Lighting Layout

[Rick98Z]

Hello everyone! I am currently in the process of trying to wire my 40'x60' garage. I have purchased 9 - T8 4 bulb light fixtures and am unsure how I want to lay them out in my main garage bay which is sectioned off into 38'-9 3/4" x 38'-11 7/8". The front of the building has three garage doors which are 10'x10' that will each have automatic openers on them. Trusses are all 48" o/c. I am going to try and attach a picture showing the garage and am looking for ideas on the light layout. I also want to have 3 ceiling fans out there so that might affect the light layout as well. Any ideas are welcome at this point and thanks for the help!!!

Trusses are shown in red, garage doors + tracks are shown in white...

 

[Steevo]

What is your intended purpose for the garage space? Knowing how it will be used will make a difference in how the lighting is laid out.

And even for just parking cars, 9 fixtures seems pretty sparse for that sized space.

 

[Rick98Z]

It is just for normal garage usage...working on vehicles, some welding, etc. Celing height is just under 12' also, I think I forgot to mention that. I am not against adding a couple more fixtures if I need to as well, was just trying to keep cost as low as possible for now as times are still tight The fixtures are the 8' long 4 bulb fixtures too...

The shown proposed workbench will prob have some cabinets over it and I figured on adding a light or two under the cabinets to illuminate the workareas.

 

[Rick98Z]

At this point I have been working with two stinking craftsman halogen shop lights to do stuff around the shop so having ceiling lights is going to be a world of difference! My elec guy wants to run the fixtures horizontally running in the opposite direction the trusses go.

Also to add, the concrete floor in going to be just sealed plain concrete and the ceiling will be white tin. Walls will be drywall painted white from ceiling down to about workbench height too.

 

[mayday0017]

A general rule of thumb I recommend for a "layout" is start where the cars sit, place one over the car, one to the left, one to the right, and one in front. Then repeat the pattern and spacing it made through out the shop. If you have several feet between your cars (more then 4ft) I would consider adding 2 lights between them instead of just 1.

I personally have 9 4ft fixtures in my tiny 2 car garage and wouldn't even dream of anything less.... I do have 5 fixtures on 1 switch and 4 on another so I don't have to run all 9. Next garage I am planning on mounting lighting on the bay doors so I can roll them down and have light shining forward or not have them block my overhead lights when the door is up. Just a thought....

 

[Rick98Z]

During daytime I get a decent amount of sunlight in from the windows as well. The garage doors even have the decorative windows up high in them. I just want decent lighting in there, not overkill like a hospital exam room, but not too dark where everything gets shadowed easily. I know shadowing with the vehicles can be an issue too. My truss layout is what messes me up in my opinion...

 

[Steevo]

I only have about half of your square footage (24x40), with 12' ceilings, and used 17 of those 8-foot, four-bulb T8 fixtures to light my workspace.

 

[Rick98Z]

Maybe for now since I don't have the metal ceiling installed I can use the 9 fixtures I got and see how it lights for now and add an additional row of three more later on if it is not bright enought for my needs...

 

[Rick98Z]

Also is there much of a difference between the cool white 4100K bulbs vs. the daylight 6500K bulbs? Thanks for all the help too guys, I am starting to lean towards just buying 3 more fixtures to make it 12...Certainly easier to add now when doing all the wiring than to move stuff later...

 

[Steevo]

If you have no ceiling installed, you will not get the benefit of reflected light, which is more than 30% or a fluorescent tube fixture's output.

The 4100k tubes are good, and give a nice working light color, although a touch on the warm (yellow) side.

6500k, although essentially the same as noon-day sun, is very very WHITE light, some people find it to be disturbingly, starkly white.

 

[elav]

By my calculations you would ideally have around 320,000 lumens for a shop that size. Assuming you get fixtures with 4 T8 bulbs each (and typical T8 bulb is 2,800 lumens) you would want 29 fixtures. Seeing as you have 9 to work with I would concentrate them in areas you spend the most time. Perhaps 5 over the bays and 4 over the work bench?

 

[Rick98Z]

Okay I have decided to add the three extra fixtures. Here is what I have come up with so far. Not sure exactly on ceiling fan placement yet though...

 

[Rick98Z]

With this plan, it has the rows about 4'-5" off the front and back wall. My plans are to eventually have a radiant propane heat tube that hangs from the ceiling near the back wall. Does anyone see where that would conflict anything with the lighting layout???

 

[Steevo]

No conflict with the heater, but eventually you may want to add three more rows between the four you have, in order to bring the light level up.
10 feet between rows is a lot of area for a fixture to cover from a 12 foot height.

 

[Rick98Z]

Sounds good, thanks again for all the help an information everyone! I will try to post some progress pics as we go...

 

[Vinci]

I like the uniform layout you have for the lighting, but you may want to give some thought to the pool table area. It's typical to have lower, dedicated, lighting for a pool table, which may make the overhead lighting redundant.

 

[Steevo]

I like the uniform layout you have for the lighting, but you may want to give some thought to the pool table area. It's typical to have lower, dedicated, lighting for a pool table, which may make the overhead lighting redundant.

Task lighting:

 

[Rick98Z]

Oh yeah, I am already planning on having each bay lighting on their own light switch and and then have the wiring run for a dedicated pool table light for that spot! That way I can darken that bay or all bays for that matter and have the specific task lighting above the table turned on with maybe just some random neon signs illuminated higher on the side walls to create good atmosphere

 

[Rick98Z]

Okay new question...my spacing before was giving 10' in between fixtures and about 4'5" from the front and back walls. I am planning on using the same kind of metal tin that is on the outside of my pole barn and it runs in three foot wide sections so to hit centered between the ribs properly should I make the lights at 9' spacing which would give 6' in from front and back walls for 1st and last row??? Or am I overthinking and can just adjust to miss the large rib of the metal back or forwards come time for the metal ceiling???

 

[dave67fd]

i have mine running vertical in the bays opposed to the horiz. method you show and a horizontal row mounted where the front of the vehicles/benches are.

Going vertical makes it abit easier to mount to the joists as well. You could do 3 verticals in each bay with a 4th horizontal row. The light loss going vertical on the sides is only relative to the light loss going horizontal between fixtures. With a 12 ' high ceiling you could consider dropping them to a more acceptable level or adding reflectors if the ceiling wont be finished.

Even with tons of lighting consider some drop reels to get inside and under your cars when needed.

 

[Rick98Z]

The only problem with running vertical on the trusses is the truss layout. I like everything to run very even and the only way I saw to do that was to run down the middle trusses of each garage door and that would be directly over the vehicles and create worse shadowing. I think I am going to run them 9' o/c to work with the ceiling metal that will be going up and the if I need something at the front and back I can add them later on... Thanks again for all the help and comments!

 

[jhon 305]

you should use the Illuminated Signs in the front board of your shop, it would be a great look to your garage.