While setting up lights in a garage it’s very important to take care of the utilities and demands of the place. I mean to say before setting up the lights we should look into which kind of lighting do we actually require for our garage. A garage or car workshop should always need a clearly lit up space so that the repairing works and other detailed works can be done uninterruptedly. Therefore while choosing lights for our garage we should always focus on the brightness and clarity of the lights. In my opinion, fluorescent lights are the best in order to light up a garage. It gives a very clear outlook which is eligible for the working conditions in a garage.

Before setting up the lights you should positively turn off the power and then remove the bare-bulb porcelain fixtures in order to replace each of them with an 8ft fluorescent fixture. You can also go for the 4ft bulbs if the 8ft one is difficult for you to handle. Again one thing should be carefully kept in mind that before fixing the fluorescent bulbs you should note down the lowest temperature that prevails in your garage. And thereby chose the fluorescent bulbs accordingly, because all fluorescent lights do not work in cold weathers. You must look for the starting temperature printed on the ballast. T8 size lamps are the best; though it may cost more gradually it will save your money over the time; as they are more energy efficient and can cope with lower temperatures. Another point to be kept in mind is that in case of a garage where you need to see the true color of paints and stains that are on your car or bike you should positively go for lamps with a Colour Rendering Index (CRI)of 85 or above; though this number is not printed on the bulb but you should go through the company’s product catalogue to be more precise. Finally, it comes to fixing the bulbs. Now you need to know the exact ceiling fixture location at first. Next, drill a hole of about 7/8 inches in the base of the fluorescent light’s metal housing, which should be done directly over the existing ceiling box. A half-inch electrical bushing must be snapped into the newly drilled hole so that sharp metal edges won’t cut into wires. Lastly, the fixtures should be directly screwed into ceiling joists in order to attach the fixture to the drywall ceiling.

Now that we have almost finished setting up our lights in the garage, we must keep a check that we have to keep a few things handy and they are:

Cordless drill

Non-contact voltage tester

Wire stripper/cutter

1-5/8inches screw½ inch electrical

4 ft. bulbs (CRI of 85 or above)

8 ft. fluorescent fixture

 Wire nuts

½ inch electrical bushing

These are the basic things you are going to need in order to set up lights for your garage, and following the above said instructions it is going to be easy for you to fix your lights properly. Hope this article will prove helpful to you.