[hud 91gt]

Pretty close to writing on a townhouse with tandem garage tonight.

The whole place will probably get some facelifting, but first things first. My first garage!

Suggestions for lighting? It’s a tandem garage, and the Z will sit at the back where it opens up a bit in width. I do believe there is only two standard light fixtures (ala normal light bulb). I’d like this place lit up like a foot ball field.

Are your standard fluorescent style tube lights the way to go? Is LED worth while?

With only two lights in the ceiling now, can I wire in extra fixtures without getting my hands slapped by strata, city or inspector? This house stuff is all new to me.

[bcedhk]

any goals of what you want to do with the garage?

we changed our old florescent to these https://www.amazon.ca/HyperSelect-Utility-Integrated-Fixture-Corded-electric/dp/B06XTMK5YG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1517260633&sr=8-3&keywords=led+light+garage

They are brighter and more cool in terms of colour, but it really helps with spotting defects or water spot when i am detailing my bike or car.

[Manic!]

Go with LED. We switched our store to LED lights and it's way brighter. Check out Costco they sell led shop lights that are 4 feet long.

[Great68]

I put 7 of these 4' Phillips commercial grade LED strip fixtures in my single car garage:

FluxStream LED Strip - Strip - Linear - Indoor Luminaires | Philips DayBrite (http://www.lightingproducts.philips.com/our-brands/daybrite/fluxstream-led-strip.html)

Because of where I work I get them at wholesale pricing, ~$100 per fixture (plus I got one for free).

It's massive overkill amount of light, 4 fixtures would be a lot of light for my space. They're 0-10V dimmable too, but I never bothered hooking that up.

Picture of them in my garage:
http://www3.telus.net/bryster/20170325_070524.jpg

I don't think your strata has any say in what kind of or how many lighting fixtures you can have inside your garage.

Installing any additional hard-wired fixtures (or additional receptacle outlets) would technically require an electrical permit.

[Hondaracer]

Depending on the way your joists run you could add LED pots, they give off a tonne of light and it would be very simple to jumper them from the existing fixture to the next light and so on.

Surface mounted lights like the bars above are obviously much easier to install however

[J.Bell]

Basically comes down to the amount you want to spend on fixtures. Any of the suggestions above will work great, LED or even 4' fluorescent strip lights are quite bright. I'm a maintenance electrician and we started using 4' LED replacement bulbs that go in old 4' fluorescent fixtures, without having to do any ballast work, just remove old bulbs and replace with new bulbs, easy direct swap. So you have couple options, just have to decide how much you want to spend.

Lowe's just happens to have some sales on now too.
https://www.lowes.ca/search/Flourescent-4'.html?iterm=Flourescent

PM me if ya have any specific lighting questions as I deal with lighting all day erry day

[hud 91gt]

Thanks for the recommendations.

The garage will be painted white, and if I'm feeling good and junk doesn't start filling up the space i'd like to epoxy coat the floor too.

As for lighting, Costco had some 4' LED bar style lights for $50 each. I'm betting with white, or light coloured walls, 2 fixtures in the rear above the Z/workbench and then 2 more towards the centre of the garage should be plenty of light. I confirmed this evening there is only 2 fixtures currently in the garage. 1 at the back, and 1 in the middle. Is someone going to slap my wrist for doing some DIY work splitting these into 2 each? As much as i'd like pot lights, I have a feeling it may be the more expensive route.

That amazon link looks very similar to the Costco ones, but slightly cheaper. Score. bcdehk, do you know if those light fixtures could be mounted directly to the ceiling, vs hanging on the chain?

[fliptuner]

Not lighting realted but definitely, do the floors first - like asap. The first place all your stuff gets moved into is the garage and it's a pita to move everything out after.

[bcrdukes]

+1 on floors.

I was in a similar situation a while back. Ended up with LEDs, but my garage is pretty small compared to what you are describing.

[Great68]

That amazon link looks very similar to the Costco ones, but slightly cheaper. Score. bcdehk, do you know if those light fixtures could be mounted directly to the ceiling, vs hanging on the chain?

