Bike workshop/Garage – what lighting and what ceiling boards?

I’m getting my garage refitted and I’m trying to decide on lighting and ceiling.

It’s a single story garage attached to the side of the house with a utility room at the front of it. The utility is built to regs and has a fire door/wall between it and the garage. Size is approx 4.5m x 2.8m

So, two questions

– What lighting – I’m thinking that fluorescent tubes provide the best balance of light and lack of shadows for garage type work but how big/many do I need? Would 2 x 4ft ones be enough or…?

– What ceiling boards? Plaster board is the standard choice and presumably provides fireproofing but since there’s no room above the garage do I need that for regs? In many ways, I’d prefer wood boarding as it’d be more flexible for attaching hooks/etc for bikes, ladders, scooters, etc

TIA

– What lighting – I’m thinking that fluorescent tubes provide the best balance of light and lack of shadows for garage type work but how big/many do I need? Would 2 x 4ft ones be enough or…?

Can’t help on on ceiling boards but for lighting I have 3 pendant lamps hanging from the celing, two at one and and one at the other, these are on a standard light switch.

I also have two 100w LED flood lights with PIR on one wall – one at each end of the garage, these are wired together and plugged into a socket. When I open the door the lights come on automatically which is handy after a winter commute when my hands are too numb to switch the socket on 🙂

I don’t think 2*4ft fluorescents would be bright enough, but I like lots of light.

I have a single pendant there currently but the thing I really don’t like is that they tend to cast a lot of shadow.

I’ll be fitting pull cord switches for exactly the reasons you’re saying 🙂

The LED lights sound like they could be a good idea though – got a link to them?

I’ve just upgraded my garage/workshop lighting as I was bored of using head torches to see what I was doing when working on my bike. It was one 100W bulb previously and I installed one strip light fitting with 2 x 70 W tubes in it and it is much, much better.

It is installed pretty much centrally and my workbench is at the side but the shadows are not bad at all and the amount of light is fine for me.

I found this document which I found quite useful actually: http://www.woodmagazine.com/wood/pdf/WOOD-workshop-lighting.pdf

Oh and important to say I think that I got one with a diffuser which acts as a moisture/dust barrier and protects the tubes when I no doubt swing a bit of wood around and smack the fitting. Saves getting showered in glass…

I’ve got 2 x 4′ fluorescent tubes in the middle and a couple of sets of old, triple, spots (one each end) that point in various directions to remove as many shadows as possible.

wouldn’t bother with boarding the ceiling, the space between the joists can come in handy as storage space for certain things.

for lighting i have 3 single 5′ fluorescents and 1 double 5′ at the back where the work bench is located, that’s in a garage a little longer and a little narrower.

Similar size garage and I have 3 x 5ft tubes with diffusers. White walls and celing (plasterboard). Plenty of light, few if any shaddows. Tubes are well spaced out and have one over each shoulder when standing at the work bench.

These are the ones I bought although they were £33.99 each when I bought them in April.

wouldn’t bother with boarding the ceiling,

I have considered that but wondered if that would be compliant with regs and whether it would mean a cold garage in the winter

Thanks for all the replies on lighting. 3 x 5ft sounds reasonable too.

It’s worth boarding the ceiling and painting it white just to get some light reflecting off it.

I go for as much light as possible, fluorescent tubes aren’t expensive, and no one ever said “my garage is too light”. I think mine in the last garage were 6ft tubes every 8ft.

Also worth wall mounting one at just above head height above any workbenches, either that or a decent desk lamp on a long arm to illuminate whatever you’re working on.

Personally a couple of florescent tubes for general lighting, then one or two movable spots on the wall or ceiling or even a desk lamp for the workbench when you really need it

Just be mindful of what will be your coolest wall/roof before boarding.

When I insulated and boarded my workshop/garage walls I found the roof to be the coolest and condensation/ eventually mould formed on the roof boards. I had to put a vapour barrier across the joists to stop this.

3x 6ft strip lights. And I second the use of tube protection. As I currently have only one working tube…

Condensation hasn’t been a problem up to now so hopefully that shouldn’t change…

I replaced the fluorescent tubes in our garage lights with LED tubes from screwfix; I’ve clobbered them pretty hard a few times but they’ve been fine as they’re made of plastic so are much tougher.

I much prefer them generally; they’re brighter than the old tubes, should last much longer, don’t buzz and turn on instantly.

Which ones, phiiiil? I did see those but the quoted lumens figures looked fairly low (at least in relation to the price)

If it were mine and I wanted to create a decent reflective ceiling, I’d fix noggins between the joists, screw a layer or 12mm plywood to the joists at 1200mm centres , then screw a layer of 12mm plywood, followed by a layer of 12mm plasterboard.
This will,give you a nice looking ceiling which can be decorated and allow you to fix though it into the plywood.
Fix the plywood with the sheets running the length of the room and the plasterboard across, or vice versa , just to stagger the joints.
Not forgetting that plasterboard ( in proper sized sheets anyway ) tends to be all 2400 x 1200 mm whereas plywood will be 2440 x 1220 mm in full sheets, so think about where noggins will fall across joints before you start.

Good idea but TBH I think I’d just go with the plasterboard then and make sure I knew where the joists where should I need to screw things in.

