This is probably a dumb question, but I will ask anyway. Just finished putting insulation and sheetrock up in my attached garage and painted the walls and ceiling white. Now time for upgrading the lighting. The ceiling height is 14'. Should I mount the florescent fixtures at ceiling height or suspend them at 8'-10' over the different work areas? Not sure which way would provide the best lighting.

 

I would do it both ways. General lighting on the ceiling over the vehicle and rest of garage with lower, spot lighting over the bench areas and in front of the truck - so when you pop the hood it lights in, not shadows.

 

Put your lights around the sides of the garage. It doesn't do much for you if the lights are directly over the vehicle. It will be dark under the hood and you will be doing brake jobs in the dark also.

 

I've never been happy with the flourescents I've got. It never seems like there's enough light. Then on the other hand maybe it's my old eyes.

 

I pretty much agree with putting lights all over the garage, there can never bee too much. In addition to regular lights, I own two work lights (can't think of what they're called at this moment = brain fart) and they are invaluable to me. They imitate the sun in the garage and I can move them outside if I need to.

 

Halogen

My bro mounted 3 halogen lights in front of each of his bays. One centered and two about 5-6' to each side. He mounted them down about a foot from the ceiling. When you open the hood and turn on the lights, it's simply amazing!

 

Yes, halogens, that's what they're called. Thank you.

 

Thanks for the info. What watt halogens are y'all using?

 

I'm not sure what mine are, I figured it was standard. I'd go look and tell you, but they are in storage until we move into our new house.

 

I've got 14' eaves too, in a 1400sf shop, hung 22 flourescent light fixtures in it (2 x 4ft bulbs in each.) It's enough for the workbenches, but not under the hood. That halogen light idea sounds good.

 

I would go with halogen fixtures rather than fixed ones- they are expensive to run being around 500 watts each.

Use them to spot light the area your working on and flourescents for the overall lighting.

 

Or you could put Metal Halide low bay lights in the shop. I have a 40x64 shop with six 400W metal halide lights, it looks like we're working with anti-matter in there from through the windows. Probably cheaper than dozens of flourescents too. They cost me $65 ea. Bulbs last about 20 years.

 

I've got sevral of the lowbay 400 watt metal halide lights for over all lighting (15 foot ceiling), then halogen lights on stands. You can also take a cheap four foot florescent fixture with a stort cord and some small chain and hang from the hood of a vehicle for extra light when working in a engine compartment.

 

Be careful with Halogens. Its very easy to overload a circuit. Upgrade accordingly! Some will even call for 500W for each bulb putting the entire unit at 1000W per fixture. So any more than two lights and your beyond the 80% rule with fixture/outlets for a 20amp breaker.

Stryder

 

I like the halide lighting systems also. What does a fixure/lamp setup go for?