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ontariomom

Please tell me how to light mudroom lockers

ontariomom
11 years ago

Hi all,

We will have a mudroom entrance off of our garage which is basement level. The ceilings is this area are 8 feet. The room does not have any windows although some natural light can be seen from foyer entrance up half a storey and the nearby bath when door is open. We currently have four 4inch pot lights roughed in as shown on plan (walls are still wide open). The salesperson at the lighting store was concerned the open lockers will be dark as the flood pot lights will only light so far. She suggested installing two additional ceiling fixtures and placing two track light fixtures pointed at the lockers. We could also pay to change two (or more) of the pot lights to fixtures and just keep the other pot lights. Perhaps there is an option to light the actual open lockers with some sort of low voltage lighting and keep the pots for general lighting. Any thoughts?

I appreciate your help.

Carol

Comments (12)

  • David
    11 years ago

    Did you look at phantomlighting.com?

  • ontariomom
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks for this idea, Davidtay. I took a quick look at the site, and will go back and read more. What style of lighting offered by phantom lighting would you think is best is this situation?

    BTW, each locker will have a top and bottom shelf, but the bulk of each locker will be one opening with hooks for coats. The lockers will not have doors.

    Carol

  • David
    11 years ago

    The product is a custom made lighting system intended for use as concealed lighting.

    Even if you end up not getting their product, their website should be inspirational.

    The lights could be run vertically along the sides or on the bottom side of the upper shelf.

    As all their systems are custom made to fit, when measured, cut and fitted properly, the fit and finish should be very good.

    Alternatives
    1. Use eW profile or Maxlite bars.
    2. Flexible led rope lighting pinned in place.
    3. Puck light.

    Your cabinet maker or contractor should be able to help conceal the wiring if they know what you'd like to use.

  • ontariomom
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Wow you are a wealth of information, David. You have given me lots of options to review. Thank you!

    Carol

  • ontariomom
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Davidtay and others, we are definitely considering David's options to light the actual mudroom lockers. If money allows we would love to have light inside the actual lockers. As a lower cost option we are also considering just replacing all four of the pots with fixtures. Do you think that would bring light to the lockers? The electrician told us to change the roughed in pots to fixtures at this point would not involve much of a labour charge. The ceilings are only 8 feet so any fixtures would need to be flush mount.

    Thanks for your help.

    Carol

  • David
    11 years ago

    It depends on the depth and width of the lockers. Would the labour charge increase the total price?

    Another option would be to plan for the locker lighting and install the necessary wiring which would work with solution. The actual lighting could be installed later.

    Cree CR series recessed lights actually produce quite diffuse lighting. Either the CR4 or CR6 would work fine with 8' ceilings.

  • ontariomom
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Hi Davidtay,

    Thanks for your reply. The depth of each locker is 25 inches and width is 25 inches too. The total dimensions of the mudroom, including the lockers, is 11 feet 5 inches deep and 9 feet 3.5 inches wide. (for the narrowest part).

    I think your idea to rough in lighting for the actual lockers is spot on. We will do that for sure. The cost to switch from roughed in pots to rough in for fixtures will only cost an hour of labour so not a big cost if fixtures would light the space better than the pots. Do you think fixtures would light the space better than pots (ceilings are 8 foot)? We are happy to use the Cree series if that works as well as fixtures. The current roughed in pots are 4 inch. Thanks!

    Carol

  • David
    11 years ago

    It may work, assuming that the bulbs used produce more light than the cans and the fixtures are well placed. I presume that the number of fixtures will be less than the number of cans roughed in.

    The style will be different.

  • ontariomom
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Yes we could reduce the number of lights to 3 instead of the four pots. More than one lighting store representative claimed the four pots will not light the space and we should have done fixtures instead. Maybe they just want to sell us fixtures LOL. I will put some more thought into the pros and cons of pots vs fixtures. Thanks for all your help, Davidtay.

    Carol

  • David
    11 years ago

    Heard that before, but that's not surprising since most folks still think in terms of watts. It might be difficult estimating the actual light output from the fixture as the bulb will most likely be obscured.

    FWIW, I had a room lit using a fixture fitted with GE 2D 55W Biax (rated output 3900 lumens). At times, a torchiere (also fitted with a GE 2D) had to be used as well.

    Refitted with 5 Cree LR6 @ 600 lumens each (derated since the dimmer reduces the output by 5%). Net result - the LR6s gave better lighting - brighter, better color rendition.

  • ontariomom
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    This is very interesting. So do you think the four pots (4 inch ones) with good quality bulbs like the Cree will light as well or perhaps better than 3 fixtures? In other words I should leave the rough in as is. I will still rough in for low volt lights to individual lockers so I can add light here when funds allow?

    Thanks!

    Carol

  • David
    11 years ago

    It depends on the bulbs used, the loss through the fixture shades/ covers.

    I'm not against having flush mounts or ceiling fixtures. They can add style to a room, perhaps more than recessed lights.

    On the other hand, estimating the amount of light from them can be challenging.

    Since you'd be living there, take the time to see which route makes the most sense.