Garage interior lighting

How you illuminate the inside of your garage is important. It is easy to get used to a very basic single light set up in a garage, however there are better, safer and more versatile alternatives.

Visibility

A typical garage has a large internal volume and it often has obstructions ranging from roof joist and rafters, to brick piers and various belongings that are stored or leant up against walls. For this reason, being able to see clearly is important.

Additionally, many people also have a bench or work area in their garage and this zone will really benefit from having its own lighting.

Garage lighting options

When it comes to options there are many. Fluorescent light tubes (strip lighting) offer an almost natural white light and they have the advantage that they do not cast shadows. This can make them very useful if you have a work bench or if you detail your car (i.e. clean and polish it) inside the garage. They can be single, double or triple tube width.

Having a central overhead light is ideal for general use and for entering or leaving the garage at night. However this type of illumination results in very dissipated light at both ends of the garage. The way around this is to have a single switch or remote operation for this all-purpose centrally located light, with independent lights for other areas, e.g. a bench or work zone. When this is the case spot lights, LED’s or other “direct beam” lights can be used to illuminate a specific area. They can also be switched on and off independently of the main all-purpose light. This light could be operated by remote control, or switches by the door (doors).

Specialist lighting

If the garage doubles as a den or workshop, then there are many different lighting options ranging from two, three or four equally spaced fluorescent tube lights to individual zone lighting.

Zone lighting takes account of the specific needs of a work area and the activities performed within it and, as a result, it offers the best and most specific lighting solution.

As an example, with a workshop and workbench it may be advantageous to have some up-lighting to illuminate the underside of an object being worked on. Or it may be desirable to have an adjustable torch light (flash light) on an flexible and manipulatable arm.

Control

How the garage lights are controlled, i.e. turned on and off or adjusted, is very important.

If you enter the garage from a connecting door to the house, then your all purpose light can be switched on manually. However if you are driving into the garage at night there will be a big benefit in having remote control operation. This prevents the driver (or passengers) from having to leave the car to turn on the light and this improves security and safety.

For more information about remote controls for garage doors and garage and driveway lighting, see this remote controls page.

In addition to manual and remote turn-on and turn-off lighting controls, the other option is dimmers switches.

Dimmer switches allow the intensity (or brightness) or a light to be adjusted by turning a small dial like switch. Turn it one way and it dims the light, turn it the other way and it increases the light’s intensity. Lights of this kind can be useful in work areas where a direct beam of very bright light may be required occasionally, but where lower lighting levels are adequate for most of the time.