Ive recently decided that my garages lighting is really inadequate for anything at night, not just detailing. is there any type of lighting that you guys would recommend? im thinking two 8ft double fluorescent strips. home depot has a couple for 30 - 60 plus bulbs.
How big is your garage ? 1-car? 2-car? etc.. ? You have a good start, but you have to ask yourself how much do you want to be able to see and do in there at night, and light it accordingly. I have a 2-car garage and I have 13 - 4 ft 2 daylight bulb fixtures, and I could use a few more and a complete set around the side walls, if I really want to do it right. There are other light bulb fixtures out there - Griot sells some powerful ones, but they are really expensive too. Other things that will help brighten your workspace is to sheetrock it and paint all the walls and ceiling white. Good luck with this ! Dan F
+1 on the daylight Bulds! I bought my 4' fixtures at lowes for 9.95, had some bad reviews but 1 year in so far i've had no problems, daylight bulbs were 7.67 for 2 so for $18 a fixture its a great deal, i started with 6 and kept buying some everytime i did another car. I would skip on the 8', bulbs get a little more expensive, who wants to store 8' of extra bulbs, the fixtures get heavier, etc.... IMHO, 4' > 8' Good Luck
TechnikSLR - (a nice car too ! ) Sounds like you have a very nice workspace already set up with white ceilings and sheetrocked walls I also ran a couple of 20amp circuits down my garage walls so I have plenty of power where I need it for my Extractor and Steamer. I used a very nice thin coiled wire to hang all my shoplights a little lower. Perhaps just screwing the housings to the ceiling might have been better, I dont know. If you decide to continue to get shop lights, try to find some that have the widest reflector behind the bulbs, as they will direct more of the light down towards your vehicles. Agree with KlineS157 - the 4' lights and bulbs are easier to manage and store. However, what works for your needs will be great too. Even after all these lights, you will still want to have portable halogens on a adjustable tall stand so that you can see swirls, etc., better from the sides, front and back. There are a lot of lights out there now, good luck with your research ! Dan F
Going to look at more lighting options today. Will post what im looking at / leaning towards for more advice. Thanks for the input already.
My garage sounds like it is of similar size to yours. I went the super cheap route and bought the 4' double T12 fixtures from home depot for $10. If you buy the day light bulbs in packs of 10 they are $24. I have 5 on the ceiling and 6 on the walls and the lighting is quite good considering the cost was around $165. If I wanted to get serious about it I would probably double the lights. I did have two of the fixtures burn out within the first few days, but HD just exchanged the for me and I have not had any problems for the last few months. They are supposed to start reliably at 60 degrees and above, but I have not had any problems on the coldest of days here in Chicago
