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Downsize No More - Now Preparing to Move In

dusty

The house (old shop) has been sold. We close on the new house next Friday. Then it will be time to prepare for moving in.

First two tasks:

Paint and Install Overhead Lighting.

What color to paint is my biggest concern right now followed by what kind of lighting do I want.

Suggestions (preferably based on experience) would be greatly appreciated.

The floor will be a light gray Rustoleum Epoxy with small white and black flakes. The shop floor measures about 20' x 20' and the ceiling is lower than my old shop (about 9').

Gene Howe

Now is the time for LED shop lights on bright white ceilings.

No experience with LEDs, just lots of You Tube research, watching other shop installations and recommendations. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-gAoZqNHtlU&t=631s is my most recent veiwing and the most helpful....so far.

joedw00

Congratulations on your move.

ryanbp01

Dusty-

I installed LED lights in my shop last October after having older fluorescents up for 17 years and all I can say is WOW!! No dimming and waiting for lights to brighten due to cool conditions. I purchased mine at Lowe's. After wiring in one unit, I just simply plugged in another unit to it (after affixing the housing to the ceiling) and that was it! One word of experience: purchase LEDs rated for "daylight", not for "brightness", unless you want a bluish hue. These units are 4' long and look like 2 fluorescent tubes side by side when unlit. Do not be fooled, the LEDS are in fact protected by a clear plastic housing. If you want to know the specific manufacturer, pm me and I'll get that to you.

BPR

dusty

I have always had a white shop (walls and ceiling) and would like to experience something else. My concern is lighting. I do not see like I used to and am concerned that introducing a color into the shop will have an adverse effect even with better lighting.

While the shop is EMPTY I want to get this done and done right. No snap decisions.

beeg

I'd say paint the walls white, maybe a gloss paint. Also install PLENTY of lights.

heathicus

The ballasts in my old florescent shop lights started dying recently so I'm slowly converting them to LED lights. But, as usual, I'm doing it the cheap way. I bought several rolls of 5630 LED strips. Each roll is about 16ft long (5 meters) with 300 LEDs for about $5.

To convert the fixture, I simply take out the old florescent tubes and discard them. Remove the housing cover that is directly behind the tubes and covers the ballasts and wiring. Clean that cover real good including a wipe down with alcohol. The LED strip has an adhesive back so it's just peel and stick. Each strip is long enough to make 4 rows back and forth. Re-install the cover and extend the wiring to my power source.

My power source is an old PC power supply unit. On the PSU, I cut off all the connectors, cut back everything but the yellow (12v) and black (ground) wires, and tied the green to a ground wire (so the unit will power on when it receives power - it's like pushing the power button on the computer). The PSU is in a protective box on the ceiling plugged in to the same outlet my lights were plugged in to and controlled by the switch by the door.

I've been very happy with this lighting. The LEDs are brighter and better light than the florescent. I've converted 3 of my 8 fixtures, doing it as they fail, but will do the others as soon as I get time whether they fail or not. I'm out of new bulbs and I have a couple that have started flickering and driving me nuts.

Power is an issue since the LEDs are 12v DC, 2.5Amps per 16ft strip.

The 12v rail on my PSU is rated for 18Amps. So I can power 7 of my 8 fixtures with it although I'll probably only do 6. Finding individual 12v power supplies for the other two fixtures shouldn't be too hard.

Total cost was about $40 for 8 fixtures. The drop in LED replacement tubes I saw at Lowes were $20 to $50 per tube. Multiply that x2 then x8 and that comes out to be a lot more expensive.

twistsol

LED lights are the way to go. My shop has 20 recessed can lights with 100w equivalent LED floods. They are bright white, not soft white, so I painted the walls a pale yellow to give better color in the shop. The wall started out as antique white, but everything in the shop looked sick, I was like shop of the living dead.

The ceiling is basic white ceiling paint. I've found that BEHR ceiling paint from HD is a brighter white than Valspar and whatever the brand was that I picked up at Menards. I have no experience with other brands.

heathicus

beeg wroteI'd say paint the walls white, maybe a gloss paint. Also install PLENTY of lights.