I saw those Costco fixtures, I didn't see any any options for direct surface mounting.

Also, they're corded. So your options for wiring are:

A) Install a receptacle everywhere you want a fixture
B) Cut the plug off the cord and go into a junction box at each fixture

I considered them for myself but I didn't care for either of those wiring options



Is someone going to slap my wrist for doing some DIY work splitting these into 2 each?
Not unless a neighbor reports you on it

[hud 91gt]

offer is in. let the waiting begin. Don't think i'm the highest offer, but i'm the only subject free one. Did my inspection before hand ;) should find out shortly.

[hud 91gt]

I saw those Costco fixtures, I didn't see any any options for direct surface mounting.

Also, they're corded. So your options for wiring are:

A) Install a receptacle everywhere you want a fixture
B) Cut the plug off the cord and go into a junction box at each fixture

I considered them for myself but I didn't care for either of those wiring options


Not unless a neighbor reports you on it

This is what I see with most of those lights. Doesn't seem like they are meant to be hard wired in. Could I not cut off the cord of each one, and run two into each one of the old junction boxes for the old fixtures?

[Great68]

This is what I see with most of those lights. Doesn't seem like they are meant to be hard wired in. Could I not cut off the cord of each one, and run two into each one of the old junction boxes for the old fixtures?

Yup you could do that. You'll need a cover over the old box, and to do it properly, the appropriate clamp/strain relief connector for the fixture cord

[hud 91gt]

New Poco resident over here ;) My stubborn germeness wins. Fuck ya. haha

[fliptuner]

Hawthorne or Laurier? Lol

[bluejays]

At my old place I used this for the garage. Will probably buy another set for my new garage.

https://www.amazon.ca/DiCUNO-Splitter-Converter-Chandelier-Adjustable/dp/B06ZXWRDWT/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1517372541&sr=8-2&keywords=5+in+1+light+socket+adapter

[underscore]

Also, they're corded. So your options for wiring are:

A) Install a receptacle everywhere you want a fixture
B) Cut the plug off the cord and go into a junction box at each fixture

Why not use these?

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/616sfQwB%2BLL._SL1102_.jpg

I'd keep an eye on the wattage limits for everything, but with LED you should be good to go. The nice thing is it's all easily reversable should you decide later on to change things up for whatever reason. The way the cables attach to those Costco lights looks like you could easily mount it directly to the ceiling if you wanted (it looks like it's just a keyhold slot like for mounting stuff on the wall).

[Great68]

I thought they had grounded plugs (could be wrong, can't remember), which won't work with those

[hud 91gt]

Hawthorne or Laurier? Lol

Are these areas or streets? lol This place is too new to me.

[hud 91gt]

Why not use these?

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/616sfQwB%2BLL._SL1102_.jpg

I'd keep an eye on the wattage limits for everything, but with LED you should be good to go. The nice thing is it's all easily reversable should you decide later on to change things up for whatever reason. The way the cables attach to those Costco lights looks like you could easily mount it directly to the ceiling if you wanted (it looks like it's just a keyhold slot like for mounting stuff on the wall).
I put one of these up in my rental garage space. I just looked at it the other day. With the 150w incandescent bulb I was running the white plastic looks burnt. Oops. It saw 500w limit I do believe. LED's are probably fine. I'm betting it was the heat.

[bcedhk]

Thanks for the recommendations.

That amazon link looks very similar to the Costco ones, but slightly cheaper. Score. bcdehk, do you know if those light fixtures could be mounted directly to the ceiling, vs hanging on the chain?

As an earlier member posted, since it is corded, we did ours with the hanging cables. I guess you could techincally mount it directly if you cut the cord, but, ain't nobody got time for that

We had receptacle installed on the ceiling, so we use one plug for the light and another one to plug either my polisher/vacuum, etc....

[Jas29]

^^ Did the same as bcedhk took off the old light fixtures and put receptacles there and just plugged in the new costco lights. probably the same amount of work but have to spend a couple of bucks buying the receptacles and the finishing plates

[fliptuner]

Are these areas or streets? lol This place is too new to me.

