Garage work space setup thread, lights etc.

[Bob Pl]

I am going to add some lights & I can do the wiring ok, but I would like some direction on picking the fixtures. It's a 2 car double door & a 1 car single door. I looked at stuff at HD but the quality looks crappy, anyone into lighting fixtures & can steer me to some good stuff. Think 4x4 florescent size probably due to some restrictions on ceiling space. Two bare 200w bulbs now. One bare 200w other garage.

THX

[Craig Naylor]

I am going to add some lights & I can do the wiring ok, but I would like some direction on picking the fixtures.

McMasters? They should have both ugly warehouse cheapies, and ones nicer ones intended to use within office environments.

[Robert Puertas]

Bob,
I've got two 8'-0" fluorescent fixtures with 2 lamps per fixture mounted end to end down the middle of the garage. They were Home Depot's cheapest model.
This provides plenty of light except when you're working under a car. You still need a shop light for that, but I suspect you would no matter what sort of lighting solution you had.

In a 3-car garage, there is room for three 8' fixtures, but I don't really feel that's necessary... That said, I have dry-walled the interior of the garage and painted it all white which helps to reflect the light and generally brightens up the space. If you have not painted everything white, the 3rd fixture might be of more benefit to you.

[Jayson Woodruff]

One suggestion, seperate your light switching circuits by area. I have a two car garage and am working on putting at least three switched areas. That way I'm only using 1/3 the power when I'm working in one section of the garage, and more importantly, when my wife forgets to turn the lights off. It may not sound like a lot, but about 160W per section versus 480W in the entire garage is 2.5kW-hr in 8 hours.

Jay W

[Bob Pl]

Thank's guys, all great suggestions.

;)