A buddy of mine recently converted a storage shed into a workshop and put far too much research into paint and lighting (he went in with me on ordering the LED strips so we could get better pricing). According to him, a satin finish is better for more even lighting than a gloss. And, a primer paint is better than a top coat paint. It has something to do with the thickness and the amount of aluminum oxide in it. So his conclusion was to use a satin white primer and leave it at that. And with just a couple LED strips, his shop seems "well lit."

reible

I wish I could empty my garage shop and do all the things you are going to do, well except the lighting as I really happy with that now.

I started out years ago with the T8 tubes and magnetic ballasts which at the time was a good bet. But as the progress of lighting went along it was clear that the lighting I had was less then wonderful due to energy use and color.

I removed all of that lighting and went with the T12's and electronic ballasts and moved to a white light. Brighter, more energy efficient and a much more preferred color temperature. But again progress in the field left me wanting.

As the old tubes were wearing out I began looking at LED's. Not only were they more efficient and going to last a lot longer but I could get the color balance I liked. The down size was the price. When they finally hit my price point I started doing a replacement by buying new tubes and doing the modifications needed to use them to the fixtures. The new electronics in the fixture made it more of a job then just cutting a couple of wires and putting some parts changes in but still not all that bad.

Now all of my lights are the LED tubes. I still like the tubes because I can if needed just replace them like the old tubes with a twist. Some of the new fixtures are made so that the whole fixture needs to be replaced if the lights wear out or are damaged. I don't like that idea but that will be up to you if you can live with it or not.

I have my lights on "circuits" so I don't have to have them all on at the same time but find now that I have these lights the energy usage is not so bad that I end up turning them all on when I am working in there.

It is so nice to have a well lit shop now. While not a problem for you, they also come on right away when it 35 degrees and they not only come right on they don't flicker.

I think the only choice is which LED light.

Ed

roy_okc

Dusty,

Congrats on the new digs.

I've put up 3 LED light strips in my garage, 2 are these: https://www.samsclub.com/sams/linkable-shop-light-honeywell-led/prod20590154.ip?xid=plp:product:1:6 and the other is similar and uses same linking cord. I'll put up more eventually. They give off great light and not much heat.

sswoodworker48

I also have 3 of the Honeywell lights from Sam's. Had them for less than a year but, so far, very happy with them. Lots of light. I will be adding more in the future.

masonsailor2

Congratulations on the new shop Dusty ! Very cool to be able to start from scratch and design everything the exactly the way you want it. I agree with you that the sterile white shop is not as appealing. I have had that and it was not as nice an environment to work in. One item I did in my current and probably final shop that made a big difference in lighting was adding the white foam insulation to the doors. I was not expecting the difference it made in the available light in the shop. The other design change I made in this shop is there are no upper cabinets which leaves the walls free for hanging jigs and fixtures. I never seem to have enough wall space but not having any uppers definitely helped. Another consideration is the dust collection. I put my unit on the outside of the shop. I did it somewhat temporary in the beginning because I wasn’t sure if dragging all my cool air out of the shop in summer was the best idea here in Las Vegas. As it turned out the AC is able to catch back up fairly fast and the advantages of dragging the dust outside and not recirculating it were well worth it.

Paul

dusty

My thanks to all who have made suggestions.

Since I plan to retain my full compliment of Shopsmith equipments I will have no extra (unused ) space. I am planning a wall (approximately 8' long) for cabinets that are high enough to roll the 520 under while being low enough to reach over. That may become impossible since I am height limited.

I will be giving up my shop wide work bench. I don't know what will take its place but I just do not have enough floor space for the luxury of that size work surface. What I had was made from solid core (fire doors from work) and they were "perfectly" level and flat.

Probably cannot go outside with the dust collector because of the proximity to my neighbors. This is another sacrifice because I have been spoiled by wide open space.

