"f86sabre" (f86sabre)
12/28/2014 at 14:37 • Filed to: Garage, lighting
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"f86sabre" (f86sabre)
12/28/2014 at 14:37 • Filed to: Garage, lighting | 2
| 4 |
My house is 1978 vintage with a two car garage. The lighting is also 1978 vintage and it sucks. Basically go two fixtures running down the middle. I like to work on the cars with the doors open and wanted lighting near the opening. What to do?
The heart of the problem was how do I suspend lights below the open doors and hardware while mantaining headroom? After some searching of the Internet I stumbled across the idea of using steel wall studs. And some garage door mounting L channels with the predrilled holes. I tied drop downs made from the Ls with nuts and bolts and then mounted the steel studs horizontally the length of the garage. The actual cross members that the lights attach to are held to the other horizontal members with little C clamps so I can move things around. Surprisingly, it is all sturdy! I experiment a bit with lightweight chain and that went poorly. Using the studs was thr way to go.
Electrically, I had a ceiling plug I could use. I zip tied an extension chord down to the top of the studs and plugged in. I secured all the light fixture lights with zip ties as well. It all worked.
I figure this setup will allow me to move the lights forward and aft in the garage depending on what I need. I can also double up on lights on one side of needed.
Spaceball-Two
> f86sabre
12/28/2014 at 14:40 |
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I need to do something like this. My house was built in 1959 and at some point someone used the garage as a living space so there is only one fixture. I've been using shop lights but that gets old. Do you mind me asking the cost?
Nisman
> Spaceball-Two
12/28/2014 at 15:06 |
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Check out CL, should be able to pick up some fluorescent fixtures for next to nothing!
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Spaceball-Two
> Nisman
12/28/2014 at 15:07 |
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Great idea! Thank you.
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f86sabre
> Spaceball-Two
12/28/2014 at 18:28 |
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The lighting units were $20 or so apiece. I used 5 12 ft steel studs and they were $6 apiece at home dept. I used 4 48 inch L angles and they were $10 a piece. Nuts, bolts and washers were another $30 in total as I bought the entire boxes. $8 for small C clamps. So, all up $100 or so. You will also want wood screws to tap into the rafters if you can't reuse mounting hardware from your garage doors.