Hi all, wish I found this website a few months ago when I was working on my house. I am building a new house with a 3-stall garage. This site has already helped me with my flooring options, but like a lot of people, lighting has me confused. In my old garage I screwed in a splitter into the light socket on the ceiling and put two 100w equivalent CFL's.
And you still cussed at it, right?
After reading on here for a while I believe I will buy T8 48". The garage seems SO small after doing this layout (which I found on here).
Here is my garage:
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I'm thinking 7 on the third stall (where I'll do most all the work), and 4 on the two stall.
Like this:
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Thoughts?
Not horrible; but there's room for improvement.
Looks good - you should like the results very much.
What was the Candle/ft power on the 3rd stall btw
Oh well I don't know, that's kinda my question.
(7) T8 32w 48" lights = 14x2500 (lumens)= 336 sq ft / 35000= 104.16 lumens per sqft?
In terms of raw SOURCE lumens, that is essentially correct. But that's not the only consideration (or rather, that's not the end of the story). First, there will be SOME reinforcement from nearby reflective surfaces, as well as some losses at working height due to the distance from the source(s). Because you have a wall on only one side, the "reflective" gain will be somewhat uneven; but I would not panic over this just yet. You have bigger fish to fry.
This one should provide 89.3 lumens/sqft if my calculations are correct.
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I would consider that a step backwards, vis-a-vis your first idea, mostly because you're sort'a "starving" the sides of the vehicle space. If you go back to (at least) three fixtures on each side, it would be better.
Okay, good point Pete about the work bench, didn't think about that.
At least the workbench itself should have its own dedicated "Task" lighting, the form and precise location of which will depend in part on the details of that workbench and whatever (cabinets, shelving, etc.) may be mounted on the wall immediately above it. Either way, this doesn't really figure in to the GENERAL lighting of the space as a whole.
Having at least one fixture 2-3 feet off the wall in the vicinity of the tool chest is also a good idea; but again, it probably won't have all that much impact on the rest of the lighting plan.
Joefin, I will have the walls insulated, drywalled and painted semi-gloss light gray...should help a little, although not much.
Far more important will be the height of the ceiling, and how it will be finished.
Check out this layout to see if it's a little better.
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That appears to be the same thing as your first cut, but with one additional fixture placed over the workbench. As I said above, the workbench task lighting is pretty much a separate stand-alone issue; so the difference is moot.
Here is how
I would improve your layout:
-- "Compress" those two three-fixture fore/aft runs on each side of the work bay so that they start closer to the overhead door, and extend only to about the point where the left-hand wall starts (maybe not even quite that far, unless you're willing to go to four fixtures on each side -- which would not be a bad idea in any case). Part of the point is to reduce the end-to-end gaps between each fixture to no more than a foot or so, two at the most. With four fixtures on each side, you could **** them directly together and still cover sixteen feet (plus maybe a foot or two on each end of the runs, due to "spillover").
-- Put at least one fixture (or better, two of them spaced closely together end-to-end) just past where those fore/aft runs end, in order to provide maximum illumination into an open engine compartment, as well as to light up most of the space beyond where the car will actually be parked.
-- Put dedicated task lighting over the ENTIRE workbench. Again, the exact form/placement will depend on the cabinetry, etc.
-- Put one fixture two or three feet off the wall to the right rear of the space, to generously light up the tool chest.
In the "main" (2-car) part of the garage...
-- Turn at least the fixtures closest to the overhead door by 90-degrees, and position them to NOT be blocked by the door when open. The two rear-ward fixtures MIGHT be best left oriented the way they are; but I'm still debating this one.
-- Optionally, put one or two more fixtures running "fore/aft" between the two parking bays. If you add only one fixture, place it JUST beyond where the overhead door sits when open. Also, put in at least two-stage switching for this part of the garage, so that this fixture (or these two fixtures, at most) form your "walk through" lighting, and the rest can be switched on only if/when you want/need brighter light over there.
[Note that a similar "multi-stage" switching system can be used in the third bay; and normally I would beat the drum loudly for both doing so and for using at least three "stages" (including the "walk through" lighting). But in this particular case, it's actually less critical than for most folks, since you will presumably only be using that bay at all when you really have work to do (and will thus want most/all of the lights on anyway). But you still might want to use two stages, with 2-4 fixtures on one switch, and the rest on a second.]
