There was a great post in the bench racing a while back about garage lighting and estimating for how much light you'll need. Sadly, I couldn't find it...

I've got an 800 sq.ft garage with 12' ceilings that need lighting. The walls are drywalled and painted white, and the floor will be epoxy coated to reflect as much as possible.

Now we have T12, T8, and T5 lights. Of course I like T5 the best (most efficient, natural light) but they are real expensive (some $130 for a 4' strip). T8 seems like it would be the next best choice, but I've read some deals about people needing to replace the ballasts often.

Where should you buy them? Specific brands? Just go to Home Depot and buy what I can get?

Lastly, how do I know how much light I will need?

I hate florescent lighting. It's not natural at all. I'm going to put low voltage halogen lighting in my garage to light things up. It's a bit more pricey, but it's a better style of light.

T8 is the way to go. They are very efficient and inexpensive and provide a nice white light. The building that I work in has about 300 T8 fixtures and I don't think I replace more than 6 ballasts per year so I wouldn't consider that to be an issue. We do replace a lot of tubes but they are fairly inexpensive so it isn't an issue. Buy the fixtures at Home Depot and get Sylvania tubes, they last longer than the generic brands.

I hate florescent lighting. It's not natural at all. I'm going to put low voltage halogen lighting in my garage to light things up. It's a bit more pricey, but it's a better style of light.

I can't think of a more costly or less efficient way to light a garage than with low voltage halogen. It was designed to light display cases and convention booths. It definately is a more pure light than fluorescent but the first time a transformer or bulb blows (which happens frequently) it's going to cost you big dollars. You would be better off putting in high pressure sodium, you'd just have to turn the lights on five minutes before you wanted to go out to the garage.

I prefer the florescents. I do know there are units designed to work in colder weather but I don't recall which ones they were. I researched it all before my new garage became a new kitchen.

My garage is 1050 ft with 12 ft ceilings also. I have four rows of four the 8 foot double tube type flourescent. It has been 10 years I this year is the first year I had to replace a few ballast. They provide decent lighting although I still use a drop light when in or under the car. Also my walls are t-111 siding so I would think the white drywall would be even better.

I wont do halogens either. I did that for 5 years, cost a ton, and the bulbs didn't last at all. Never, never, never again.

According to this lighting program I have, if I want the light quality similar to an inspection lab, I need 20 (!) 2 bulb, 4 foot T8 strips for my two car area of the garage. Holy cow.

Codi is right about the cold weather ballasts. I just did T-8 Flourescents shop lights (~$10) in my garage and had to return them after I opened the box and it said for Temperatures >50*F only. I didn't realize there was even a difference...
I'm not an expert here, but if you believe the Lowes' lady, everything is going to T-8 and they are going to stop making T-10 fixtures (not bulbs yet).
I ended up getting (3) T-8 Cold Weather hanging shop lights by Metalux Model 8055 SS. (~$15)
I tried 3 types of bulbs: Sylvania T-10 6500 Kelvin lamps, Sylvania T-8 5000 Kelvin lamps and Sylvania T-10 "Kitchen" lamps.
The 6500 Kelvin lamps seem a little brighter but bluer.
The 5000 Kelvin T-8 lamps seemed equal to the T-10 "Kitchen" lamps.

I found that 3 shops lights in my 2 car garage without windows is great light for everywhere except the black interior of the car, where I have to point a halogen light or something.

Hope that helps,
Scott

definately t8's, thats the most energy and cost efficient way to go. all businesses (that use flourescents) use them anymore, and they are readily available everywhere.
without knowing the dimension of your garage, i'll assume 20X40. if you went with two tandem 4 footer T8's (they dont make 8's), spaced them 5" off the wall, and 10' between, with maybe another three 4's across the front, so they formed a "T" with a gap between the top and bottom (does that make sense?) you'd have lots of light. so, two 4' tandems, slightly biased to the front (opening of garage) say, 4' from wall to end, 8' of fixtures, with 8' left over on the other end, and center a single 4' running the opposite direction (based on 20' deep). just adjust accordingly to your dimensions, add more to the row of two if deeper and close up the spacing. this is exactly how i plan to do mine, the 4's across the front will help light up under the hood.
no way in hell would you need 20 fixtures in that size area, unless you were real serious about light, and lets face it, there would still be dark spots under the car, inside, etc.
and yes, if you will have a cold garage (50* or less) spec cold weather ballasts. hope that helps (and i wasn't too confusing), good luck

I can't think of a more costly or less efficient way to light a garage than with low voltage halogen. It was designed to light display cases and convention booths. It definately is a more pure light than fluorescent but the first time a transformer or bulb blows (which happens frequently) it's going to cost you big dollars. You would be better off putting in high pressure sodium, you'd just have to turn the lights on five minutes before you wanted to go out to the garage.

Low voltage Halogen lights are not as efficient as florescent lights, but provide a better light. Yeah the cost is a bit more, but the failure rates are much better then they used to be. And their not as expensive as you might think. I can light an entire garage with low voltage lights for under $200, and provide a much better light. The cost for the MR16 bulbs are more though. You can get a good system at a lighting store and have better lighting in your garage. Most of my client’s prefer the low voltage halogen to fluorescents.

I agree with the T-8 crowd...that is the way to go, easy to install, they make low temp ballasts for colder weather, or you could try clear tube plastic envelopes that fit over the tubes to make them fire, (I know they work for magnetic type ballasts). I haven't needed them for a electronic ballast yet. You can purchase different kelvin rating tubes...the lower the rating the more yellow/red and the higher the more blue the color is...I also agree that sylvania lamps are superior then most on the market....stay away from GE if you can, you won't be as happy. A good lighting or electrical supplier might be the place to visit (they will have a larger selection), instead of those local building supply warehouses...Good luck I hope this helps...Mike :D

Somebody mentioned burning out ballasts. The lights I have are about five years old, flourescent, and were the same type as the city put in, anyway the latest and greatest so the city electrician told me. Every once in a while I would burn out a ballast, I ask the electrician if they also had a problem, he said no, well the heat from the shop would burn them out, after I figured this out, I put in a air conditioner. Now if get the little sweatbeads on the forehead, on with the ac, I haven't burnt out a ballast since then, it's probably been three years. Some time when you're sweating in your shop, get a step ladder and put your head next to the ceiling, you won't believe how warm it gets. I think these newer lights put off more heat then the old style.
Matt, I don't know your age, but I'm 64, and at my age you can't get enough light. I just went out and counted my lights.
My shop is 24 x 24 with a 26 x 30 addition on the back. 1356 sq ft.
Eight and a half foot ceilings, there is 15 lights 2 bulbs per light and there 8 footers, so 30 8 footers, I don't really notice it on my electric bill, but from my stand point that is the minimum, you can't get enough light.
Hope this helps out.
Rob

Go to garagejunkies.com. That is one cool site for garage type questions. I just ask the same sort of question and got 20+ responses, some very technical.
Mike

I've got a two car garage with 8' height to the rafters. I put 8' florescent lights one on each side of the car, and one in front and to the rear. If you "frame" the car with lights, the middle of the car will recieve enough side light to be OK.

DON"T get used fixtures, as tempting as they may be. I got a bunch of 4 foot fixtures for nothing and had to change ballasts and bulbs over and over. I guess that's why they were free! I replaced them with new 8 foot fixtures and they are 15 years old now and still have not had to change more than a fiew tubes.