Looking for LED lighting for 44' x 36' garage

[Cairo94507]

Hi Everyone,

We are building a 44' x 36' garage with a 12' 6" ceiling. I want more than enough lighting- my brother and I (twins) are 69 years old. I want clean looking lights. We had 2'x2' LED panels that were about 1.25" deep in our last garage and liked them- but they are kind of expensive at $75 per fixture and we figure we want about 60 lights if we went that route. Also, that garage only had a 10' ceiling so I am worried with a 12' 6" ceiling those lights might not be enough. What do you have that you like or would recommend?

Thanks for your time and thoughts,
Michael

 

[isb cornbinder]

I ordered my LED lighting on AMAZON. They were delivered in 36 hours.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Have you checked the sticky notes at the top of this section about best lighting fixture ever, and lighting layouts? I haven't looked at them recently but they contain a lot of good information about which fixture to buy and how many are needed. Also, many manufacturers have online applications where you can plug in the dimensions of the room, select a fixture, and it will automatically generate a layout diagram - there should be mention of specific sites in one of those two discussions.

 

[Cairo94507]

I have looked through the Best Lighting thread and it seems most just go with 4' LED tube fixtures daisy chained together. That is not what I want to do. I guess I will keep looking.

 

[kbuhagiar]

I have looked through the Best Lighting thread and it seems most just go with 4' LED tube fixtures daisy chained together. That is not what I want to do. I guess I will keep looking.

For what it's worth...
That's exactly what I installed in my new garage addition, and I have 14-foot ceilings. I was concerned about the added height, but it was a non-issue. It's like an operating room out there, lol! Exactly what I wanted and plenty of light.

So, to be clear, the four-foot LED tube fixtures provide plenty of light, even at a height of 14 feet.

What exactly do you dislike about the tube fixtures? Is it their appearance? Are you looking for a more 'finished' sort of luminaire?

 

[Stuart in MN]

Yeah 4' strip fixtures are most common, but that's cause they're well proven, fairly cheap, and there's many brands and types to choose from. It would help if you could mention what style light fixture you're thinking of.

 

[Cairo94507]

Fair enough. I think the 4' tube fixtures look to industrial/commercial. I was looking for something little more custom looking.

 

[redragoon]

My father has a metal-pole barn shop about that size (40' x 40') that we are looking into lighting options. There is a 2' strip of translucent material at the top to let sunlight in, but it does get dark at night. The rafters are ~16' high so it would take lots of small lights.

For overall lighting, we are looking at high-bay LED lights. Easy to setup and install with wide angle of light.
Then if he needs more light over workbenches or tools we would add specific lights to those areas.

I think we would need about 4-8 high bay lights to get plenty of coverage everywhere.


You could always go with the custom mounted hex light systems like Hyperlight.

 

[dcg9381]

I have high bay LED (UFO) style lights at 14'. 6 of them light up 2400 sqft with more light than I actually want... If I was going to do it again, I'd put in dimmable lights of the same type. In 4 years NONE of them have failed, but I plug them into standard 120V sockets, so replacement would be pretty easy.

 

[Stuart in MN]

The OP's garage has a 12'-6" ceiling so high bays wouldn't be appropriate. The 2'x2' panels mentioned are one way to go, but they do cost more. I'd suggest spending some time looking through some light fixture catalogs to see what's available - one budget source I can think of off the top of my head is e-conolight.com; they aren't necessarily the best or worst but it's one place to start. If you want to go upscale try Lithonia or Columbia, but there are probably hundreds of companies out there to choose from.

Another thought is going to a lighting showroom so you can see things in person - I looked at Google Maps and found several of them in and around Auburn and Sacramento. These places sell nothing but light fixtures so they have a much wider selection than you'll find at a big box store, and the salespeople will probably actually be knowledgeable about what they're selling.

I haven't yet totally figured out what the deal is with hexagonal lights. You see them in pictures online of high end garages so I guess they're trendy. I think they're intended for use in detailing shops, to make it easier to sight along the surface of a car and see imperfections in the paint, but I'm not sure.

 

[Cairo94507]

Thank you all for the suggestions; yeah, not a fan of the hexagonal she lights. But I will check some local lighting shops for suggestions. Thanks a lot; I will circle back when we make a decision and post it. Cheers, Michael

 

[bdbecker]

The OP's garage has a 12'-6" ceiling so high bays wouldn't be appropriate...

Agreed... FWIW, there are low bay lights that are designed to work at heights between 12' and 20'.

 

[GarageDog]

Check out Barrina LED lights. (surprised these weren't mentioned)
A neighbor used these to light up his 1,800 sqft shop with 16' ceilings. I used them in my 3 car garage with 9' ceilings. Like daylight.
I went with the 5000K 4' lights, with frosted lenses. Easy install, super clean look. The kits come with everything.
(4 rows of 5, 4' lights). There are a number of threads on GJ showing installs. VERY reasonable $.