Just got my garage up, what kind of lighting now? Florescent fixtures or bulbs

[mj79]

Well my garage is 24x36, it will soon have finished Sheetrock walls and I am looking for what would give me the best light and the most light. I was thinking of either 15 of the florescent energy bulbs. ( the little energy spiral bulbs ) or 6- 8 foot florescent fixtures. The actual fixtures come with 2 75 watt t8 bulbs. I'm confused and don't know what ones will give more light.

[toef]

I don't technically know which one could be brighter than the other, but I have a few of each in my basement, and the energy ones I use are insanely bright, and create tons of light. The longer tube bulbs just kind of create a softer light which is still useful, but doesn't feel nearly as lit up.

[mj79]

Originally Posted by toefer

I don't technically know which one could be brighter than the other, but I have a few of each in my basement, and the energy ones I use are insanely bright, and create tons of light. The longer tube bulbs just kind of create a softer light which is still useful, but doesn't feel nearly as lit up.

Thanks man. Just wanted to see if anyone has either on there house or garage. I have the energy bulbs in my house. Only thing I don't like is when it's cold out they seem to take forever to warm up, but seem to be the best way to get the most light for cheap. Even if there are about 20 of them in there when I'm done


I checked out the "daylight" bulbs that are 23 wattts. But other than being a very bright white they don't seem to have as much illumination as the standard more yellowish bulbs. Weird. The color is cool tho. About the same diffrence as a 1990 cavaliers headlights compared to a set of projection hid's in a car but was just dissapointed that they weren't as luminious as I thought they would be

[Marcusarilius]

If it were me, I would go with the CFL fixtures. Far easier to instal compact bulbs over the long tubes. You can use regular or Compact Fl bulbs. More choices.

[phlydude]

What is in every office?
4 or 8 ft flourescent tube lighting - why? because it is effecient, cheap and gives off good light on 10 foot ceilings

I have a 4 foot fixture in my laundry room and 2 CFL 100-watts equiv. in the screw in sockets.

I can get so much more light from the single 4 foot fixture using COOL white (not soft white that willl give you a more yellow light) than I can from my 2 CFL

4 foot fixtures are about $20 for a decent one and can be modified to hard wire if needed. Bulbs are fairly cheap and inexpensive given their life.

They aren't called "shop" lights for nothing!

[groovyone]

What do you plan on doing in there? I like the flourecents with the daylight bulbs. I use 5500K bulbs indoors but may got 6000K-6500K in the garage, depending on what I was doing.

[mj79]

Well Guys thanks for the replies. I'm still stuck and I'm going to buy tomorrow. I have tried the cfl bulbs in my living room the 6500k daylights with are 23 watts 100 watt equivalent). And there nice but the color is so blue it almost looks fake.

The only thing I'm wondering is how many strip fixtures will I need AND will it give low ceiling height alot of light on the ground. What I mean by that is, I always thought the florescent fixtures were for higher ceilings ( 10-16' ceilings ) because they project such a wide band of lght that they would need more height to be fully 100% used. And if there only 8 feet it mght not be as good as a typical cfl bulb that shines more fully in a room ( meanng the upper 2 feet of a room) not saying I want to work 7-8 feet in the air but it's nice to have light everywhere. And it jst seems like the strip lights won't be as good


If I do go with the strip fixtures I was thinking about running 9- 4 footers or 6 8 footers.

With the 4' it wold be 3 rows of 3

or 3 rows of 2 with the 8'

they wold be running the long way ( 24') about 6 feet apart which that wall is (20')


It will be used daily for general work woodworking, automotive. Etc. So I need aLOT of light. Everywhere