I am building a new shop. It is going to be 24x24 feet with 8 foot walls to the rafters, insulated and temp controlled. I will be building arch-tops and acoustics for the most part with only a few electrics. Natural light will be mostly unavailable, what types of lighting would you recommend?
I put in a 14X24 lofted shop last year. The electricians put in 4' standard T8 fluorescents. I bought a 4' LED lamp at Sam's for $37. Feels like twice the light. One thing I'd change is to have outlets put in instead of hard wired light panels. That way I could move them around if necessary. My guess at where they should be fell short, and of course I changed my mind about the shop layout after I saw it in place. That's something for down the road. Another thing I did that has proved very useful was to make a rolling platform for my contractor's table saw. Then I made a work surface that slides over the top and indexes on the fence rails. Now I have a moveable work surface with heavy duty castors that I can lock down and have a very stable work table. I plan on making another top that has T-slots imbedded. Another uncompleted project it a plywood rack that is hinged to the ceiling. A pulley will allow me to haul it up parallel to the ceiling and out of the way. I have the aluminum angle from the local salvage yard, just haven't had time to fab it yet. I wanted to protect the OSB floor, so I put down peel and stick, wood look, vinyl flooring. Picked it up on sale at Lumber Liquidators for $.32/ sq ft. A good idea. And the loft is the best idea I had. All of the things that will need to be stored in the shop are in the upper level out of the way.
