Lighting for low ceiling shop?

[Doug W Swanson]

Hey all,

In the next few months I'm going to be building a wood shop in my basement. Currently the basement is finished in wood paneling and a drop ceiling.

The lighting is 4' fluorescent fixtures mounted in between the joists and then there is a plastic lens in the ceiling grid.

Since I'm still in the planning stages, what type of lighting is recommended for a drop ceiling that is hung at just over 7'? I've thought about recessed troffers but there is probably not enough room above the ceiling to allow this.

I also thought about hanging basic fluorescent fixtures right below the grid (with support going to the joists) but wasn't sure if this was the way to go.

I'm sure someone else has run into the same situation that I have and I'd like to hear some ideas!

Thanks!
Doug

[Todd Franks]

Doug,

I have a drop ceiling in my basement workshop. Most of it is 6'-11" but another section of it is at 7'-4". I have recessed troffers throughout. The 6'-11" height was dictated by duct work. The 7'-4" height was established by how much room I need to install the troffers. I just checked and the dimension from the bottom of my floor joists to the bottom of my ceiling grid is 5-3/4".

I am constantly bumping the ceiling with boards, etc. Surface mounted lighting would be even more aggravating to me. The downside with recessed fixtures with that low of a ceiling is that the light does not spread much. It's bright directly under the fixture, but the edges and corners don't have sufficient light. I haven't gotten around to it yet, but my plan is to supplement the darker areas with strategically placed recessed can lights. Positioned correctly they should fit between the floor joints.

My advise to you with 7ft ceilings is avoid surface mount fixtures if you can help it and try to make recessed troffers or cans work if at all possible.

[Anthony Smaldone]

Ok this may sound stupid, but what is a troffer? Im in the same situation... I just finnished dry walling my basement and im almost ready to buy the lighting. Im also installing a grid ceiling

Thanks

[Jim O'Dell]

My detached shop has low ceilings for some reason. 7' 8" for the most part. I built my own reflectors by taking pieces of 2 X 6, cutting a 4" arch in them for a skeleton, then screwing them into the ceiling joists. Of course, you would do this to the floor joists. My joists were 24" on center. I got some sheets of Glassliner material from Home Depot. It is bright white, fiberglass sheeting, that has a pebbled surface and a gloss coat over that. Comes in 4' X 8' sheets. I ripped them in half and pushed this up into the skeleton grid. Used #12 pan head screws to secure them. Then used the standard florescent fixtures that come sans the reflector. I was able to screw them into the skeleton also. I ended up with the tubes above the actual surface of the ceiling this way. One day, I'll add some trim on these and put up some protective panels, but for now, this works very nicely, and doesn't protrude into the work space. I haven't even broken a tube yet!!
I was going to add some pictures here, but I see that I actually did a tutorial on making them here: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=103988 This is a picture of the ceiling with a couple rows of light visible. 139673 See if this stirs some ideas. Only issue I see is that where the lights are, it will limit what you can do for insulation for sound proofing, if that is an issue. Jim.

[Todd Franks]

Ok this may sound stupid, but what is a troffer?
Thanks

It's a fluorescent light fixture that will drop in to a suspended ceiling grid. The most common ones drop-in a 2ft x 4ft opening. The ones I used were 2x4 4-bulb Lithonia fixtures that I picked up at Home Depot. I think other sizes are available also: 1x4, 2x2.


-Todd

[Bill Brady]

The troughers are probably the way to go. You should get good light with the T-8 lamps. You can add recessed can lights to light dark spots and for task lighting.

[Doug W Swanson]

Thanks for the info.

Troffers might be the way to go but I'm not sure if I'll have room. I think there is only about 3 inches between the grid and the bottom of the joists.

The lights I have now are ok but I would probably have to add a couple more for better lighting. Then I could maybe supplement them with some recessed cans where I need to.

I'm still early in the planning stages right now so I'll keep you posted.

Thanks!
Doug

[Randy Bonella]

this is my wife's art studio in our basement. 7ft something ceilings. Didn't want to loose any ceiling height with a recessed ceiling and I don't care much for the look. In any case I used basic shop fixtures with switched outlets and also a couple of troffer style lights in an area where using the joist space wasn't possible and have it look decent. First pic is a troffer style and the second is a shop light recessed.

Hope this gives you some other ideas.

Randy...

[Don Morris]

I have a low ceiling, just over 7'. I put in 9 fixtures with 2 bulb 4' T8 lights. Definitely T8's are recommended. Cool, immediate on/off, no hum, energy efficient. Only slightly more costly. Tried to put plastic covers on to prevent breakage, but that made them too difficult to put to place easily, causing me to bend the bulb prongs as I put them into the lamp holders. Several members have had low ceilings for many years without breaking any. Just be careful. Several have come up with neat ideas for covering the bulbs if you absolutely must.