LED Lights for a workshop?

[Bob Impact]

OK before you read everything below, this is all really a long way to go to ask if anyone has used any of the newer LED lighting in a workshop/garage environment, and how well they've performed. What about other types of lighting?

I've been slowly remodeling my detached garage (14 x 24ft) as a workshop for myself, so far I've re-painted the walls, put down an epoxy floor, added hard lines for the compressor and added in all the various other nonsense. The previous owner had insulated the garage, including the roof, which is an open gable design, but for some reason didn't put ANY vents in at all. The lighting today is 3 8 foot dual bulb fluorescent fixtures attached to the ceiling joists, and two more attached to the rafter plates. Problem is that the lack of ventilation in a fully insulated garage caused it to sweat, which trashed the 3 fixtures in the middle, they still work but they need new ballasts & bulbs (I've since pulled the moldy ass insulation down from the ceiling).

So now I'm getting ready to put in a drop/acoustic ceiling, which will require dropping the lights down, and I'm thinking about just getting all new fixtures. I was originally going to go with the same style of lights with a single Halogen over my bench but I figure I may as well get something worth it now instead of doing all of the work and hating the lighting. It feels a bit dim in there now but with no ceiling & the lights so far away I'm not sure if that's a problem with the amount of lighting.

[landarch]

I'm doing my kitchen and went with the LED's just to avoid having to put those god awful CFL lights in my ceiling. Will see tomorrow how they look since they're not in yet. I believe in 2012 the old style incandescent bulbs will be completelty phased out due to federal regulations. It's worth the extra dough for the LED fixtures just in the name of planning ahead. Good luck!

[Chigworthy]

I'm not sure about the LED lights, but here's another option:

We recently bought a house, which is about 20 years old. The previous owner was the original one, and they enjoyed what I call the "Country Cornball" style of design. In the kitchen, which had blood red walls and lots of honey oak wood, there was 2 fluorescent tube fixtures in an oak box with those beautiful plastic sheets for diffusers. We could not figure out what to do for lighting after yanking it out. We did not want fluorescent fixtures, but I would have had to tear the ceiling sheetrock out in order to configure regular fixtures in a functional and aesthetic manner. We took a trip to the high-end lighting store. They sold us on a single fluorescent tube fixture, which cost about $260. I'm sure it was a little overpriced, but we are very happy with it. It is electronically-ballasted, which means that there is no flickering or buzzing, and the light turns on instantly like a regular fixture. The garage has four more of the archaic, classroom buzzing and flickering epilepsy lights, and I will eventually replace them with the modern equivalent. The light output is perfect for out there.

If you go with the LEDS, post some pics. Also any other pics from you shop project would be cool. I've been thinking about an epoxy floor and other things.

[Bob Impact]

If you go with the LEDS, post some pics. Also any other pics from you shop project would be cool. I've been thinking about an epoxy floor and other things.

I can't possibly recommend the epoxy floor any more highly, it's fantastic. The only real advice I could give is to prep/clean the floor twice as well as you think you need to. Make certain you get an anti-skid additive, without it the floor is like ice when it's wet, and have a second person to help you, for one they can be painting the corners & spreading out the color flakes while you roll, secondly it becomes really hard to see if you missed a spot so another set of eyes is really helpful.

The previous owner beat the hell out of the garage floor, I got it almost perfectly clean, I spent every night out there with a power washer and ever horrible for you chemical you can imagine, and even then the difference in the "smoothness" of the floor caused pretty significant differences in the level of glossiness. I did the entire floor with one high gloss gray 2 car garage kit, and then had to go back over that with a separate coat of just the gloss to get it looking even. Once I did that it looks great, and it's insanely easy to keep clean.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_76a9H4OLfjM/TN_9mkiSy-I/AAAAAAAAATA/blVdcCjX98A/s400/2010-06-27%2012.32.02.jpg

[Chigworthy]

I can't possibly recommend the epoxy floor any more highly, it's fantastic. The only real advice I could give is to prep/clean the floor twice as well as you think you need to. Make certain you get an anti-skid additive, without it the floor is like ice when it's wet, and have a second person to help you, for one they can be painting the corners & spreading out the color flakes while you roll, secondly it becomes really hard to see if you missed a spot so another set of eyes is really helpful.