Streets. Guess you moved to Riverside them lol

[hud 91gt]

Yup. Haha

[MG1]

I went LED and love it. So close to sunlight. Anyway, one thing to remember, LED's will affect your garage door opener. How much effect they have on the garage door openers depends on location and type of garage opener.

Quick fix is to extend the antenna. It solved my problem. You can buy non interfering LED bulbs or just do the extension. Now my garage remotes work better than before, lol.


BTW, I went with those Costco, Feit LED workshop lights that you can hook up together. They go on sale quite often and are cheaper and better than those you get at Costco up here.

https://www.costco.com/Feit-Electric-4’-Linkable-LED-Shop-Light-with-Pull-Chain%2C-2-pack.product.100284402.html

I have them on an individually switched, 6 outlet, power bar.

[hud 91gt]

Are those US Costco ones mountable directly to the roof?

[underscore]

I see a keyhole mount at the end in the one picture so I'd assume yes.

[blkgsr]

are you guys just using a bunch of extension cords to plug all these lights in?

[hud 91gt]

^^ I'd like to know that as well.

Did some looking around Home Depot and tried to figure out how conduit works. ha. After some youtube it looks pretty simple. One question though, the two ceiling mounted lights in the garage are obviously in a normal recessed box of some sort. How do I mount an external box with conduit knockouts to the existing box. Can you add an extension to the original? Remove it completely, patch the drywall then just mount an external box on top?

From this
http://ask-the-electrician.com/electrical/lighting/wall-fixture-junction-box-240.jpg

to this
https://sc01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1vMtpHFXXXXa_XVXXq6xXFXXXi/200207966/HTB1vMtpHFXXXXa_XVXXq6xXFXXXi.jpg

[underscore]

I believe this is what you need? https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p.4-hole-12-in-round-box-extension.1000857225.html

[jing]

You'll need something like this:
https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p.octagonal-extension-1-12-in-deep-ko.1000106148.html

Run BX from the box to your new fixtures. Don't run conduit unless you're running single conductors since loomex inside pipe fails code.

[hud 91gt]

bX is that flexible conduit? So normal conduit isn’t alllowed? How about PVC?

[jing]

Bx aka armored cable aka AC90

Loomex in any conduit, metallic or non, is not allowed.

[hud 91gt]

That throws a wrench into my plans. I wanted to add more electrical outlets using boxes and conduit. Is there somewhere I can access the BC electrical code? This looked like a good alternative.

https://psknight.com/residential

[hud 91gt]

I think I get what you mean now. The conduit has to be run with individual insulated wiring which reallly can only be purchased in large rolls correct?

[jing]

Home depot might sell it by the foot...

[hud 91gt]

Ready for paint. Haven’t purchased the lighting yet though.

[SSM_DC5]

What you use to get the buckets to stick to the ceiling?

[hud 91gt]

An iPhone

[Great68]

Bx aka armored cable aka AC90

Loomex in any conduit, metallic or non, is not allowed.

Not entirely correct.

More specifically, Non Metallic Sheathed Cable or NMD90 (Loomex) may not be used within a raceway when part of a complete raceway system.
The code does allow for NMD90 to be installed within short sections of conduit and tubing for the purposes of mechanical protection
Per CEC Section 12-910(2)

[Great68]

bX is that flexible conduit? So normal conduit isn’t alllowed? How about PVC?

BX is armored cable, more specifically called AC90. Yes it's essentially flexible conduit with conductors already in it (although you can't pull the conductors in/out of it).

Technically you can run surface loomex on your ceiling as long as it's fastened correctly (above 5' you don't need protection, as it's not really going to be subject to damage on your ceiling). That's your cheapest option, but definately the ugliest.

Personally I don't find BX all that nice to look at either, nicely done and bent EMT would look the most PRO.

[fliptuner]

If it were me and I wanted it to be clean, I'd put it in the joists. The ceiling isnt even finished. I'd also raise the heater.

