Scott Smith wrote:
We recently bought a house, and it still has the original garage
lighting: a single 60W bulb mounted on the wall next to the door.

I want to work in the garage, so I need to add some lighting. We
live in San Diego, and our winters don't usually get below 50
degrees, so I figured I'd go with fluorescent lights.

Good call. I strongly suggest you get the good ones. I have the 8ft
ones rated for cold weather. I suggest you get the cold weather ones even
if you don't get cold weather. They are better made overall. You will be
far less likely to get hum or slow starts and they are more efficient.

They also now make some new style lamps in four or eight foot sizes (the
eight foot ones use 4 lamps) using special green (high efficiency) lamps and
are worth the price as well.

Those cheap 4 foot handyman specials are just that cheap.

The problem is that the walls and ceiling are all finished (sheetrock
and paint). Any thought of running the wires outside the walls sounds
(at least) ugly, but the idea of tearing out the sheet rock just to
run wires around the ceiling doesn't sound that appealing either
(there are rooms above the garage, so there's no attic or crawlspace
to use).

I suggest you call in the professional here. It is not all that
difficult, but it involves a number of tricks that depend what the installer
finds as they work it out. An experienced professional has learned to
handle the many kinds of problems that are out there.


I'm trying to figure out what my options are (after just buying a
house in San Diego, SWMBO would balk at the expense of just hiring a
pro to take care of it). Anyone out there done anything like this?

Any advice would be appreciated.

-Scott

--
Joseph Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math