The garage is one of the sections of the house that can be truly multipurpose. You can either turn it into a temporary office, workshop, studio, or even a storage space. Regardless of what you are using your garage for, you need the best types of garage lighting ideas to optimize the space. This way, you can also move freely, significantly reducing any chances of an accident occurring when doing any of your projects.
Keep in mind that choosing garage lighting ideas can prove difficult due to the numerous options to pick from. However, one guiding factor when choosing garage lighting ides is to get an option that covers the entire garage and evenly distributes the light inside the garage.
Tips to choosing the right garage lighting
Have a layered illumination
There are three types of artificial lighting, accent, ambient, and task. Your garage lighting idea should have all these three types of lighting options. This is because garages can be used for various purposes.
Use bulbs with enough wattage
People have different garages with varied lighting requirements, which is mostly dependent on the size of the garage. Homeowners with large garages may have to buy bulbs with high wattage and are also durable.
Think about bulbs with CRI
When shopping for bulbs, look out for options with the Color Rendering Index. These bulbs are designed to render all the colors of the fittings, paint, and furniture in the garage.
Select light fixtures depending on what you’re using the garage for
Regardless of the type of lighting, you need to focus your fixtures on the functionality of the garage.
Types of garage lighting
Flush Mount Lighting
Flush mount lights are a common feature in both garages and interior home lighting. This lighting idea features dome-shaped fixtures mounted to the ceiling. They are mostly preferred due to the decorative and versatile nature since they can be used in casual and formal spaces. These fixtures provide ambient lighting, which is perfect for daily tasks in the garage.
Flush mount lighting systems usually come with adjustable light heads, allowing you to change the direction of the light, focusing it on the specific parts of the room you need the light. Flush mount lights come in various shapes, designs and sizes. The semi-flush mounts with a fabric shade are one of the popular options providing warm and diffused light.
High Bay Lighting
This is one of the best options when it comes to lighting up large garages. This lighting option produces very powerful light, which is perfect for garages as most garages are dull and dim in nature. High bay lighting fixtures are usually suspended using pendants, chains, and hooks and can also be fixed directly onto the ceiling. Just as the name suggests, this lighting option is ideal for spaces, rooms, and garage interiors with high ceilings.
This lighting option offers strong illumination that is capable of brightening vast spaces and can also be used for industrial and commercial purposes. The lighting option provides clear and uniform lighting with minimal glare, giving it an edge over other lighting ideas. Most of the fixtures of high bay lighting are fluorescent lights, metal halide lights, induction lights, and LED light are designed to increase energy efficiency while increasing the lifespan of the bulbs.
Fluorescent bulbs
Fluorescent bulbs are largely considered a major upgrade when it comes to selecting a lighting option. These bulbs have proven to be effective and efficient for both small-scale and commercial lighting compared to incandescent bulbs.
These bulbs consist of tube-shaped bulbs filled with mercury vapor that produce light when ionized. The glass tubing holding the mercury vapor has a phosphorous coating, inert gas, and a set of electrodes on either side.
Fluorescent bulbs are designed to function for a long time producing illumination at wavelengths that are beneficial for practically every task. These bulbs, however, require ballasts, devices meant to control the electricity for circuit protection, to function optimally. The temperature inside these bulbs plays a major role in determining the light intensity and efficiency. This is because low temperatures cause the mercury to condense while high temperatures and UV and light intensity are greatly reduced due to the self-absorption of the mercury vapor.
Shop lights
For homeowners who have converted their garages into workshops, this is probably one of the best options to pick from. These lights are a modern and improved version of Fluorescent lights and provide the best illumination for small and compact spaces. One thing that stands out when choosing this option is the fact that they need affordable and straightforward fixtures providing the best lighting for your garage.
This lighting option is durable with a low energy consumption rate. They also provide a balance of color temperatures, making them a popular choice for garages. Most Shop lights come with LED technology, giving them an edge over other lighting ideas by assuring garage owners of increased efficiency and durability.
Compact Fluorescent Bulbs
This light option comes under fluorescent bulb options with features and benefits that distinguish them from other bulbs. These bulbs are also referred to as energy-saving light and Compare Fluorescent light. These lights were originally designed to replace incandescent light bulbs.
These bulbs are fitted with a tube that is either folded or curved to easily fit in spaces meant for incandescent bulbs. These bulbs also come in spiral bulbs used in table lamps. However, they still provide a perfect lighting option for our garage. Their selling point is centered on energy efficiency and the ability to produce a natural kind of light. These bulbs are also a popular choice due to their ability to radiate a spectral power distribution, which allows them to perfectly emit the color of the light.
Halogen Bulbs
These bulbs have a close resemblance to incandescent bulbs because of the presence of a filament that is heated to produce light. The only difference is their high energy efficiency brought by the halogen cycle. The bulb is fitted with a tungsten filament enclosed in a small quartz envelope casing. The halogen gas present in the bulb combines with the tungsten vapor. This combination results in tungsten atoms evaporating and settling on the bulb’s filament.
Halogen bulbs are designed to serve you for almost a year generating a daylight kind of light that you need to get by in your garage. Halogen bulbs surpass other bulbs due to their reduced eye strain, making them a good option when engaging in an activity that requires sufficient lighting.
LED lights
LED lights consist of light-emitting diodes producing electric light inside the light fixture. Compared to other lighting options, these are probably the longest-serving choice, with increased performance and energy efficiency. LED bulbs are often referred to as energy savers since a heat sink absorbs the heat produced by these bulbs. This technology helps keep the bulb cool even when touched and effectively increases the amount of energy saved. For this reason, you’ll find plenty of garage LED lighting options.
These bulbs’ selling points include no noise, lack of mercury content, they don’t emit infrared or UV rays, and don’t burn out. The one disadvantage to these bulbs is that they are directional. Hence to get the best out of them, you may have to strategically install several of them all over the garage.
Conclusion
The article provides a guideline for choosing the most ideal types of garage lighting. It would be best if you considered these tips while getting lighting for your garage. LED lights are among the most preferred lighting for your garage. However, with the information above, you can now make the right decision.