Need advice on upgrading lighting in my garage

Scott Smith · 2005-01-12T05:08:37+00:00

Sorry if this isn't the appropriate group for this question... searching Google for questions about setting up workshops always seemed to lead me here...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.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'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

Jan 12, 2005 21 Replies

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J. Clarke 21 years ago

The building and electrical codes only apply to stuff that is permanently installed. Extension cords are not addressed by the electrical code anymore than garden hoses are addressed by the plumbing code.

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mac davis 21 years ago

I'm assuming that it's legal here, since my neighbor is a contractor.. of course, being a contractor means that he KNOWS the codes, but might not mean he follows them at home..

Anyway, he was very specific about 3 wire, heavy gauge, etc., etc, so if nothing else, we built one hell of an extension cord with 4 circuit breakers.. lol

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

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