Recommendations for lighting...

[red90q]

I need some help. My garage is 18' x 20' with a 12' ceiling. The ceiling is still exposed to joists and I would like to set up some good lighting configurations so I can work in a nice bright enviroment. Can you guys tell me what type of lighting I should use, sizes and how many?

Thanks

 

[Woogie_MCW]

Well I have been through multiple types of lighting in my garage and the best I have found is CFLs. (compact florescent lights) It may sound unsusual but here is what I have done. Granted it is time consuming but is well worth it. I do alot of custom paint (airbrush). By that I mean I do everything from toilet seats to full custom bikes(including the frames!). Having shadows is not something you want when you are doing this type of work. I have installed 16 CFL's in my garage 24' x 28' I was able to place them where I wanted and get the light were I need it. The lights pull 20 watts each. So do the math they pull about as much as 3 100 watt bulbs would and it makes my garage just glow!!! What else I have done in the process was take the 4' florescents and mount them on a stand so if I need more light somewhere just set one up and get nice clean light that is not hot like halogen lights are. Hope this helps. Please feel free to ask me anything else. below is a parts list
16 square ceiling boxes $1.00 ea
16 plastic light fixtures $1.25 ea
75ft 14ga 2 conductor romax
wire nuts
single pole switch $2.00
I have just over $100 invested from lowes

 

[BillGalbraith]

Could we have a picture of your garage with the lights on? Thanks

 

[Woogie_MCW]

Sure i will take one this week end. I will be out of town till then.

 

[thelightbulbguy]

The fixture type will depend on the ceiling, canned lights with Full spectrum 5000K or higher work great, but require more electrical than the 2 lamp 4foot fixtures. The lumen output with 4 foot F32T8's is much higher than with the PAR CFL's you would put in canned lighting. The most important factor long-term, will be the quality of the bulb. Buy any cheap bulb and the loss in brightness and color will be up to 40% the first 25% of the bulbs life.

 

[trbomax]

I used CFL's from HD,in the big shop they are the 60w input,500w equivilet output,in the smaller shopw/8' ceiling I used the enclosed canopy lights,85w input,750w output equivilent. These are full spectrum and its like its outside in there.The 5 in the center row are self ballasted MV that I used while building it,these will be replaced with the 750w output canopy light units like are in the small shop.Not many shadows in there.