Shop Lighting

[John A. Scott]

I'm nearing completion of a new shop and need some advice on lighting. The shop is 18' x 24' and has a cathedral-type ceiling, 8" pitch, the peak along the 18' dimension. The lowest wall height is 11', and the peak of the ceiling is about 18 1/2'. It is wired for 4 fixtures on each roofline, switched independently. My plan is to install a 4 bulb, 4' High Bay fixtures at each of the 8 boxes. Will T8 fluorescents be enough considering the ceiling height or are T5's excessive? 5000K vs 6500K bulbs? Thanks for any advice you can offer.

[Jim O'Dell]

My shop is 20 X 24 and I have provision for 28 4" T8 bulbs. Only 22 of them up so far. (2 bulb fixtures in 3 corners not purchased yet.) And my ceilings are less than 8'. Wish I had the cathedral ceiling and headroom to be able to tell you if you'll have enough light. I am using the 5K CRI 86 bulbs. There are calculators online to help determine the number of bulbs needed for what light strength you want at a certain height.
How about some pictures of the shop and a drawing on how you are proposing to position the lights? Jim.

edit: Oh, and if you haven't looked, there are some good threads here in the archives on shop lighting. Do a search on "shop lighting". Also, there is an excellent article you can download from Fine Woodworking by Jack L. Lindsey, a member here, that is a real help. It was originally published in the Jan/Feb 2002 issue. It might be somewhat dated in that it doesn't show the T5 units, but the basic information is still very valid.

[Dave MacArthur]

Go with the T8 bulbs, superior in all ways.
For temperature, I ended up liking and using the "natural sunlight" bulbs. These are different than the "daylight" ones you sometimes find. Usually in orange sleeves at HD or Lowes. Much better than the whiter/hotter ones and show the true color of the wood much better. I just couldn't stand the way all the wood looked in the bright white and soft white bulbs.

[Don Jarvie]

My shop is 20x20 with 8ft walls to 14 ft in the middle (up 6ft to a flat 14 ft in the middle). I have 4 - 2 blub T8s on each side with 2 in the middle and its pretty bright.

You may want to consider, if you have the room, putting one 8 ft T8 (better 2 four fters in a row) if you have enough room for the top of the wall to the peak.

8 T8 eight footers (4 on each side) will provide a lot of light. Painting the walls white of off white will help reflect the light in.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

John,

A fellow Creeker wrote a shop lighting article for FWW. I believe it was in the Feb. 2002 issue.

Shortly after joining the Creek while building shop, I was told of the article. I went to Fine Wood Working online and bought the article. I used it to design the lighting in my shop. It takes into consideration the height of the ceiling and the distance from the lights to the work surface. It explains the differences in ballasts, lights, bulb types, brightness and color.It even takes you age into account when designing the lighting. I used it to design my shop's lighting. I have had nothing but compliments for the lighting in my shop. No shadows...no darks spots.

The guy's last name escapes me...his first name is Jack Lindsey IIRC.

If you are interested, I will research it and get the information for you.

[John A. Scott]

Thanks Don, your info is reassuring. Do you have your fixtures flush-mounted with the cathedral ceiling or do they hang?

[Don Jarvie]

Flush mounted. I may have posted a picture or two in another post. Search the Workshop thread. If not I can post some in a few days.

[Gary Radice]

I also followed Jack Lindsey's advice for my 20 x24 shop with 12' ceilings. I went with 32 x 4' T8's, in two banks, evenly spaced, with white ceilings and walls. I also have a dropped double 4' light over my workbench for extra light there. That is a bit of overkill but as I get older I like the extra light.

[glenn bradley]

16, 4 foot, 2 lamp, T-8 fixtures at about 8 feet in height for a 20 x 30 space. 6500k

[David Hostetler]

6, 4 foot, 2 lamp, T-12 fixtures at 8' 6" in height for a 18 x 20 space. 6500k, plenty bright in there... Have provision for 2 additional fixtures, do not believe I will need it though.

