How a Custom Lighting Layout Turned a Dim Garage Into a Woodworker’s Ideal Shop

When a recent customer began building his new woodworking shop—a standalone garage addition at his home in Rock Hill, South Carolina—he knew the lighting had to be right. With detailed craftsmanship at the center of his work, he knew he needed bright, even illumination everywhere in the space, especially around his saws and assembly benches.

What he didn’t know was that his initial lighting plan for the shop—three ceiling fixtures across the entire space—would have left him working in pockets of brightness surrounded by deep shadows. That’s where our team stepped in to redesign the lighting layout with his real needs in mind.

The Initial Plan: Good Intentions, Poor Illumination

The architect’s initial layout used only three flat-panel fixtures in the shop and one in the attached garage. On paper, the spacing looked clean and symmetrical.

But when our lighting engineer, Steve, modeled the space using professional photometric software, the results revealed what our customer would have discovered only after moving in: the lighting would have been dim, uneven, and ultimately unsafe.

Initial Layout Performance (Shop Area)

• Average illumination: 18.88 footcandles

• Maximum: 53.5

• Minimum: 1.7

• Uniformity (Max/Min): 31.47

A max/min ratio that high indicates harsh lighting imbalance—bright hot spots directly beneath the fixtures and deep shadows everywhere else. In a workshop, shadows aren’t just inconvenient; they can be unsafe.

At our customer’s major woodworking tools, light levels varied dramatically—from just 12 footcandles in some areas to 46 in others. That might be fine for a storage shed, but not for cutting, measuring, finishing, or color-sensitive work.

Steve’s Revised Layout: Lighting Designed for Real Work

The initial layout was not conducive to precision woodworking tasks, so Steve provided a new lighting layout to help our customer achieve his goals.

The revised layout included:

• Nine overhead fixtures in the woodworking shop (up from three)

• Two fixtures in the attached garage (up from one)

• More direct placement above workbench zones and major tools

• Coverage that eliminated shadow-casting voids

Revised Layout Performance (Shop Area)

• Average illumination: 50.55 footcandles

• Maximum: 78.4

• Minimum: 19.9

• Uniformity (Max/Min): 3.94

The new layout significantly improved the lighting uniformity, ensuring a smooth, even wash of usable light across the entire shop—exactly what woodworkers need to reduce eye strain, improve accuracy, and minimize costly or harmful mistakes.

Even more importantly, illumination directly over major saws and tools jumped to 40–72 footcandles, placing our customer’s shop comfortably within—and in many cases above—the recommended range for precision woodworking.

A Space Designed for Success

With Steve’s layout in hand, our customer ultimately purchased ten 2×4 panel lights from the ELEDLights panel collection here. (He opted to remove one fixture above the garage door.) Upon placing his order, he thanked our team:

“I can't thank you enough for helping me with this. Without your assistance I would have never got enough light in that room.”

Months later, once construction wrapped up, he shared how big the difference felt. Instead of battling shadows and repositioning portable lamps, our customer now enjoys a bright, even workspace that supported everything from rough milling to delicate joinery.

Why This Matters—and Why We Share Stories Like This

Stories like this are exactly why ELEDLights provides custom Lighting Services. If our customer had gone ahead with his initial layout, he would have found his workshop unpleasant—perhaps even unusable. Instead, our team helped him get it right the first time so he could avoid an expensive rebuild.

Whether it’s a home workshop, a warehouse, a retail space, or a commercial buildout, the right lighting plan can dramatically improve how a space functions and feels. We’re proud to help customers get that right from the beginning.

Ready to start your project? Submit your lighting services request today!