Who votes for what? Final Lights

[bucs012]

Okay my 50x30, 9' ceiling and WHITE painted walls and ceiling is going to be ready for lights in a few weeks and I HAVE to decide what I am doing for lights for my electrician! I have read so much on past posts that my brain hurts!

In a nut shell- this is a hot rod garage, will listen to the radio a little, watch a little TV and want enough light to work on cars. I would REALLY like to have my lights PLUG IN at the ceiling via recepticals opposed to hard wired in. This will allow me to remove/add/change lights if need be in the future. I would also like to go with either 4' or 8' fluorescent lights. I am thinking at least dual but maybe 4 bulb units? Remember.......9' ceiling and all painted white!

What lights would you light guys use?? Those who have already been through what I am going through????

I am open to buying the lights on line or HD, Lowes or Menards but will buy wherever.

 

[Torque1st]

Put in a few permanent hard wired lights then put quad outlets in the ceiling wherever you might want lights. Use plug-in 4' dual bulb shop lights where you need them.

 

[ddawg16]

I think you will find that once you do the lights.....except for changing bulds, you will not touch them....hence, I see no reason to try and be so flexible.

Personally, I like 6" recessed cans.....I have complete flexibility of the type of bulb I put in....if you go tube....yea, you can change color....but a T8 is 32W...it's not like you can get a 24W T8....

And as technology changes.....I'm pretty sure that what ever form the next generation light bulb is, it will have an Edison base....

So, the only real decision you need to make is, 2 tube, 4 tube or CFL.....and go recessed....even with the tube.....makes it a lot easier to keep things clean.....

Look at it this way......consider disposible batteries.....how long has the A, B,C & D size battery been around? Now look at the technology that goes into them. When is the last time you bought a carbon zinc battery? Except for the recargeable batteries, the above sizes have not changed.....

 

[kbs2244]

I like your idea of having some flexibly in case the first plan doesn’t work out.

At 30 feet wide I would run 2 rows of outlets 10 feet from the walls with 4 plug outlet boxes every 4 or 6 feet.
Put an extra box by the outlet box for incandescent lights on a separate switch for fast on lights in the cold.
The multiple outlets are cheap at install time.

With this you can use simple and cheap, 2 four foot bulb, “shop lights” hanging from “J” hooks in 3 rows of a zig zag pattern to provide good over all light.

How many you use depends on you.
You can start out with just a few and add as you feel the need.

 

[Weedwaka]

I think you will find that once you do the lights.....except for changing bulds, you will not touch them....hence, I see no reason to try and be so flexible.

Personally, I like 6" recessed cans.....I have complete flexibility of the type of bulb I put in....if you go tube....yea, you can change color....but a T8 is 32W...it's not like you can get a 24W T8....

And as technology changes.....I'm pretty sure that what ever form the next generation light bulb is, it will have an Edison base....

So, the only real decision you need to make is, 2 tube, 4 tube or CFL.....and go recessed....even with the tube.....makes it a lot easier to keep things clean.....

Look at it this way......consider disposible batteries.....how long has the A, B,C & D size battery been around? Now look at the technology that goes into them. When is the last time you bought a carbon zinc battery? Except for the recargeable batteries, the above sizes have not changed.....

I like the idea of the 6" recessed cans. How many would I need for a 48 x 32 . I need a lot of light ( bodywork ) . Would this break the bank ?

 

[royalton10]

I can't tell you how can lights work in a garage. But I can tell you that I had a 24x24 attached garage that was converted and expanded ito a 24x34 great room. We put in 5 rows of can lights, 4 bulbs each. Each end of 2 rows is on a dimmer switch. The center row is on a 3 way switch on each side of room. 3 switches total. This configuration works great as to lights and how I can turn them on. Very happy with the amount of light in a room that has 6 windows on 2 sides.

My detached garage of 22x26 had just 6 shop lights, 2 double 4' tubes. I was not happy as it seemed dark. I think bulbs are 40w, only total of 480 watts in 574 sq ft. I had that ceiling textured as the drywall was never finished properly by previous owner. Still painting that ceiling. I added more lights by using a fixture of 3 spotlights 60 watts each
and added five fixtures. The new lights add 900 watts. They are not installed yet. Some posts in other sites talk of 1.5 watts per sq ft. Not sure how accurate that is. I just know I wanted to add more lights without having more tubes hanging from the ceiling.
Just thought I would share my experience.

Thanks!!

Doug