Looks like one of my winter projects is gonna be putting an office in the basement. There are 2 things I’ve been trying to decide how to address.
First would be lighting. The ceiling is about 7′ 9″ to the bottom of the floor trusses, so I’ll probably just drywall it. Not enough room for a dropped ceiling.
I want plenty of light, but would prefer a little more style than just a couple of light bulbs in porcelain sockets. Is flourescent light or incandescant light better for an office?
.
Second question is the floor. I looked over the assembly they have at buildingscience.com where they show 2 layers of 1/2″ plywood over sheets of foam.
But I also remember seeing something somewhere that was plywood with dimpled sheets of plastic under it. But I can’t remember where.
There are some cracks in the floor, so putting tile or vinyl directly on the floor isn’t an option.
The floor won’t be carpet – I want something you can roll an office chair around in.
Haven’t started it yet. But I keep walking down there looking it over and trying to figure out what I’m gonna do.
In my house on the ceilings I have paintings of the rooms above… So I never have to go upstairs.
Replies
Boss...I roll my chair around on Berber all the time. I can't speed...but it does roll rather easily and theres no sign of wear.
blue
Warning! Be cautious when taking any framing advice from me. Although I have a lifetime of framing experience, all of it is considered bottom of the barrel by Gabe. I am not to be counted amongst the worst of the worst. If you want real framing information...don't listen to me..just ask Gabe!
Six-inch can lights lamped with floods should be good. That is what is over me right now, in my lower-level office.
2'x2' T&G OSB on dimpled plastic (which is essentially Delta-FL) = http://www.dricore.com
Or just do 4'x8' OSB sheets on rolls of Delta-FL = http://www.deltams.com/deltafl/
Delta-FL's cousin, Delta-MS, is used for external basement damp-proofing, so FL is quite effective in keeping your feet warm & dry in a basement, and allowing any water on a basement floor to find the floor drain or sump.
And I second the idea of a tight-knit berber carpeting.
Regards,
Tim Ruttan
Edited 11/14/2004 12:56 pm ET by TRIMBUTCHER
Boss-
The best solution is a combo of incandescent and fluorescent set up for general lighting and task lighting.
As you'll see in most office buildings, flourescent is usually the choice for general lighting. Think about sinking a few 1'x4' troffers in between the floor trusses. Then add some task lighting, using some directable lamps that can be pointed toward the area you're working in.
Making a little office away from DW so you can surf dirty pictures without getting caught??? lol
Bob
"Making a little office away from DW so you can surf dirty pictures without getting caught???"
Quite the opposite, actually. This space is for DW to do the school work she drags home. Currently she spreads it all over the kitchen table.
We also need some space to put a filing cabinet for household bills and general filing. And it would get the deks out of the family room.
I did have a brief thought about indirect light. I wonder how a couple of light troughs along the walls would work.
Don't know much about building them, though...Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition.
<<"I did have a brief thought about indirect light. I wonder how a couple of light troughs along the walls would work." >>
I think that is a terrific idea. Soffit lights, bounced off the ceiling would give a pleasing effect for general illumination-- and it completely solves the problem of glare. You could use single strip flourescents with the bulbs I recommended before (which I think are basically the same bulbs Wayne is talking about).
Rolling desk chair will eventually wear any floor, carpet or not.
Consider the plastic office desk floor mat for protection and easy rolling if on carpet.
We probably do mean the same thing about lamps. However, color temperature and color rendering index are different qualities, and it's possible to have good color rendering with warm or cool color lamps, or bad color rendering with warm or cool color lamps.
Color temperature is the warmth or coolness of the overall color spectrum of the lamp. 3000K is a warm color, much like an incandescent, which is why they are a good choice when combining fluorescents with incandescents. 4100K is a cool, bluish light. 3500K is in between. Those annoying blue headlamps that rich people have in their cars are really high, I'll bet 5000 to 6000K.
Color rendering index is how faithfully colors are reproduced under that light compared to some standard. For fluorescents, a CRI in the 50's or 60's is pretty bad, a good CRI would be in the 70's. Low 80's is about as good as you can get unless you buy a specialty lamp designed for art galleries or medical treatment facilities. High Pressure Sodium lamps, those high efficiency yellowish streetlamps, have a CRI of about 22.
When I did those home offices for the graphic designers, I checked with a GE engineer, and he was the one who first told me about the 3500K lights (as the best for true color rendition). I then spoke with an architect who concurred with that recommendation, and both clients say they are still very pleased with the lights we put in.
But you obviously know more than I about all this, and I wonder if you would have another recommendation for that kind of situation (where color rendition is important)?
Thanks.
In my shop I used the 3500K lights (SPX35) you mentioned because I wanted a color in between the warm 3000K and the cool 4100K. They turned out to be a very good choice, colors looked quite natural.
