Doug -
I did some remodeling in my garage a year or so ago. Had to have a ceiling hung. While we were at it, ran drops for air lines on all four walls, added electrical outlets, recessed lighting fixtures, a skylight, and a ceiling fan.
Had a cathedral-style ceiling put in one bay to make room for a lift (one of the best tools I ever bought).
We seem to have a lot of "power outages" around here, so I thought the skylight might help to be able to see to get around in a garage with no windows.
The flourescent lights seem to work pretty well. The one at the top right of the picture above is not a light fixture, but my skylight. One problem I have found with the skylight is that it seems to attract lots of small flying insects. The skylight is tunneled into the ceiling - the bugs fly up there, looking for an out, end up getting too hot, dying, and falling all over the car. I have added a translucent plastic panel, just like the lights, to cover up the "tunneled" area. It has helped, but not completely eliminated this issue.
I was also a little concerned about sun load on the car from the skylight - but, figure I keep it covered pretty regular, so that shouldn't be a big deal (who am I kidding - this is Michigan - we haven't seen the SUN in six months!).
My original plan was to put glass panels in the side walls near the top. The contractor thought that would be a lot of work, and was going to be a lot more expensive than a standard skylight.
My garage isn't big enough (they never are, are they?), but it does provide me a real comfortable place to tinker with my favorite toys.
regards,
Cobrajeff
Garages
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