[hud 91gt]

And what is the proper way to do so?

Looking at the drywall tape on the ceiling, the joists run lengthways down the garage. I ordered the 4' amazon LED lights posted earlier. Running the wiring from the existing fixture looks like it would work out fine if I am hanging the lights perpendicular to the length of the garage.

I'm just so lost with housing construction with zero experience. I can make it work, but have no idea what is proper. ha.

[Great68]

You'd have to do some cutting and patching.

Cut in and mount your new outlet boxes where you want them, open up the ceiling as necessary to pull wire through and able to staple to face of joist every 5 feet (Also need to staple within 6" of Junction Box).
If you need to move perpendicular through joists, you can drill, but ensure you keep at least 1-1/4" from edge of joist.
All splices must be made within your junction boxes.
All junction boxes must be accessible once the ceiling is closed back up (Can't bury them within the ceiling)

[jing]

Not entirely correct.

More specifically, Non Metallic Sheathed Cable or NMD90 (Loomex) may not be used within a raceway when part of a complete raceway system.
The code does allow for NMD90 to be installed within short sections of conduit and tubing for the purposes of mechanical protection
Per CEC Section 12-910(2)

Not a sparky myself, just work with them enough to know a couple things.

@Great68 must be a city inspector being able to cite the CEC like that

OP can just post his CEC questions in here now instead of buying a code book :fullofwin:

[Great68]

Not an inspector, but yeah I have a copy of the CEC in my office... :P

[hud 91gt]

Thanks for the walkhrough 68. Went to HD today and bought some wires and boxes. Then finally got something to stand on and realized I was completely wrong with how the joists are run. Ha. After much thought, I’m going with the external routing once again as I don’t want to bother with going through lumber.

Attempted some mudding today on the ceiling. What a shitty job. Haha

[hud 91gt]

Also, purolater man made it to my place on time despite the snow. Those lights are fricken bright!!

[hud 91gt]

Running into a bit of a crossroads with my lighting.

I bought 4 amazon 4' LED shop lights which are meant to be plugged in (Not hardwired).

Original plan was to chop the ends off, wire into junction box of some kind and run EMT to where the old light fixture was.

The Home Depot guy was confused when I was looking for a connector from bare wire (Cut power cord) to a knockout in a box. First clue.

A little more googling, and it seems that is completely illegal to do. I'd rather have some insurance money when my, or my neighbours place burns down. So then it seems my only option is to wire in some actual power receptacles using EMT conduit. It's not going to be nearly as pretty, but it will work and it would be to code.

Wrong. My ceiling has a round box. Apparently i'm not allowed to run an extension off of this for my EMT.

If I take out the old box, can I just surface mount an externally mounted box over top of the hole. I assume this is a big no. How do I run the wires from the removed box, to a new externally mounted box. Do I need to repair the drywall and use some sort of pass through?

I'd rather do this correctly.

[hud 91gt]

If it were me and I wanted it to be clean, I'd put it in the joists. The ceiling isnt even finished. I'd also raise the heater.Quickly regretting not doing this.

[hud 91gt]

Easiest way to do this was to leave it the f#ck alone. If I wasn’t it such a hurry I would have done as stated earlier and ran the wiring in the wall. Chalk that up to experience for next time.

Bought two of those 4 in 1 light fixtures, and stuck 4 17watt (150w equivalent) bulbs in each. Going to use my 4’ LED bars over the workbench area and they will just plug into the outlets I plan to install. Pictures while I sit on the floor waiting for the carpet guys to get out of here (installing in bedrooms).

Floor is just Behr, 1 part garage floor epoxy. Mom smacked some sense into me before I laid down a $1000 floor. The next housemaybe be more worth it. For now, I’ve moved 2 of my 3 prized belongings into the garage. Ha moving in Thursday. Oh and Fliptuner, I raised the heater a few inches to get a broom underneath.

[VR6GTI]

looks good!
I need todo that shit to my garage floor

[hud 91gt]

Thanks. It really “brightened” things up. Hardeeharhar