I'm not an expert by any means, but I do have the GE catalog. And I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
Here are figures for some of the fluorescent lamps GE makes. All the big maufacturers have similar offerings. GE lists their Chroma line as their best fluorescents for color rendering, but I imagine they are quite expensive, and they do also have lower light output. (Lumens is a measure of light output.)
Lamp Color Temperature Color Rendering Index Mean Lumens
Cool White 4150K 62 725
SP30 3000K 70 850
SP35 3500K 73 850
SP41 4100K 70 850
SPX30 3000K 82 900
SPX35 3500K 82 900
SPX41 4100K 82 900
Warm White 3000K 52 745
Daylight 6250K 75 615
Chroma 50 5000K 90 525
I like the SPX35 lights and the cost is reasonable. But, the catalog says for critical applications, such as medical exam rooms, the Chroma 50 is their best.
For specific color matching, such as matching paint or fabric samples, that's best done under lighting that resembles as closely as possible the place where they are to be used. If they are going to be seen under incandescent lighting, then that's what they should be matched under, because all lighting sources distort colors with respect to any other source, and there is no "perfect" light.
Thanks for the essay on light and lighting. After putting them in the home offices I mentioned, I also installed the 3500K bulbs in my finishing room. As you probably know, you can get in a world of trouble, if you stain a piece where the light is a lot different than it will be in its final setting, which mostly is a combination of daylight and incandescent. And this set-up has always worked great for me.
Do you happen to know where so-called "full spectrum" bulbs fall on the kelvin scale? I tried some once, thinking they would be the closest to actual daylight, but they were horrible -- intensely white, with a bluish hue.
I'm sorry, I don't know. GE doesn't list any in their catalog called "full spectrum". Maybe the closest is "daylight", which has a very high color temperature, 6250 Kelvins, which makes it considerably bluer than even cool whites. The light output is low, too.
Probably the best thing when someone advertises "full spectrum" is to ask for the color temperature and CRI.
I think the basic way the SPX and the Chroma 50 provide their high CRI is that their spectrum is quite full compared to a standard fluorescent.
Know anything about SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder)? It's a problem for a lot of people around here (MN) in the winter. The standard treatement is sitting in front of a light box, which are expensive, and sold by medical supply houses. A client asked me to make one for her, and I said I would if she would track down the fixture/bulbs recommended by her doc. She came back with six 24" strip flourescent fixtures with what she described as "full specturm bulbs." I thought they were pretty horrible, but the box seemed to do the trick for her. Unfortunately, I never paid attention to the Kelvin designation.
I've heard of it, and believe it. I feel much better in the summer than the winter. If I can feel an effect, I believe that some folks have the effect to a stronger degree. I used to live on the border with Canada, so we had long, dark winters.
The effect is fairly well documented.
I know a lot- my wife has it, and uses a lightbox, so here is more info than you probably want :)
Based on the real, academic studies, the key for the light therapy for SAD is the intensity of the light, not whether the light is full spectrum. What most affects people with SAD is the relative lack of light during the winter, a result of shorter days, the angle of the sun, and the lack of time spent outdoors in cold climates.
What the studies recommeded is sitting for about 30 minutes each morning, 12-18 inches in front of a 10,000 lux source. That is about the same intensity of light as being outside during a srping day; full beach sun is about 100,000 lux. The tubes in the box she has are 3000k, but again that doesn't seem to matter; they should be uv blocked, however, so you don't fry.
Here's a good link http://www.northernlighttechnologies.com/faq.php
the same outfit does sell just the tubes, but I don't know if you get the same lux with a different balast
Edited 11/17/2004 8:30 pm ET by RickD
Sorry to hear about your wife -- SAD can be very debilitating. Does she use one of the light boxes from the site you mentioned?I could not find any info on the site about the bulbs they use -- except they charge $25, and say they can be purchased as replacements for their units from some electrical supply houses. If your wife does use such a box and it is not too inconvenient for you, could you tell me the particulars printed on one of the bulbs?Thanks.
She's actually doing fine, just one of those things we deal with. I'll try and get the specs from one of the bulbs, they are only about 12" long; she has the "travelite" or some such from that site. It's worked real well for her. It has an acrylic cover over the bulbs which screens out the uv-
Is that from a current GE catalog?I ask because I think that they have updated the amount of lumens of the Chroma 50's. Anyway they are bright.I have a set in my office. You are right they used to be expensive. About 3 or 4 times the price of a "good" lamp.But they have come way down. I got these at Wally World. The package was market SUN 50, but the bulb was marked Chroma 50's. And they where just a few cents more than the Kitchen and Bath Ultra's.And I have SPX41 in my shop.I found out that one of the reasons that the high CRI flourscents seem som much brighter that the cheapies is that the eye only see certain narrow bands of color. And the colors of the cheap cool white/warm white did not match the eye response. So while they put out lots of light the eye did not see it.The rare earth phosurses that are used in the higher CRI be match the eye reponse.I don't know if they found other compounds or better sources, but the available of these seem to be much better as high CRI bulbs are much more common these days and the cost preminum is not as high as it was.
