directly overhead will likely be counterproductive (or at least rather wasteful), since the car itself will then form a large shadow. That said, the SIDES of those soffits shown in the pictures look like near-ideal mounting location for fluorescent strip lights. Something like this:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia-Lighting-2-Light-Utility-Light-3348-2L32W-WRAP/100654395

Would be cheap and effective. The polycarbonate lens will not only provide some impact protection and give a more "finished" appearance than open-tube strip fixtures; it will also help diffuse the light -- which in turn will help cut down on shadows (as will keeping the walls & ceiling painted bright white). And being a two-tube fixture, you can use enough of them to basically ring the space, without being too deep into "overkill" territory. I would still suggest wiring them in at least two (maybe more) separately switched "banks", so that when you don't need gonzo brightness, you don't have to put up with it (or waste the energy needed to create it). Finish it off with one (maybe two) additional one(s), mounted more or less in the middle of the ceiling to act as your (again, separately switched, and possibly tied into the garage door opener) casual "walk through" lighting, and maybe one more directly over your workbench, and you should have it knocked.

how high are you ceilings? i was looking at maybe (4) 4ft t5 or (2) t5ho 8ft I need bright

More than "bright", you need "evenly distributed". Yes, you'll still want a certain total light output (typically expressed in in Lumens); but concentrating that into two (or even four) fixtures will create rather "spotty" lighting, especially given your low ceilings. Further, by the time you get enough of those two-tube fixtures (or similar) installed to completely obviate the shadowing issue, overall brightness will NOT be a problem!

Finally, I strongly prefer the four-foot types, as they tend to offer more placement flexibility than 8-footers do. And besides, at this price, you can afford to use (at least) twice as many of them. Also, the four-foot T-8s will not only be cheaper to buy, but also cheaper to feed over the long haul, at least once you consider bulb-replacement costs.

 

[sadler]

yea i had that idea in my also to mount light on the walls, The only soffits are the ones shown so do you think 5 fixtures total will be over kill. exp 3 on the walls and 2 on celling since i have no room to mount a fixture on the wall above the garage door so put one on the ceiling close to the garage door and one in the middle or just have four and make a square pattern? will there be enough light to reflect off the ceilings on top of the car? I am going to paint high gloss white and maybe the bottom half of walls gray.

 

[2ManyProjects]

yea i had that idea in my also to mount light on the walls, The only soffits are the ones shown so do you think 5 fixtures total will be over kill.

Not hardly.

When the dust settles from some other more pressing projects I'm currently preoccupied with, I intend to re-do my "typical tract house" 20x20 two-car garage, more-or-less from scratch. Current (still somewhat tentative) lighting plans call for FOURTEEN of those same fixtures I pointed you to earlier: Four will mounted about 8-1/2 to 9 feet up on each of the three "available" walls -- i.e., both sides and the back (I'd go for five, just for aesthetic reasons, but they won't quite fit; I just might stick one 2-foot version (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia...hite-Fluorescent-Light-Fixture-3324/202192968) in the middle of each run, to further stretch the string and provide more switching flexibility). One more of the same type fixtures will be centered over each parking spot to fill things out and to serve as the "walk-through" lights (also triggered by the GDO). To this, I'll add a drop light on a cord reel mounted near the center of the space, and probably some dedicated task lighting over the workbench and at each "stationary" power tool (but I've not nailed down the details on those yet).

exp 3 on the walls and 2 on celling since i have no room to mount a fixture on the wall above the garage door so put one on the ceiling close to the garage door and one in the middle or just have four and make a square pattern?

First, as implied above, I think you're going to want more fixtures than you're currently counting on.

Secondly, anything mounted above where the garage door sits when in its open position will be effectively wasted whenever that door is open, and so should be switched separately. Unless you have full HVAC in the garage (and maybe even if you do), you WILL want to work with the door open, at least sometimes.

will there be enough light to reflect off the ceilings on top of the car? I am going to paint high gloss white and maybe the bottom half of walls gray.

I'm going with grey "Slatwall" (with aluminum channel guards) all around from about four foot to 8-foot high, and bright white paint everywhere else. Not sure about the floor yet; but it will probably wind up being some variation on light grey epoxy. I suspect our overall reflectivity will be similar.

 

[5mall5nail5]

how high are you ceilings? i was looking at maybe (4) 4ft t5 or (2) t5ho 8ft I need bright

Ceiling is about 10 ft. Two 8 ft is BRIGHT. Two 8ft and two 4ft, all T5HO, is daylight at night time.