The previous owner beat the hell out of the garage floor, I got it almost perfectly clean, I spent every night out there with a power washer and ever horrible for you chemical you can imagine, and even then the difference in the "smoothness" of the floor caused pretty significant differences in the level of glossiness. I did the entire floor with one high gloss gray 2 car garage kit, and then had to go back over that with a separate coat of just the gloss to get it looking even. Once I did that it looks great, and it's insanely easy to keep clean.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_76a9H4OLfjM/TN_9mkiSy-I/AAAAAAAAATA/blVdcCjX98A/s400/2010-06-27%2012.32.02.jpg

I firmly believe in prep-work for something like this. I can't stand a half-ass job; I would rather just not do it than half-ass the sumbitch.

[JPMNICK]

I can't possibly recommend the epoxy floor any more highly, it's fantastic. The only real advice I could give is to prep/clean the floor twice as well as you think you need to. Make certain you get an anti-skid additive, without it the floor is like ice when it's wet, and have a second person to help you, for one they can be painting the corners & spreading out the color flakes while you roll, secondly it becomes really hard to see if you missed a spot so another set of eyes is really helpful.

The previous owner beat the hell out of the garage floor, I got it almost perfectly clean, I spent every night out there with a power washer and ever horrible for you chemical you can imagine, and even then the difference in the "smoothness" of the floor caused pretty significant differences in the level of glossiness. I did the entire floor with one high gloss gray 2 car garage kit, and then had to go back over that with a separate coat of just the gloss to get it looking even. Once I did that it looks great, and it's insanely easy to keep clean.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_76a9H4OLfjM/TN_9mkiSy-I/AAAAAAAAATA/blVdcCjX98A/s400/2010-06-27%2012.32.02.jpg

what is the point of the flakes on a garage floor like this? i have seen many people who have it? does it have a function or just for looks?

[Chigworthy]

what is the point of the flakes on a garage floor like this? i have seen many people who have it? does it have a function or just for looks?

Just looks. If you did it w/o the flakes, all the irregularities of a beat up old slab would show a little more.

[StanUpshaw]

Workshop huh?

Be careful with your ladders and 2x4s. It's bad enough when you bust a $2 tube, much less a $50 LED array.

[Bob Impact]

I firmly believe in prep-work for something like this. I can't stand a half-ass job; I would rather just not do it than half-ass the sumbitch.
Exactly, this is the type of job that really punishes you if you half ass the cleaning too. Goes from great looking to really really horrible very fast, and that paint isn't cheap by any stretch.

Just looks. If you did it w/o the flakes, all the irregularities of a beat up old slab would show a little more.
Exactly this, as an added benefit it helps hide dirt a little more in between cleanings by virtue of the fact that there are a bunch of not-gray flakes lying around anyway. As a plus, I have actually chipped the finish one (dropped a piece of 5/8 threaded rod from the top of a ladder point first), got myself a small batch of 2 part epoxy clear coat and fudged the repair with flakes. Definitely not the ideal solution but it worked for me.

Workshop huh?

Be careful with your ladders and 2x4s. It's bad enough when you bust a $2 tube, much less a $50 LED array.
You're actually the second person to bring that up today... I hadn't really thought about it because the lights are 15 feet up right now. Of course when they're significanty lower after I put in the ceiling that becomes a bigger concern. I would imagine (hope?) that the array is wired so that you can lose a few individual LEDs but good point. All that said, Im usually either doing general housework in there or working on some type of sculpture or another, generally small and made of metal/wire so my overall chances of swinging something into the lights is relatively low.