Practical suggestions for garage door interfering with lights

[FastKat]

I just bought a house with a 20x20 garage with a 10.5' ceiling. The builder must have had a sense of humor as there is a single CFL bulb in the middle of the garage. I was going to put up four 4' double fixtures (total of eight 4' bulbs) with one fixture in each quadrant of the garage. My plan was to screw them directly to the ceiling and run conduit to each fixture. Easy, right?! Done!

Not so fast... With the garage door closed that's great. However, the garage door will cover a large portion of the ceiling when closed. I think the two lights farthest from the garage door will do a pretty good job at lighting when the door is open (or maybe the need to be hung on chains?) however, the two closest to the garage door will be totally covered by the door when it is open. I also have that enclosed beam running up by the garage door. (Pic attached.)

So practically speaking, is installing two lights that are covered by an open garage door a head-shaker or should I just do it and be done with it? The alternative is hanging lights in the narrow trough on either side of the garage door tracks but then you're leaving a dark spot in the middle of the garage. Or maybe lights on the walls?

Also, should I get hanging fixtures for the lights NOT covered by the garage door or will they be fine on the ceiling?

 

[mrramsey]

Mount them and call it good. You can wire the two above the door to a separate switch if you want. I have 8 4' tubes mounted pretty much as you have described. Mine are controlled by one motion detector.

 

[Stuff]

If you just moved in give it some time to figure out what lighting you need.
You may want to turn the area above the door into storage so lighting would be in the way.

 

[prostreetamx]

When I was wiring tract houses it was typical to only have one keyless light fixture per auto door. They weren't in the business to provide lots of light just minimum code so they could sell the house.

 

[Rob_b]

Simple solution. Install a box where you want it, run the romex from the present box to the new one, remove the old socket and put a cover plate on it. Install your new light as you please.

 

[wssix99]

So practically speaking, is installing two lights that are covered by an open garage door a head-shaker

No. You'll never notice this. Everyone's garage generally has this issue.

When you open the doors, most of the time you'll get light coming in from the outside to compensate for what you've lost overhead. At night, it's dark out and the reduction in light will help your eyes adjust to going from the bright garage to darker outside. I think you'll find it a very natural existence.

 

[MrBalll]

I have 21 overhead lights and 10 of them are covered by my garage door. I don't worry about it and it has never messed with me. You also have white'ish walls so that will help reflect some light.

 

[stm317]

The best method I've seen for getting around this issue was installing brackets directly to the outside of the garage door rails, and then mounting 4ft light fixtures to those brackets. I think they were angled a bit towards the center of the garage for better light distribution. They worked regardless of door position. Right now, your door seems unnecessarily low. Converting your current rails to a "high lift" style would push the lights closer to the ceiling and might make a setup like that work even better. It would also give you a couple more feet of working height.

Edit: I found the inspiration on page 6 of this thread: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/married-do-not-try-this/27721/page6/

 

[FastKat]

Thanks for the comments guys. I like the idea of putting lights on the garage door rails. I would consider that if I was going the distance with this garage but I plan on building on an additional garage this spring to use as a workshop, etc.

I wound up extending the box and running conduit to two 4' 2-bulb fixtures. I think this is good for now. I am experimenting to see if I like the 4000k or 5000k bulbs better. Pic attached!

Nevermind, no pic attached. The forum is giving me a file size error when I try to upload.