10 ways to improve garage lighting

2019-08-28

Rethink your garage lighting plan with these clever ideas.

Whether you use it for parking, as a workshop, storage center or all of the above, you need to use good lighting in the garage. However, garages are often poorly lit, which makes them difficult to navigate, causing eye strain in DIY projects and making you vulnerable to falls and injuries. In the future, the secret to improving garage lighting. Follow these 10 smart measures to better illuminate your garage, improving safety, visibility, efficiency, and even the beauty of space.

1.Don't just focus on overhead lighting.

Artificial lighting falls into one of three categories – ambient、 task、and accent. Ideally, your garage should come in all forms.

Ambient lighting is a soft ceiling light that illuminates the floor and walls so you can safely walk around or park.

Task lighting is brighter for work and storage areas to increase visibility in detail-oriented projects and organizational tasks.

Accent lighting,The brightness between the environment and the task lighting, shine on the exhibits you want to emphasize, whether it is a table football table or an old trophy series.

Because the garage is often a versatile space, it's best to layer the lighting so you have the lights for parking, handcrafting, storage and display. Remember these categories to select and locate all garage lighting fixtures.

2. Select lamps according to function

Purchase each type of lighting fixture to cover all bases.

Ambient lighting fixtures commonly include garage door openers with built-in lights, as well as round or linear flush-mount lights that affix to the ceiling.

Task lighting includes fault lights (cage bulbs with additional wires and hooks that can be moved and hung as needed) and store lights, which are four to eight foot long adjustable straps that are suspended from the ceiling by chains.

Accent lighting fixtures include chandeliers that extend from the ceiling and wall lights that are mounted on the walls - they look great on both sides of the garage door for easy access at night.

3. Measure your garage to determine your true light output needs.

The Lighting Engineering Society (IES) Lighting Manual recommends 50 lumens per square foot (a light output) in a residential garage and 300 lumens per square foot in the workshop area. A good rule of thumb is 50 lumens per square foot for ambient lighting, 300 lumens per square foot in areas where task lighting is required, and a modest 75 lumens per square foot for accent lighting.

4. Buy a luminaire with the right wattage

Multiply the lumens guideline by the square footage of the functional area to figure out how many light bulbs will meet your light output requirements. Suppose you need 2,700 lumens to provide work lighting for an average 9 square foot workbench (300 by 9). Using the US Federal Trade Commission's Lumens to Watt conversion table to calculate the equivalent bulb wattage, you will see that buying a 75 watt (1,100 lumens) and a 100 watt (1,600 lumens) incandescent bulb will supply you a total of 2,700 Lumenous light output.

5. Please use energy-saving LED lights

For lower electricity bills, use energy-efficient LEDs or fluorescent lights to illuminate your garage and deliver the same light output as incandescent bulbs at low power. For example, a 10 watt LED or a 14 watt fluorescent lamp can provide the same light output as a 60 watt incandescent bulb.

6. Choose UFO high bay lights

Choose 5000K UFO high bay light, hanging on the top of the garage, the light can cover most areas, and the advantages of this kind of light is energy saving, quick start, low maintenance cost, suitable for home garage use.

7. Arrange the luminaire according to the type and function.

Ambient lighting should spread light evenly across the garage floor. Therefore, place the garage door opener with built-in lights in the center of the ceiling; if multiple embedded fixtures are used, mount them on the ceiling at equal distances from each other.

Task lighting should be projected onto the work surface or storage area in a manner that reduces glare. At the very least, you need to install store lights on the ceiling so that they hang a few inches from where you stand or sit so that light is reflected away from you rather than into your eyes.

The accent lighting should be adjusted so that the light shines directly onto the detail you want to display; for example, the chandelier should be placed directly above the decorative display.

8. Choose a bulb with a high CRI.

To ensure that your garage lighting realistically presents the colors of the woodwork, paint and other items you work with, look for a light bulb with a color rendering index (a measure that the bulb can faithfully present the full color). To 100, where the value 100 represents the CRI of daylight.

9. Mounting motion sensor

Motion sensors connected to garage lighting can automatically turn off the lights after a certain amount of time, and if they can't detect movement in space, they can reduce power consumption and save money. Purchase a motion sensor that is compatible with the light bulb you plan to use, then run the cable from the electrical box to the motion sensor and then to the fixture to connect it to the garage fixture.

10. Incorporating natural light

If you have the budget and time to renovate your garage, consider installing windows or skylights. Natural light enhances the overall warmth and brightness of the space and helps reduce electricity bills when using the garage in the sun.