Flourescent lighting

[Donnie]

I am trying to figure out how much lighting do I need in a 12' x 16' shop. I really do not feel like finishing the inside with drywall, but I think it will make the shop more pleasant to work in instead of having exposed studs. I don't want shadows - it would be nice to have good coverage. Any comments ?

Thanks
Donnie

[gtokarski]

one linear foot of florescent tube per 6 square feet of shop space.
so for you that would be 32 linear feet of florescent tube. it sounds like a lot but its not.
I got some 8 foot fixtures that each contain 4 four foot sections of florescent tube from HD.
so for your shop that would only be two of those fixtures. place them appropriately (near your work benches or evenly spaced near the center of the shop) and it should be VERY bright in the shop. you will also want small task lighting for each particular tool/work area/bench just to have focused light.
paint the walls white and more light will be reflected and it will look even brighter.

[lrogers]

The old shop was 12'x15'. I had (4) 4' twin tube florescent fixed hung from the ceiling and one fixture (again 4' twin tube) attached to the shelve that was over my bench. This gave good lighting. Another thing I did was attach "garage board" (pre-painted white pegboard) to the upper 4' of the walls. The lower 3 1/2' were covered with 1 /4' ply wood also painted white. This gave me great storage and I think the white paint made the shop "lighter" and pretty much did away with shadows.

[LarryG]

You have to consider your ceiling height, too. I have seven 4' x 40W fixtures (14 tubes total) in a 10'x19' space, but the fixtures are only about 6'-4" above the floor. In general the lighting level is pretty good but the light spread is not as good as it would be if the fixtures were higher, so I have a few slightly dim areas.

I wouldn't use gypsum board as an interior finish ... it's too fragile for a shop where things are getting banged around, and you can only hang weighty stuff from it at stud locations. Besides pegboard, another good, reasonably inexpensive material would be OSB, painted white.

[crokett]

Then I don't have nearly enough light. I have about 12' of flouresecent light in approx 150' feet square of shop space. What I did do was get the lights that plug in and added outlets into the ceiling, so adding more lights should be relatively easy.

[SheriffPopeCo]

Just finished my new shop (16x24). Used 1/2" plywood for walls
inside, all finished gloss white. Used 9 4ft double tube fixtures
three down middle with others spaced off the ends of the middle
ones, all run to recpticales where lights can be unplugged if they
arnt needed, all turned on by 1 switch. Been 4 years in the doing,
ever since we had a tornado here and I got 24 logs given to me.[]

[lrogers]

I don't want to hi-jak a thread, but since the shop I have planned will be 16x24, could you post a picture of your layout Sheriff?

[JimD]

I have 3 of the screw-in fluorescent bulbs that go into an incandescent socket - big ones 30-40W each - in my ~400 ft2 shop. It seems like enough light to me in all but one area. 4 of these lights would be enough for the whole space. This seems like less light than others have recommended. For walls, I used 7/16 waferboard, skim coated with joint compound, and painted white. The wafer cost the same as drywall several years ago when I bought it and it is a lot sturdier.

Jim

[SheriffPopeCo]

lrogers. We should probably start a new thread. I would have a lot of talking to do to tell ya about it. Dont have a camera, sheeze, and I build computers[:I]

[Tom Slick]

I highly reccomend that you buy fixtures with T8 bulbs instead of the usual T12 bulbs. you will use less 30% electricity, better light quality, less flicker and less problems with cold temps. T12 bulbs are dinosaurs, in fact building effeciency codes in many areas will not let T12 fixtures be installed in new commercial buildings.

make sure to install fixtures over the areas that you will be working and make sure they are slightly in front of the spot you are going to work at. for example at your workbench it would be better for the light to be above the center of the bench rather than to either side. that will cut down on shadows.

[lynchk]

In the latest issue of ShopNotes (vol 14, #83, p40) there is an article on "Getting the Light Right". The author's guideline for light spacing is as follows:

A. Fixture to bench distance
B. Wall spacing: divide fixture to bench distance by 3
C. Light spacing: multiply fixture to bench distance by 1-1/2