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| Posted By |  Subject :How much lighting |
I'm building a 32'x48' pole barn with concrete floor. I'm trying to figure how much lighting I will need inside. I've seen this before but can't find it - any suggestions?
I'll probably install flouescent lighting and trying to decide advantages/disadvantages of 4'/4 bulb lights vs 8'/2 bulb lights.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Mike
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I am also in the process of lighting a 30x56 shop/garage. The trusses are on 8' centers and I am hanging three 4'/2-tube lights per truss in the shop half of the building. My first impression is that the lighting will be quite good. My own biased would be to install more fixtures with fewer tubes each to get more even lighting and fewer shadows. I chose the 4' fixtures simply because I find the tubes more accessible and easier to transport.
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We put up a 30'x40' pole barn, with 12' ceiling and concrete floor. I put in 4 flouresent fixtures with (2) 8' tubes ea. The fixtures and tubes are the type that fires up with low ambient temps (I don't heat the barn unless I'm out there). Plenty of light with that setup.
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The main portion of my shop is 40' x 50' with 16' ceilings.
I have a row of 3 8' x 2 tube (12 tubes in total) fluorescent fixtures down the centerline of each bay. They are hanging about 3' below ceiling height on chains. It is not enough usable light and I plan on changing it this summer.
The reason for the lack usable light is two-fold.
First the lights are running down the center of each bay, anything in that bay is directly under the light and therefore the sides and bottom are in shadow.
Secondly the entire shop is wood lined and has not been painted, I also hope to do that this summer, as a result there is very little reflected light to kill shadows.
I was in a friends shop recently which is the same size as mine. His is lit by 3 rows of lights not two. Each row has 5 fixtures which are 4' x 2 bulbs. There is one row mounted on brackets facing down at a 45° angle at about the 12' height on each wall, the 3rd row is in the center of the two bays hanging down on chains. All lights have reflective shields behind the bulbs to direct the light down and outwards.
I think the position and direction of the lights, combined with the colour and reflectance of the interior make the biggest difference, more so than sheer numbers do.
Best of luck.
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The light you require also depends on the building uses. If you plan on using it for a shop, you'll want much different lighting than if it's for storage. I found that besides the overhead lighting, flourescents set on the walls about 4-5' up allow light to travel horizontally in my shop.
Also, you can put many square feet of windows in relatively cheaply by buying the 3'x 5' insulated glass panels that they put into sliding glass doors. They're available at most any glass shop. I've got four of these set horizontally on the south side and they let in a huge amount of light.
Dave
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First the lights are running down the center of each bay, anything in that bay is directly under the light and therefore the sides and bottom are in shadow.
Murf
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Not good for lighting up the room, but it's great to light up the top of a car parked in the stall.
If you park your convertible in there with the top down it makes a great dome lite for it though.LOL
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I installed a motion detector light on the back inside wall of each closed off stall.
This serves very well over using nite lights.
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Below is a link to my 28 x 36 garage I built over the last couple of years.
I went with 2 rows of 4 100w incandescent lights. My reasoning for this is, I do not have them on all the time (electrical $12/ month) so the bulbs are cheaper, and in my cold climate (north central Wisconsin) I have never been impressed with fluorescent start-up performance.
I have no windows in the garage, so they are the only light source, and as you can see they do pretty well.
Edit: The best thing for lighting I did was finishing the walls (drywall).
Web Link
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I didn't build the shop, it was there when I bought the place, I wouldn't have put the lights in the center of the bays.
I don't have a convertible any more either, and even my tractor has a roof, about the only topless thing I have to drive is a mower.
Best of luck.
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about the only topless thing I have to drive is a mower isn't what I thought you were going to say.
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