Lighting ideas for odd spaces: low ceilings and open ceilings

[Jeff F]

I have what I think are some oddball spaces to light and was looking for ideas. This is in an 1890s barn that has been converted to be a garage/shop.

The first area is 36x44. The bottom of the joists are right around 8'. There are 2 beams running lengthwise with posts that divide it into three 12' wide bays, with the posts spaced at 10', 20', 30' and 44'.

My concern here is that the ceiling is relatively low and I'd like to get good coverage without needing a lot of individual fixtures. In addition, since this area will primarily be for parking cars I'd like to avoid having the lights down the middle of the bays, being blocked by the cars and not getting light in between the cars. One solution would be to put linear fixtures on the vertical face of the beams and walls. That would require 6 rows of fixtures. If I used something like the LED versions of florescent tube fixtures, I'd end up with a lot of light going up into the joists. Is there some kind of fixture that has a 90 degree light pattern? Also, are there fixtures that can be chained together to make a single long light source across the entire beam, or do I need to have individual fixtures end-to-end? Another option would be to put them on the bottom of the beams. That would allow me to use a fixture with a 180 degree pattern to cover both sides of the beam, but then the fixture is down around 7' which makes the spread problem even worse.

The other area is 14x36 and is next to the first area-- basically 14' on the 36' end of it.

One side has a garage door, while the other 3 sides are an opening to the second floor. So 14x28 is open to the upstairs. That area will have a lift, and for the same reasons I wouldn't want to light it from above so I think my only option is to put fixtures on the joists that surround it. Here I have the same issue as the other area-- if I mount the fixtures on a vertical surface, is there something I can use that has a 90 degree pattern to direct light down without wasting half of it pointing up into nowhere? Also, are there fixtures that can be chained together to make an essentially continuous light source?

 

[Shiftless]

After joining GJ, I realized I needed to up the lighting in my 20x20 garage with open ceilings only 7 feet high.
I completely rewired with exposed EMT. I ran one circuit (GFCI protected) down the center steel I beam with receptacles every 32 inches. I plugged in FEIT LED shop lights recessed into every other cavity.
This results in WAY more light than you’d need for mostly parking cars. Here are 2 pics.
Don't worry too much about positioning… in my set, up the light is very nicely spread out even in the area between cars. For me, these ceiling lights are for projects that take place with one or both cars out of the garage. Mostly woodworking or painting.

 

[cybrdyke]

LBI Light Bars
Have a look at these. Tiny, only 1.2" x 1.2". Bright at 3600lm. Dimmable via 0-10V. Can be **** spliced with a connector for continuous run or linked by cables for a chained run. Power & CCT selectable. Pro product.

As Shiftless said above, the space between joists can be effective if they're not too close together. Bonus: you cant see the lights when looking across the space. Or you can use a 45 degree bracket to mount them in the corner between the vertical and horizontal structures.
I dont like the idea of mounting lights to the beams because they're really nice and should be seen without lights hanging from them.
For the open area, hang a couple of small linear highbays up there. They'll cover alot of area. Then you can determine where you might want to put some smaller supplemental lights.
Good luck,
CD

 

[Shiftless]

I dont like the idea of mounting lights to the beams because they're really nice and should be seen without lights hanging from them

Thanks for saying that.
I never really thought about how nice the beams look. Ceiling joists are kinda like beams, right?
Check out my really nice beams.

75 year old garage

 

[Jeff F]

I certainly agree that the best looking solution is to have the lights tucked up into the joist cavities, the issue is that between the low ceiling and the joists themselves it limits the spread of light-- so how many fixtures would I need to light the area? Joists are 2'OC. If I have a fixture every other cavity that is 11 cavities and I would need 6 row of them (2 per bay) which adds up to 66 individual fixtures. That is a lot of fixtures and wiring. Even with the strip lights at 4', I'm looking at the same number of fixtures if I run a continuous strip, but at least they can be wired together. Maybe with the strip lights they don't need to be continuous, but that is the part I'm not sure about. Ignoring the overall light level (easy enough to calculate that), how far apart can I get away with mounting the strip fixtures on an 8' ceiling? Does having 4' fixtures with 4' between them, on each side of the 12' bay fill in well enough?

I could mount strip lights perpendicular to the joists so they aren't on the beams, but I thought having them tucked into the corner of the beam and joist at 45 degrees would be the most unobtrusive.

For the higher bay, there are already highbay lights for general lighting of the second floor that spills into the lower area. They are about 30' above the floor. I'm more looking for lights lower down that will illuminate inside wheelwells and under hoods of a car on the lift. I think the strip lights would be perfect there.