Will upgrade to T-8 fixtures in the long run.

[John A. Scott]

Thanks to all for the input. Looks like my 4x4 layout of 4', 4 bulb T8's should work. I'll post some photos soon.

[Callan Campbell]

Note to our mods, if this link is a no-no, please feel free to delete. It's a brief break-down of the older T12s versus T8 and T5 lighting
www.lightingsolutions.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=25&Itemid=26 (http://www.lightingsolutions.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=25&Itemid=26).
+1 on the 2002 FWW article on lighting. It got me "re-interested" in my shop lighting enough that I added and moved fixtures around. I may still rip all of them out and change over to T8s that are flush mounted in the stud bays for less ceiling height restrictions from all my current hung lighting fixtures.

[Jerome Hanby]

John,

A fellow Creeker wrote a shop lighting article for FWW. I believe it was in the Feb. 2002 issue.

Shortly after joining the Creek while building shop, I was told of the article. I went to Fine Wood Working online and bought the article. I used it to design the lighting in my shop. It takes into consideration the height of the ceiling and the distance from the lights to the work surface. It explains the differences in ballasts, lights, bulb types, brightness and color.It even takes you age into account when designing the lighting. I used it to design my shop's lighting. I have had nothing but compliments for the lighting in my shop. No shadows...no darks spots.

The guy's last name escapes me...his first name is Jack Lindsey IIRC.

If you are interested, I will research it and get the information for you.

Think that's the article I downloaded last week:

Lighting
for the Workshop
Tips for figuring how many and what types
of fluorescent lights you need to create
a comfortable working environment
BY J A C K L. L I N D S E Y

[Jack Lindsey]

John, I'm not sure what you are proposing based on the info provided but I think eight four foot four lamp T-8 fixtures will work provided the following conditions are met:

1. walls and ceilings are painted white

2. fixtures are mounted parallel to the 18' dimension. This takes up 16' for fixtures so you can mount them in continuous rows that only require one feed point (box in the ceiling) per row. This will leave about one foot clearance at each end.

3. Rows are located 6' from each wall, with 12 feet in between rows. This should place fixtures about 15' above the floor if I correctly understand what you are proposing.

4. You will be using either strip or industrial fixtures, mounted directly to the ceiling. Note that strips are less expensive and will work fine if the ceiling and walls are painted white.

As far as color temperature goes it is your choice. What do you like? 5000K and 6500K are very cool and most people prefer something a little warmer like 4100K but it's really up to you. There isn't much difference as far as the lighting levels are concerned.

Hope this answers your questions. Let me know if it doesn't or if I don't correctly understand what you propose.

[John A. Scott]

John, I'm not sure what you are proposing based on the info provided but I think eight four foot four lamp T-8 fixtures will work provided the following conditions are met:

1. walls and ceilings are painted white

2. fixtures are mounted parallel to the 18' dimension. This takes up 16' for fixtures so you can mount them in continuous rows that only require one feed point (box in the ceiling) per row. This will leave about one foot clearance at each end.

3. Rows are located 6' from each wall, with 12 feet in between rows. This should place fixtures about 15' above the floor if I correctly understand what you are proposing.

4. You will be using either strip or industrial fixtures, mounted directly to the ceiling. Note that strips are less expensive and will work fine if the ceiling and walls are painted white.

As far as color temperature goes it is your choice. What do you like? 5000K and 6500K are very cool and most people prefer something a little warmer like 4100K but it's really up to you. There isn't much difference as far as the lighting levels are concerned.

Hope this answers your questions. Let me know if it doesn't or if I don't correctly understand what you propose.

Thanks Jack for your help. Your description is exactly what I have planned, so I'm reassured that my plan will work. I recently was in a shop that had 5000K lamps installed and the light seemed agreeable to me. Thanks again.

[Jack Lindsey]

You're welcome, John. Glad to see that you are doing the right things to have a well performing lighting system.