How do I light a workshop or garage so I can actually see what I am doing?

The commonest workshop lighting arrangement — one fitting in the middle of the ceiling — is close to the worst, because you always work between it and the workpiece. Everything you do happens in your own shadow. Fixing that is mostly about the number and position of the sources rather than about buying a brighter one.

What you'll need

• Linear LED battens or an equivalent number of ceiling fittings
• An adjustable task light for the bench
• A plug-in inspection or work light (optional)
• An electrician, for any new fixed circuit or fitting in an outbuilding (optional)

Step by step

1. Add sources rather than lumens.Two or three fittings spread across the ceiling, ideally running along the length of the space, remove almost all of the shadow problem. One much brighter fitting in the middle does not, because the shadow comes from geometry rather than from brightness.
2. Position fittings so you are not between them and the work.Along the walls or over the front edge of the bench, rather than directly behind where you stand. Light arriving from in front of and above the work is what shows you the surface.
3. Add a task light at the bench.An adjustable arm light or a clamp light at the bench, positioned to rake across the work. Raking light at a shallow angle reveals surface defects, planer marks, scratches and glue residue that flat overhead light hides completely.
4. Choose a sensible colour temperature.Around 4000K — a neutral to cool white — for general workshop use. Very cool bluish light above about 5000K is tiring over long periods, and warm 2700K makes it hard to judge colour. Keep every fitting in the space the same temperature.
5. Pay attention to colour rendering for finishing work.The colour rendering index on the packaging describes how faithfully colours appear. Cheap fittings with poor rendering make it impossible to judge a stain, a paint match or a finish. Anything above 90 is good; below 80 is a problem for finishing.
6. Light the machines separately.A saw, a drill press or a sander needs light on the cut line specifically. Most machines cast a deep shadow exactly where you need to see, and a small dedicated light on each one is worth more than any amount of general lighting.
7. Deal with the cold-start problem.Fluorescent tubes are slow and dim in an unheated garage in winter and eventually fail to start at all. LED battens do not care about temperature and are the reason most garage lighting is now LED.
8. Use appropriate fittings for the environment.A garage or a workshop is dusty and often damp, so fittings should be sealed or at least rated for the conditions. Dust in an open fitting is a slow fire risk and it halves the output within a year.
9. Keep the electrical work within your limits.Plugging in a light is yours. Adding a new lighting circuit, altering a consumer unit, or running a supply to an outbuilding is not householder work — an outbuilding supply in particular is a design job and must be installed and certified by a competent electrician.
10. Have a plug-in light for the awkward places.A rechargeable inspection light or a magnetic work light for inside cupboards, under a car, behind a machine. It solves the ten percent of jobs that no fixed lighting scheme reaches.

Tips

• Painting the walls and ceiling white makes a very large difference, because most of the light in a small space arrives after bouncing off something.
• A strobing effect from certain light sources can make a rotating blade or chuck look stationary. It is rare with modern LED fittings but worth knowing if you use an older discharge lamp near machinery.
• Natural light from a window is excellent for judging finishes and useless for reliability. Design the artificial lighting as though the window were not there.
• Clean the fittings. A year of workshop dust on a diffuser costs a surprising fraction of the output, and it happens too gradually to notice.

Common mistakes

• Buying one very bright fitting instead of several — Shadow is a matter of where the light comes from, not how much there is. A single source always puts your hands and your body between the light and the work.
• Mixing colour temperatures in one space — It makes colour judgement impossible and looks wrong. Standardise on one temperature across every fitting including the task lights.
• Fitting open, unrated fittings in a dusty space — Dust accumulates on and inside them, reducing output and creating a heat problem. Sealed fittings stay bright and stay safe.
• Running a supply to a shed or garage yourself — It is a design and certification job with real consequences for fire and shock risk, and it falls outside what a householder may do without proper certification.

Questions people ask