Garage Lighting?

[navyblue2000]

I moved a little while ago, and with the weather warming up, there's going to be a lot of time spent detailing here in the next month or two.

This garage is just about spot on with what I'd consider a dream garage. Over sized two car, can park BOTH cars in it, still have room for storage and moving around, I got a wall mounted shop vac, it's awesome.

The only problem is the lighting stinks. It's a split-level house, and there's bedrooms directly above the garage, so there is ducting that is covered up by drywall, but because of that the lights in the garage are about useless for detailing.

The most inexpensive solution seems to be to go and grab some of those fluorescent housings, with the 36" lamps. Buy four of those and put them around the detailing area.

Is there any good lighting scheme that would work? Of course I will have a halogen portable for spot checking, but I would like to be able to detail with good lighting!

[nimrod]

Re: Garage Lighting?

I am putting 8' fluorescent H.O. (high output) fixtures in my new garage. The H.O.'s will come on instantly in the winter time when it is cold out, (a consideration if your garage is not heated) plus the light output is great. They are not very cheap though at around $50.00 a fixture, plus the lamps are around $7.00 a piece. But I'll tell you what, if you want to light up your garage,you can't go wrong with them.
I have two of them in my 12' x12' shed, and they really light it up. I work on my motorcycle in there so I wanted a lot of light, and I got it with those fixtures.

[davey g-force]

Re: Garage Lighting?

I've found that mounting flourescents on the walls (at about top-of-car-door level) if you can works well. That's in addition to whatever lighting you have on the ceiling.

Works a treat in my garage!

[ColonelCash]

Re: Garage Lighting?

I am putting 8' fluorescent H.O. (high output) fixtures in my new garage. The H.O.'s will come on instantly in the winter time when it is cold out, (a consideration if your garage is not heated) plus the light output is great. They are not very cheap though at around $50.00 a fixture, plus the lamps are around $7.00 a piece. But I'll tell you what, if you want to light up your garage,you can't go wrong with them.
I have two of them in my 12' x12' shed, and they really light it up. I work on my motorcycle in there so I wanted a lot of light, and I got it with those fixtures.

I've got 4 H.O. lights in my garage as well. Agreed they are not cheap, but they are HEAVY DUTY lights. One of my H.O. lights weighs as much as 4 cheap lights. Really lights the place well, although I'm thinking about spreading mine out a bit. One of my lights sits around my garage door opener and it blocks a little light. Minor oversight when first installing them...whoops.

[TKDDAD]

Re: Garage Lighting?

I've got 4 H.O. lights in my garage as well. Agreed they are not cheap, but they are HEAVY DUTY lights. One of my H.O. lights weighs as much as 4 cheap lights. Really lights the place well, although I'm thinking about spreading mine out a bit. One of my lights sits around my garage door opener and it blocks a little light. Minor oversight when first installing them...whoops.

I have been looking for HO lights at Lowes and Home Depot but don't seem to be able to find them...any specific place you guys found yours ?

[Bunky]

Re: Garage Lighting?

I've found that mounting flourescents on the walls (at about top-of-car-door level) if you can works well. That's in addition to whatever lighting you have on the ceiling.

Works a treat in my garage!

I have 4 banks of 8' on my ceilng and now plan to add 1 4' on each side some day to help in side illumination. I do not have wall space due to shelving, etc.