I’ve been thinking about lighting in the garage lately, although judging by the to-do list I generated from Kryton’s house renovation thread I won’t get around to doing anything about it until around 2020.

We’ve got 2 fluo tubes in a standard size (is there such a thing) single garage. They are fitted on the sides of the roof joists – one right at the far end and another about halfway down the garage. They are OK, but it is a bit dim in there I suspect the previous owner fitted them on the sides, rather than the underside of the joists to keep them slightly out of the way.

I’ve debated getting some flat LED lighting sheets & somehow incorporating them into the ceiling to provide an even diffuse glow.
I’m not sure how many I’d need though, so it could get expensive.
Something like this:

http://www.beamled.com/biard-40w-panel-light-600-600mm-led.html?gclid=CLmfno_75McCFWHlwgoddNMNIA&gclsrc=aw.ds

or perhaps even a load of these dotted around:

https://www.lightrabbit.co.uk/12-watt-frosted-led-ceiling-light-860-lumens-175mm-diameter.html

Have a look on Gumtree for second hand lights; I picked up 7 of the 60cm x 60cm 4-tube recesssed ceiling light panels and 16 of the twin bulb downlighters for about £50 a while ago. I’ve got a workshop about 4 times the space of yours and I’ve got the 6 panel lights in two rows in the middle, then I’ve boarded the two ends to give some storage and used 8 of the downlights in each end. It’s more than bright enough, if you have any jobs that need more light I would add a mobile light. I’ve been looking out for an old Dentist’s light to use for detailed work, but no luck so far!

Definietly board and paint the ceiling, it’ll brighten things up quite a bit!

Also gumtree, I spent a tenner on a 240v winch, when that’s installed, both ends will have a panel that drops out and can be used to hoist bits of kit up there. It’s a much neater solution than leaving the ceiling unboarded for getting stuff up and down as it means that heavy bits of kit that get occasional use can be stored away. Without that you’re firly limited to stuff that you can lift and balance across joists. One of the end panels is roughly bike-sized too, so all the bikes go out of the way too. Frees up the floor space for the pool table…..

I’ve debated getting some flat LED lighting sheets & somehow incorporating them into the ceiling to provide an even diffuse glow.

Those panel lights are for incorporating into standard tiled false ceilings. Trying to incorporate them into a standard ceiling would just over complicate things.

That’s a good idea paul – will check gumtree.

Gary_M – Member

Those panel lights are for incorporating into standard tiled false ceilings. Trying to incorporate them into a standard ceiling would just over complicate things.

But if the OP is thinking of boarding the ceiling over anyway, it shouldn’t be too much of a stretch to stick some cut-outs to incorporate those into (obviously assuming there’s space between the joists).
It would look nice & neat and not that much more work than putting new strip lights up there anyway.
IMO etc.

Currently looking at around £75 for the fluorescent lights – don’t want to spend loads more than that unless it really has a significant advantage somehow.

Currently looking at around £75 for the fluorescent lights

Is that with LED tubes?

No, fluoro tubes and diffusers.

This sort of thing

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-5ft-58W-High-Frequency-Fluorescent-Fitting+Diffuser/p/118092

Yeah, the normal tubes are pretty expensive aren’t they! Normal bulbs cost a fortune to run though, so I reckon they work out cheaper in the long run. I’d have a small fortune in bulbs if I hadn’t been keeping my eye out for a while.

I should have added that the 60 x 60s that I picked up are for the suspended ceiling type setups, so I had to make some MDF frames to sit the reflectors in and the lights on top. I then suspended them using some nylon coated steel rope that I got for buttons on ebay, attached with hooks to the purlins.

Vapour proof fluorescent fittings 350 mm above the floor in the working area + a spread of 3 5′ fittings at high level

IME diffusers cost roughly the same as a fluorescent with tube. They will save you from some accidents though

Fluorescents can be a bit slow to get going when it’s cold, board and insulation might help you there. LEDS are better in that respect

I’ve got two four foot fluorescents providing the main lighting in my garage but they cast my shadow over the workbench. Under shelf lighting at the back of the bench will sort that. Fluorescents flicker and the older varieties can make rotating tools appear still, a conventional bulb lighting the bench solves that

I have 3 tubes one 6ft and two 4ft.

The one above the work bench has a metal guard round it to stop me whacking it with bits of bike etc.

May have to move the centre one as i plan on popping in a auto closer at some point.

OK, I’m going for ply – I realise that it may not quite have the reflective benefits of plaster but I reckon I’ll have enough light (and white walls) so that’s not critical. It also means that I can remove/change/etc as I want over time and it’s easy to fit things to it where I want rather than being limited to the joists.

Thanks all for the responses.

And as a further follow up, I fitted 2 x 58W, 5ft fluorescent tubes (with diffusers) and that seems to be plenty of light even without painting the walls or ceiling white.

Lights were £29 each IIRC from Wickes.

You don’t need to board the ceiling for regs if nothing is above.
That’s how mine was left and it was passed by the inspector.
We’ve since built over the garage and it was either fireboard or double thickness of plaster boards to be compliant.
I don’t think that will be an issue for you though.

Yeah, I found that out after I wrote the earlier post but thanks 🙂

When we had ours boarded I got the builder to mark where the joists are so I could screw into them.
It’s definitely warmer with the ceiling boarded but then again that could be due to the building above it too!