Ryan Wilke
Well-known member
Hi, Fellas!
My garage is a pole barn-type construction. It's 36' x 48' and has 12' eves. Yes, after working & roling around in the dirt under my ol' trucks with a flashlight in my mouth for nearly 35 years, I finally have a GREAT work/storage space! I couldn't afford a newly built one, but this one is complete with a full concrete floor & landing and is in VERY nice/solid condition - even at 20+ years old.
Ok, in my quest for more natural (can we say, "free") lighting in my garage, I was wondering what would be the downside to cutting in some light panels into the sheet steel side walls.
Consider that the outside sheet steel is 30" wide and the horizonal purlins are 2"X4"s on the flat and are 2' apart. If I was to cut out two - 30" sections between the 8' and 10' high purlins, and then slip two 30" x 2' sections of skylight panel into the cutout, underlapping at the top & overlapping at the bottom, why wouldn't this be a simple fix to adding more lighting without compromizing the longivity of the steel siding?
I can't see where this change would pose any security or structural issues.
Probably the biggest issue would be trying to locate some light panels with the same contours to match my old sheet steel siding.
Other than that, I realize that I should paint the exposed cut steel edge at the top of the light panel, since it would be exposed to the weather..... anything else? What am I missing?
Thanks in advance for everyone's thoughts, ideas and opinions!
RW
My garage is a pole barn-type construction. It's 36' x 48' and has 12' eves. Yes, after working & roling around in the dirt under my ol' trucks with a flashlight in my mouth for nearly 35 years, I finally have a GREAT work/storage space! I couldn't afford a newly built one, but this one is complete with a full concrete floor & landing and is in VERY nice/solid condition - even at 20+ years old.
Ok, in my quest for more natural (can we say, "free") lighting in my garage, I was wondering what would be the downside to cutting in some light panels into the sheet steel side walls.
Consider that the outside sheet steel is 30" wide and the horizonal purlins are 2"X4"s on the flat and are 2' apart. If I was to cut out two - 30" sections between the 8' and 10' high purlins, and then slip two 30" x 2' sections of skylight panel into the cutout, underlapping at the top & overlapping at the bottom, why wouldn't this be a simple fix to adding more lighting without compromizing the longivity of the steel siding?
I can't see where this change would pose any security or structural issues.
Probably the biggest issue would be trying to locate some light panels with the same contours to match my old sheet steel siding.
Other than that, I realize that I should paint the exposed cut steel edge at the top of the light panel, since it would be exposed to the weather..... anything else? What am I missing?
Thanks in advance for everyone's thoughts, ideas and opinions!
RW