Guide · garage and workshop
How much light does a garage need?
It depends on what you do in it. Parking needs far less light than working on the car, and fine work at the bench needs more again. Find your size and use below.
Light finder
Which light, and how many?
Lumens needed
| What you do in it | 1-car12 × 20 ft · 240 sq ft | 2-car20 × 20 ft · 400 sq ft | 3-car30 × 20 ft · 600 sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parking and storage20 footcandles | 9,600 lm≈ 2 × 5,000 lm lights | 16,000 lm≈ 4 × 5,000 lm lights | 24,000 lm≈ 5 × 5,000 lm lights |
| Working on the car, general workshop50 footcandles | 24,000 lm≈ 5 × 5,000 lm lights | 40,000 lm≈ 8 × 5,000 lm lights | 60,000 lm≈ 12 × 5,000 lm lights |
| Fine work at the bench100 footcandles | 48,000 lm≈ 10 × 5,000 lm lights | 80,000 lm≈ 16 × 5,000 lm lights | 120,000 lm≈ 24 × 5,000 lm lights |
Rounded to the nearest 100 lumens. “5,000 lm lights” is a way to read the number, not a product recommendation: divide by the delivered lumens printed on whichever light you are looking at.
Your own garage
- Area. Length × width in feet. A 22 × 24 ft garage is 528 sq ft.
- Light level. Pick the footcandles for how you use it: 20, 50 or 100.
- Lumens. Footcandles × area ÷ 0.5. For 528 sq ft at 50 fc: 50 × 528 ÷ 0.5 = 52,800 lumens.
- How many lights. Lumens ÷ the delivered lumens printed on the light, rounded up. Spread them so no corner is left dark.
Where the numbers come from
A footcandle is one lumen falling on one square foot. The light levels are the Illuminating Engineering Society's recommendations as summarised in the Footcandle Light Guide (Rev. 07/2013) (Energy Trust of Oregon and the Lighting Design Lab, Seattle — based on the IES Lighting Handbook, 10th edition). IES has no “home garage” row, so this guide uses the closest published categories:
- Parking and storage: “Warehouse with aisles”, 20 fc (range 10–30).
- Working on the car, general workshop: “Automotive service area”, 50 fc (range 25–100).
- Fine work at the bench: “Assembly, difficult (fine)”, 100 fc (range 50–200).
The one assumption: about half of a fixture's light reaches the floor or bench in a typical garage; the rest lands on walls and ceiling or is lost to height and dust. That is why the formula divides by 0.5. White walls and lower ceilings do better; tall, dark garages do worse. When in doubt, add a light.
A guide, not a guarantee: real results depend on ceiling height, wall colour, fixture layout and the light's delivered (not rated) lumens.