The original garage blueprints included a solitary light fixture for the garage. Even though my vision for the garage wasn't elaborate at that point, I knew one incandescent bulb wasn't going to cut it. We installed four 2-lamp T8 flush mount fluorescent fixtures in a 2 x 2 configuration. More than enough light for an ordinary suburban garage, but this place is far from ordinary.
I have always used supplemental light sources when I am detailing, which I will continue to do, but I needed to upgrade the overall lighting situation. I decided to have an electrician install an additional five surface mounted fixtures and buttress them up against the existing four. The garage rail mounting brackets proved to be the biggest obstacle. I wanted to install the side bank of lights further out towards the walls, but the garage punch-out brackets were in the way. Although my original plan didn't work out, I was pleased with the layout because it was semi-symmetrical and flooded previously dim areas of the garage with tons of light.
In the process of installing a new garage door opener in June of 2020, power needed to be run through the attic space above the front portion of the garage ceiling. This provided me with an opportunity to install four flush-mount LED pot lights in the space just inside the car door. These four powerful 5000K bulbs operate off a switch located beneath the Liftmaster 8500W opener unit. This lighting is practical and it also adds a nice ambiance to the space.
In June of 2020, I switched the 32W Sylvania fluorescent bulbs over to LED's. I picked up 18 GE 6500K "Daylight" units that rated "80" on the colour scale. The light they emitted had a very crisp and invigorating tone. Each bulb was rated at 1800 Lumens which was very bright compared to the old school Sylvania bulbs. This was a simple upgrade, but then I decided to take things up a few notches in the lighting department.
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In the Fall of 2020, a lighting supply company owner out of Saskatchewan contacted me through Instagram to see if I would be interested in equipping my garage with his company's LED lights. LevKom Lighting sent me two packages containing 4x60-watt "trilights" along with 16x48" linkable tubes. With the help of an electrician friend, we were able to string eleven of the tubes together and the "trilights" simply screwed into the existing sockets. It was a bit of work patching the holes left behind from the previous fluorescent fixtures, but it was well worth the effort. The performance of these new LED lights is absolutely remarkable and I also like how the sleek design of the lights opens up the ceiling and provides a more modern and updated look.
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EVOLUTION OF LIGHT
Obviously, the lighting in my garage is way more than would ever be required in a typical suburban double garage. When the door is open at night, it pretty much lights up the entire street! It has been a fun and rewarding process getting my lighting to where it now is. These photographs demonstrate the three different stages of my lighting evolution.
If you have any questions or comments regarding my garage's lighting, feel free to contact me