Need Help with Lighting Please

[hamholfarm]

Hello All,

The framing is partly finished on my new home shop. It is going to be 50’ x 40’ x 14”, there will be 3 – 12’ x 12’ roll up doors and two - 3’ wide “personnel” doors spaced across the 50’ “front” of the building. The personnel doors will be on the far ends as you look at the building from the front. I plan on using the middle “bay” for a car lift, but I’m still not sure if I want a two or four poster, later on that subject.


Lighting I have read many of the previous posts on lighting, but I still have many questions.

I’m pretty sure I want to use the regular T8 fluorescent lights (2 bulbs by 4 ft) to keep costs down.

I’ve attached a drawing of the proposed layout of my shop.

There will be three “bays” total - one spaced behind each of the three 12’ x 12’ roll up doors.

Work stations, equipment and storage will be against the three “interior” walls.

A small bathroom will be on a separate light switch/circuit.

The ceiling is 14’ high and will be made of 29 gauge white steel. The walls will be uncovered (could be a couple of years) until later stages of the build. So the brown colored Kraft paper from the insulation will be showing.

I would like the lights to be on a separate switch/circuit for each “bay”. I would also like all three bays to be able to be controlled from each end of the building at the personnel doors. Is this reasonable cost wise or are there other suitable options?

What would be a good layout for all of the lighting?

How many lights (2 bulbs by 4 ft) and in what configuration?

What about around the walls for the work stations, equipment use, etc.?

What do you do when the roll up doors are in the up position? How do you see well in the area below them?

I thank you all in advance for your help.

Chip

 

[Vicegrip]

You might want to price 96T12HO 2 tube fixtures side by side with the T8 4 footers. They put out far more light per tube foot and are inexpensive. The electronic versions are a little more $ but don't hum and work well in low temps. Should T8 (Edit should read T12) ever become hard to get you can swap out the balast to T8.

 

[hamholfarm]

Thank you Vicegrip I did not know that!

Can anyone help with a layout? How many lights would I need to be bright enough to work under?

Thank you

Chip

 

[MustangRick]

I have noticed a big difference on this board on acceptable levels of lighting. Personally, my shop is setup with fixtures that have 4 4' bulbs. I two lights to the left of bay 3, 2 between the bays, and 2 to the right of bay 1. My shop is only 30' deep, you would definitely want to have atleast 3 per row instead of my 2. I need to add more around the perimeter for the benches (the lights above the benches would help shine under hoods.) For wiring, I would wire it so that each row is on a switch, then you hit two switches to light up a bay. I would also put in an incandescent above each door and above bay 2 for when you have to just go in to grab something. I base that on the fact that my ballasts don't like the cold. If you are going to be doing detail work on you benches, then you may need as much as a light every 8' or so. Check out a department store's light setup, it may be similar. Some of the dollar type stores have wider spacing...

My doors are 8' tall with the top 4' being windows so I can get away with not as much light, and I don't have to deal with the door blocking the light issue.

For your switch question, putting in 3 way switches should handle that. I wouldn't think that it would cost much more then 200 or so to upgrade the 2wire to 3wire for the 3way switch to work. But, if you are going to do like 10 circuits, then you may be closer to 400 because of the copper pricing.