Essential Tips to Brighten Up Your Barn

Keeping a well-lit barn isn’t just about trying to make sure you’ve got an aesthetically pleasing experience. Most of the time, it’s about keeping your barn a safe workplace while also being somewhere where your horses will feel comfortable and content while they’re in there. 

Carefully planning your barn’s lighting setup can be a great way to maximize the comfort felt while also providing a great space to complete work safely and without any hazards. 

So read on and figure out for yourself how, with a few simple tricks and some well-thought-out design, you can have the ultimate barn experience – without breaking the bank in the process. 

Natural Lighting

Typically speaking, whenever the subject of good barn lighting comes up amongst experts, the universal conclusion is usually that “Natural light is best” – and we’re not going to argue. 

Natural lighting is undeniably the best option in most cases, and designing your barn to maximize as much natural light should always be a huge priority in its construction. Not only is it a fantastic way to brighten up your work and living spaces, but it also remains the most cost-efficient method of lighting.

When planning your barn for maximum natural light, it’s important to consider the number and size of the windows and doors you plan to use. 

Your natural light will primarily come through your barn doors, through windows, particularly when placed in higher spaces, can be equally capable. Additional overhead windows on the ceiling can also be good to provide a natural skylight on specific areas, such as stable or workspaces. 

Plan Your Lights Out

So, natural light is great and probably your first option in many cases when lighting your barn, but this isn’t always the case, of course. Natural lighting becomes somewhat absent as a reliable source of illumination during the night, and designing your barn for solely natural lighting only really works if you never plan on working once the sun has gone down. 

If you’re not inclined to that sort of thing, then planning a few electrical lighting fixtures can also be a good idea. 

Ceiling lights are usually a good idea and can be easily mounted in a barn without much hassle. However, when it comes to barns, size is a major factor, and bigger is often better. As an example, the Manhattan light by Steel Light Co. is the perfect addition to any barn or warehouse and is designed ideally to be hung from at least 15 feet in the air to take advantage of its full range and power. 

Similarly, for the smaller sized barn, the Carson ceiling-mounted steel light is also a worthy, if not perfect, option, being able to complete much of the same heavy lifting as the Manhattan while maintaining a smaller form factor and being optimal from a lower height as well. 

It’s not all about ceiling lights, however. More often than not, barns have all manner of internal structures and inhabitants that can block light and create sizable shadows in all manner of ways. As a result, having your light come from a singular source is often not advised and something worth investigating to optimize your lighting options. 

This is where the wall-mounted light comes into play. With a few of these spread intelligently across your barn interior, the additional nooks and cranny’s of the space will become evenly light, far more seamlessly than with just a single light source.

Steel Light Co.’s Redondo steel light can be an essential addition to your barn in this regard and provide the type of stable light source to look for. This light, in particular, was designed to appeal to barn and warehouse owners and features a wide enough light cast to make any space feel bright. In particular, lights such as the Redondo work particularly well for interior stables and workbenches, creating a safer and more evenly lit space for animals and work projects alike. 

It’s also important to consider when installing your light fixtures the materials you’re installing too. Barns, for the most part, are often made of sturdy hardwood materials, though it’s often preferential to make sure you’re attaching your fixtures to beams or trusses for extra support. In some cases, and this is something entirely dependent on local codes and regulations, so be sure to check beforehand, lights can be hung as simple hanging lights or using chains. 

In any case, make sure to consider the weight of the light fixture and figure out how important that weight maybe when attaching your fixture to the barns structural material. 

Save Some Energy

Barns, even in spite of the considerable natural light they’re capable of harnessing, can be power drainers of the highest order when you consider how often lighting is needed for the work that often goes into a barn. As a result, it’s often a good idea to consider how much of your barn is designed with energy-saving measures to help reduce the overall drain. 

A good rule of thumb for barn lighting, or really any interior space, is approximately 100-200 lumens per square foot. That should give you an appropriate idea of how many lights you might actually need to have an evenly lit space while also allowing you to maximize the lighting setup, so you’re not wasting power on inefficient lighting. 

Additionally, consider your bulb type to be a highly important question, with modern LED lights often being just as bright as traditional filament bulbs but without the heat or power output that is usually associated with filament lighting. This becomes especially important from a safety point of view, where a high volume of dry stored materials may be far less likely to catch fire in the event of an exploding bulb. LED lighting, contrary to popular belief, is also able to achieve a very high lumen output in a relatively small package compared to filament bulbs. 

If you have any questions regarding how you can maximize your lighting experience for your barn or warehouse, then be sure to give our team at Steel Lighting Co. a call, we’d be more than happy to help!