One question: Can I have too much light?

robinson46176

I am quite fond of light yellow and two shades of light yellow are what I bought. It's still in the cans but I'm getting pretty close... I've often used yellow in stores due to the associated connotation of trust it gives to others (you can Google that). It doesn't matter in my shop, I know better than too trust me... :)

My second choice would be a very light green. I like blues but it tends to soak up a bit too much light. Oranges, reds and purple shades can generate anger and frustration instead of soothing you. Light tans and browns are nice but don't make a room as light as light yellows or greens.

Many many years ago we painted the farm shop all white inside and it made it lighter but I don't really like it. I like the colors but keep the colors light and avoid shades that have gray in them. I'm going to use some light gray as a secondary (think narrow strips) trim color but don't want any gray shading to the base colors.

As for lights I do like a mix of kinds of lights. I still have one 2 tube 8' common fluorescent but most are still the curly CF's, largely in 150 Watt equivalents. I also am running two 200 watt incandescent bulbs in the general area of the tablesaw and the work bench. I'm slowly converting much of my lighting to LED and really like them but I fear that if I was all LED it might be a little too white and glare prone.

Since most of my lighting is low draw I have it all on one circuit but I recently added one 40 watt equivalent LED that only draws 6 watts to another circuit for a night light and in case my lighting circuit ever trips (never has) I won't be standing in blackness with a running power tool. So far I'm just letting it run 24-7.

Rural King has an LED large shop light to replace the old 4 bulb shop lights. It looks like step-plate and has a wire grid over the lights area to protect them. RK sells them for about $70. On the regular LED "shop lights" RK gets about $25 but Wally World is about $5 cheaper... So far WW does not have the bigger lights.

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benush26

dusty wrote

One question: Can I have too much light?

Its snowing again so I’m back inside :mad: but I get to visit this forum for the second time this week! :D

My first thought is that you might have too much light over one area, where it might be better utilized in an other. Do you have a floor layout finalized? In your old shop was there an area that you had wished you had more light, like an assembly area? Now is your chance to add more. If you are going with LED lights, I seriously doubt that you could overload the breaker, especially if it is 20 amps. If you are going with 4’ lights, can you mount them in place temporarily to see if they fit your needs? Then move or add as needed?

My first thought was similar to someone asking if you could have too many clamps :p , with the answer is, of course not. However, I think you can choose the number and placement of the lights much easier than after the floor and wall cabinet spaces are filled.

Have fun in the new digs!

Be well,

Ben

dusty

This shop will be used similarly to the old shop meaning I will do a lot of work with the garage door open. Ceiling lights will be obscured. I've got to deal with that because about one third of the ceiling will be covered when the door is open.

Skizzity

dusty wroteThis shop will be used similarly to the old shop meaning I will do a lot of work with the garage door open. Ceiling lights will be obscured. I've got to deal with that because about one third of the ceiling will be covered when the door is open.

LED lights installed on the door?

dusty

Skizzity wrote
dusty wroteThis shop will be used similarly to the old shop meaning I will do a lot of work with the garage door open. Ceiling lights will be obscured. I've got to deal with that because about one third of the ceiling will be covered when the door is open.
LED lights installed on the door?

I will give that serious consideration. I have previously had area lights installed on the door but that was unsuccessful I believe due to vibration when the door was operated

robinson46176

I'm guessing that the door is probably 16' wide? Probably also has an opener on it? That makes it a bit tougher. I want to add a light in my farm shop where it would fall about the center of the raised door but that door is only 10' wide. On it I can just run something like a 2"x6" across under the opened door, hang it from the door tracks and in my case also from a handy beam on each side. Then I can just mount the light under the 2"x6" and the door will open and close above it. 16' plus and an opener shoots that down.

How about a photo lighting boom arm like this pictured, or maybe even one in under the door from each side. No door interference and could swing back against the walls if needed. They could also be swung a bit to just "adjust" lighting. The one pictured said 7'. They could also be made DIY from something like thin-wall EMT or even wood.

Temp - light boom.jpg