lighting plan for 36x26

[montea]

im starting the electrical on my newly built 36'wide x 26'deep x 10'high garage. i have got all my plug ins setup but im having trouble with how much light i should be putting in. i did a rough drawing on paper and paintshop showing what i have been planning. looking for some advise

sorry for such small pictures but i had to keep shrinking so i could upload them

 

[Torque1st]

Your drawing looks similar to what a posted a little while ago in the thread linked below, -check it out:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25172

 

[StealthM8]

Nice size garage - I'm working on lighting for the same thing. Looks like a couple of fixtures directly over the center of where the cars sit would be nice for wrenching under the hood or waxing.

 

[Nealcrenshaw]

If you do a search or maybe even pm bmwpower he used a website that calculated how much watts you need and even where to place them. No need, i found it.

http://www.visuallightingsoftware.com/

 

[montea]

also how low would be best for hanging them?

 

[Torque1st]

Keep the fixtures up high.

 

[montea]

im planning on putting in a natural gas forced air heater, how many ceiling fans should i have? and what location

 

[Torque1st]

Put a ceiling fan over the bench you will be standing at while wrenching on a vehicle.

Where I live that may not be a bad idea either. It may help keep the skeeters away on some of those otherwise pleasant evenings. I have a "bubba" fan that is nothing more than a $5 garage sale attic fan mounted on it's side that I use while working outside. It will keep the skeeters away even 30 feet from the fan. It makes those big $US200 industrial shop fans look pretty wimpy. We don't have the big skeeters that carry off anyone less than 120 pounds (55 kilos) back to the nest you have up North tho. We do have those damn aggressive Asian tiger skeeters that don't take no for an answer.

As far as keeping the fixtures up high there is a reason... I have broken a few bulbs when moving a sheet of plywood, a 2x4, or a piece of pipe.

 

[willysman]

Don't know where you live (how far north), but you might want to consider mixing in some incandescent fixtures. I did (Fargo, ND), and really liked it, for 3 reasons:

1. They're cheap
2. They provide a better color spectrum if you're painting
3. They cold-start instantly, unlike the good-old 4' flourescent, 2-tube fixtures.

I put them on a seperate switch, so if I'm just going in the garage to get something, I use them. If you're a stickler for energy use, the incandescent 60W will use less energy than the 40W fluorescent up to about 10 minutes of use because of startup losses in the latter.

Something to consider; there's no right answer for everyone.

 

[Torque1st]

Unfortunately it seems that incandescent bulbs will be politically unacceptable in a few years and no longer made available without written permission from your Senator.