No, my catalog is quite old.
You can dowload it from here.http://www.gelighting.com/na/litlib/pr_consumer.htmlBut your numbers might be right, relatively speaking. I just caught the low numbers and it surprised. Might be right for an 18" undercounter light.For the 40watt T12CHroma 50 - CRI 92, 1870 lumens.
SPX50 - CRI 80, 2860.
Building home offices is one of my niches.
Re: LIGHTING. All of the office workers for whom I have built home work spaces hate florescent light. Maybe it reminds them too much of a harsh office environment, so I have always used can lights for general illumination. With a ceiling that low, you would want to get a can where the bulb is recessed, with a black baffle trim ring. Otherwise the glare will drive you nuts.
The best task lighting depends on the type of work you do. Generally, floor and desk lamps work great, and that is what seems to work best for most.
However, I have done a couple of spaces for graphic designers, and they needed stronger, more even task lighting. In both cases I did cans in the ceiling, and used 4' undercabinet fluorescent with electronic ballasts (to eliminate any hum), but equipped them with 3500K bulbs, which are excellent for accurate color rendition. You have to get such bulbs from an industrial supplier, and they are worth the extra expense (about $4-5/bulb).
I would also recommend carpet -- either Berber or a low nap industrial carpet. any decent office chair can be equipped with casters for carpet (instead of hard surfaces). Also, any of the office supply stores sell plastic carpet protectors that are made for office chairs.
Fluorescent can be fine for general lighting. If you choose it, definitely get the electronic ballast and one with a good sound rating. I like the fluorescent lamps ("tubes") that have a high color rendering index and a warmer (lower) color temperature. These would include GE SP30 and SPX30, or comparable from other manufacturers.
Fluorescent fixtures with small (say, 1/2") parabolic grilles give good light downward but don't look bright when seen from the sides, which reduces glare on computer screens. These are the ones that look like little reflective egg crates.
Supplementing the general lighting with incandescent task lighting is a good idea. In fact, I'd go with too little fluorescent lighting rather than too much and use other types of fixtures, including floor and desk lamps, to bring some warmth and charm to the space.
The location of lighting is critical to the pleasant function of the office. Lighting should illuminate what you will be reading, but not shine on any computer screens. The computer, lighting, and windows should be coordinated so you don't see the reflection of a bright light or a window in the screen.
If your screen is on a desk against a wall, it's good to have either overhead lighting, such as pot lights or sconces fairly close to the wall so the face of the screen is pretty much in shadow, but your desk top is illuminated to read and write.
For reading, say at a desk or a chair, the light should come from both sides, just slightly behind and not from in front or behind. If lighting comes from in front then you see a glare off of the page, particularly with shiny paper. If it comes from directly behind you'll cast your own shadow on it.
Cork might make a nice floor.
Most of the basements I've had to work in have gotten moisture in them at one point or another, so I tend to shy away from carpet down there.... BUT if you have a nice, dry basement you could try that Legato stuff.
Go to the home depot website and in the carpet shopping, look up Legato. They are like 2' square carpet tiles that somehow lock together. Seen them in HD catalogs and they looked interesting, but I haven't used them. Supposedly, you can pop them up and replace bad tiles real easy. Might be a good option for basement carpet, but I'd also put the plastic mats down to roll the chair on (whether its wood or carpet...concrete can probably fend for itself).
Indirect lighting sound like a nice idea. You could use the between-the-joist flourescent fixtures for industrial lighting or as a backup source. Indirect can give a nice, warm lighting.
You might still want to use some kind of tile system for the ceiling. Just in case you need to access wiring or some such at a later date. Easier to take the tiles down rather than rip out the drywall.
"There are some cracks in the floor, so putting tile or vinyl directly on the floor isn't an option. "
Sure ya can. At least tile ... plenty of crack isolation membranes out there ...
best of which .... Ditra.
Jeff
Is flourescent light or incandescant light better for an office?
I, personally, prefer indirect light and incandescent task lighting. That can mix-n-match several ways. You could have a cove at the wall-ceiling joint with fluorescents that gives a nice, even, general light to the whole space.
Or, you could drop the center of the ceiling to 7'-0" or 7'-3", and leave a 15-18" wide "reversed" cove around that. The dropped (also known as a "cloud" ceiling) lets you put in some recessed fixtures over the desk--the "task" lighting. Dropping the ceiling over a desk can be rather effective in rooms that are wider than they might ought to be for the height of their ceilings.
