Garage Lighting Ideas

Work lights provide a convenient, movable soure of illumination for your garage.worklights image by Glenn Jenkinson from Fotolia.com

A garage is an open, practical space. Not only is it useful for storing your cars and other possessions, but it is also a good place for making repairs, woodworking, sewing and any number of other purposes. A practical, multi-functional space, however, must have good lighting. If your garage is more than a simple place to park your car at the end of the day, make sure you set it up with plenty of light.

Fluorescent Lighting

Fluorescent tube lights have a number of advantages over incandescent bulbs and compact fluorescents for a garage. They provide clean, even light across the whole garage for excellent visibility; they will operate at nearly any temperature (which CFLs won't); and they will save you a significant amount of money, since they are more efficient than incandescents. The Family Handyman recommends that you install T8 lamps with electric ballasts, since they will work at temperatures below zero degrees Fahrehnheit. Install two or more parallel lamps to evenly cover your room with light. If you plan on using your garage as a workshop, install bulbs with a color rendering index of 85 or higher, since this will give you the truest color.

If your garage is also a workshop, keep it well furnished with a number of work lights in easy-to-access locations. Light your work table with clamp-on lights on extension cords. They will be right where you need them for routine projects, but easy to move if you need to work in another area of the garage. For detailed work, include a clamp light attached to a magnifying glass. Use a normal household lamp as an easy way to fix a shadowy corner of your garage out of reach of your primary overhead lighting.

If your workbench is installed beneath a cabinet, install a light into the underside of the cabinet to illuminate your workspace. Fluorescent lights are usually the best choice for this purpose. If your garage projects require an intensely focused beam of light, however, install a high-power halogen or xenon bulb. You could also hang work lights from hooks on the underside of the cabinet to provide additional lighting when you need it.