How To Choose The Best Light Fixtures For Your Garage

Garages are essentially a part of your home, but specifically isolated from the rest of the house and serve as task or storage spaces. In most cases, they serve as parking garages for one or more vehicles. Garages are not necessarily small, the size and use of the space is subjective to anyone’s choice and regardless, using LED light fixtures to optimise the lighting situation in any garage is optimal.

Importance of having a lighting layout in garages

There are several reasons a lighting layout is necessary especially for garages serving as workspaces.

1. Light fixtures in and around the garage are important for security as well as safety and efficiency.
2. a garage which is of use as a repair station requires light which is powerful enough to enhance focus on detail and is not entirely obstructed by objects in the surroundings.

Choosing the right fixtures

A chunk of careful planning goes into selecting the right fixture for most garages and it is entirely subjective to the layout and the function of the space. The main focus is always bringing about a visible change which pertains to efficient and sustainable function of the place for a specific period of time.

The requirements of garages differ greatly from that of the house, so do the light fixtures. There are many light fixtures available for garages broadly categorised as garage lighting fixtures. But moving forward with it, the best approach is to take notice of a few things such as:

Creating a specific layout

A layout helps with many things such as:

• Calculating the total lumen requirement
• Choosing appropriate fixtures for general lighting
• Choosing appropriate fixtures for ambient lighting
• Choosing lumen specific fixtures
• Choosing CCT for fixtures
• Selecting the appropriate mounting option for fixtures
• Choosing the number of fixtures needed
• Size and Placement of each fixture

These are a few parameters which require important consideration as it ensures smooth functioning of these fixtures for extended time periods.

Choosing LED light fixtures

LED light fixtures are specifically designed to combat all the challenges of lighting in spaces with challenging aspects. These light fixtures are safety rated for use in damp locations or locations with fluctuating temperature conditions. In such spaces, there is a lack of any natural light source generally so they require powerful light. Here is a list of few fixtures compatible in a garage or workspace setting:

- LED shop lights

LED shop lights consist of one or two LED T8 tubes. These shop lights are highly versatile and efficient for garages due to their basic light propagating features. The housing of LED shop lights is made up of aluminum and covered with glass lens. The fixture is IP rated against moisture, dust and temperature. These shop lights are mountable in different ways such as : surface or flush mounted, suspended mounted. This is adjustable which allows light at different elevation levels. For example, they are highly feasible around workstations where tasks on hand require focus to detail, the light hangs overhead for effective light spread. 

- LED wraparound lights

LED wraparound lights are another quite common light fixture for garage lighting and excellent for use in low ceiling garages. The light fixture is fashioned systematically where the lens wraps around the lamp. The lens’s material is acrylic or polycarbonate which is highly resistant against any scratch or breakage. The light spread is wide and across all corners for general lighting. These fixtures are installable at various heights similar to that of shop lights i.e they can suspend at lower heights or flush against the ceiling. Some also allow dual mounting options which are interchangeable according to requirement.

- LED high bays

LED high bays are mostly adequate for large ceiling areas and in garages with ceiling height above 20- 25 feet, it is convenient to install UFO high bay lights. These lights are pairable with reflectors for effective spread of light across a wide angle. Although linear high bays are not the best option here as they are quite powerful and suitable for larger areas.

There are several advantages of choosing LED light fixtures, which are:

• High lumen output
• Directional supply of light
• Pairable with motion sensors
• Selectable correlated colour temperature
• Selectable Colour rendering index
• Low energy consumption
• Low maintenance

Lighting layout is effective when the light fixtures match the requirements or else the investments will cost a lot more than anticipated in the long run. These light fixtures are particular to garage layouts and work well in situations where lighting is a thorough necessity. Selecting the appropriate fixture for your garage will result in effective lighting which is sustainable for many years and is super low maintenance.