So my wife and i just moved into a new house, and as you can see the garage lighting situation is ... dismal. I have about $250 to work with, and i am looking to install some new LED (or whatever works best) lights and would like some help with the placement.
The current lights (you can see the bulb near the corner of the rear bay door frame) are way too far forward, and i would like to move them about 2 feet towards the rear of the garage (red lines in the attached photo) so that when a car pulls in and pops the hood, the hood is not creating a shadow. To do this though, it would basically have the last light in the 3rd bay completely covered by the garage door if it was ever opened.
So here's a few things i realize, but I would like other opinions.
1. I realize that if i have that rear bay door opened for some airflow, it would also let light in so it's probably a non issue other than the fact i may be wasting money on a light that's covered up.
2. I realize i can install the lights in the current position (the green line shows about 5 feet between garage door frames of unobstructed space) but if i wanted to work under the hood of a car, the car would only be able to pull halfway into the garage. Note, my wife pulled in WAY too far in these pics, there's an easy 2 - 2.5 feet behind her mustang. I'd like to be able to work with the doors closed if at all possible.
3. The garage is 31 feet long (x 21 feet deep for those interested) but really i'll only be working in the first 2 bays (1 being where i am standing, and 2 being the mustang respectively) so really i could just install 2 nice 8 foot lights on this half of the garage and say screw the 3rd bay, but the aesthetics of that would really bother me, as stupid as it may sound.
4. I've thought about staggering sets of 4 foot lights - basically have a light in the 5 foot open space of the 3rd bay, then stagger back the 2 feet i want in the 2nd bay, then stagger back forward 2 feet for bay 1... This would cover the most light and should still be aesthetically pleasing, but now i need to split each light junction two ways instead of either just running it or moving it. This is a possibility, i am very handy, but i have done exactly 0 electrical work before so i'll need to read up on how realistic this is or what my options are.
I'm sure some of you guys have done some garage lighting and i'm just hoping someone can help make this a lot easier than i am trying to make it. Thanks.
The current lights (you can see the bulb near the corner of the rear bay door frame) are way too far forward, and i would like to move them about 2 feet towards the rear of the garage (red lines in the attached photo) so that when a car pulls in and pops the hood, the hood is not creating a shadow. To do this though, it would basically have the last light in the 3rd bay completely covered by the garage door if it was ever opened.
So here's a few things i realize, but I would like other opinions.
1. I realize that if i have that rear bay door opened for some airflow, it would also let light in so it's probably a non issue other than the fact i may be wasting money on a light that's covered up.
2. I realize i can install the lights in the current position (the green line shows about 5 feet between garage door frames of unobstructed space) but if i wanted to work under the hood of a car, the car would only be able to pull halfway into the garage. Note, my wife pulled in WAY too far in these pics, there's an easy 2 - 2.5 feet behind her mustang. I'd like to be able to work with the doors closed if at all possible.
3. The garage is 31 feet long (x 21 feet deep for those interested) but really i'll only be working in the first 2 bays (1 being where i am standing, and 2 being the mustang respectively) so really i could just install 2 nice 8 foot lights on this half of the garage and say screw the 3rd bay, but the aesthetics of that would really bother me, as stupid as it may sound.
4. I've thought about staggering sets of 4 foot lights - basically have a light in the 5 foot open space of the 3rd bay, then stagger back the 2 feet i want in the 2nd bay, then stagger back forward 2 feet for bay 1... This would cover the most light and should still be aesthetically pleasing, but now i need to split each light junction two ways instead of either just running it or moving it. This is a possibility, i am very handy, but i have done exactly 0 electrical work before so i'll need to read up on how realistic this is or what my options are.
I'm sure some of you guys have done some garage lighting and i'm just hoping someone can help make this a lot easier than i am trying to make it. Thanks.