Or, maybe, you need a combination of both.
boss hog.. I got a kick out of reading all of this, I too am currently converting a basement storage room to an office for my girlfriend, so that I can claim back the dining room table from her school work.. Just a note about the lighting.. With a low basement ceiling, if you have recessed lights, they all take R or hologen bulbs (as far as I know) and even with a black baffle and a wide flood, they still put out alot of heat and glare.. As far as lighting goes. I know this is a bit back-yard but it works well for her: I wired 3 or 4 outlets to one switch, so she has a few different sconces and desk-lamps and such, which really gives a nice look to the room, all are operated with one light-swich by the door. Let us know how it all turns out and what you ended up doing!
I like that idea skyecore. I hate poorly lit rooms, especially when I have to run around turning multiple lamps on and off.
blueWarning! Be cautious when taking any framing advice from me. Although I have a lifetime of framing experience, all of it is considered bottom of the barrel by Gabe. I am not to be counted amongst the worst of the worst. If you want real framing information...don't listen to me..just ask Gabe!
thanks blue, we had to get a little creative because flourescent lights set off migranes for me, and she is TERRABLY picky, she used to be really excited about intirior design, and just about everything that made sense to me she thought was really obviosly going to look bad. The other advantage for me is that all of her outlets over her workbench (she uses part of it as an art studio) are on the same swich so she can't leave a glue-gun or some other fire-starting thing plugged in.
Did you wire the tops of the duplexs to the switch and leave the bottoms for cords?
blueWarning! Be cautious when taking any framing advice from me. Although I have a lifetime of framing experience, all of it is considered bottom of the barrel by Gabe. I am not to be counted amongst the worst of the worst. If you want real framing information...don't listen to me..just ask Gabe!
"Did you wire the tops of the duplexs to the switch and leave the bottoms for cords?"--blueI'm embarrased to say that I dont know what duplexs are. I've done some simple electrical work in the past but I'm pretty in-expirienced with it.
Duplex plugs.
I might be calling them the wrong thing...after all I'm only the worlds worst hack carpenter.
If I ever wire another house, office or living room, I'm going to wire all the tops to the switch so I can light that room up like the sun. I also would put no less than twelve duplex oultlet plugs behind the desk and at least 6 behind the television.
blueWarning! Be cautious when taking any framing advice from me. Although I have a lifetime of framing experience, all of it is considered bottom of the barrel by Gabe. I am not to be counted amongst the worst of the worst. If you want real framing information...don't listen to me..just ask Gabe!
"I might be calling them the wrong thing...after all I'm only the worlds worst hack carpenter."I agree <LOL>."Duplex plugs."The duplex is right. The Plugs is wrong.A plug is male connector that is on the end of the lamp cord the TV power cord.The correct name for the female wall part is receptacle. Often called an outlet. And it is an outlet, but in an outlet is any place that electrical equipment can be connected and it include light fixtures and permanatly wired equipment.For sykecore, a duplex receptacle means two separate sockets to plug into. 95% of the receptacles in a house are duplex. Single receptacles are used for special applications such as a wall clock or large appliacnes. With the duplex they come setup so that both receptacles are wired on the same circuit. But they have tabs that can be broken out to isolate the two and have then on two different circuits and/or one receptacle alwasy hot and the other one switched."If I ever wire another house, office or living room, I'm going to wire all the tops to the switch so I can light that room up like the sun. I also would put no less than twelve duplex oultlet plugs behind the desk and at least 6 behind the television."Blue if you do that do it all with pigtails and not try to wire through the receptacles. You will find that things get moved around and you will want "all hots" at some locations. If you use the pigtails it is a little easier to re arrange.And while I like the idea of a few extra receptacles I think that 6 or 12 is overkill. A good power strip is better and you can get it closer to the action. And if you are using an UPS a lot of stuff has to go through the UPS anyway.
Thanks for the correction Bill...I knew that name was wrong but I just couldn't remember the proper terminology.
I know 12 is overkill....but as I look at my computer now...with several strips and wires running all around...I'm thinking maybe 18 would be better. I never want to see another power strip. They rarely get picked up and vacummed under and theres always large dustballs lurking. I can't plug my phone charger into anything and I have plugs filled all around the room.
Forget 18....I'm thinking 24...above desk level...right behind the desk.
blue
ps Make that 36Warning! Be cautious when taking any framing advice from me. Although I have a lifetime of framing experience, all of it is considered bottom of the barrel by Gabe. I am not to be counted amongst the worst of the worst. If you want real framing information...don't listen to me..just ask Gabe!
twelve duplex oultlet plugs behind the desk and at least 6 behind the television
I know that feeling. All too well.
Really, though, IMHO, all that's really needed is two dedicated (no other fixtures) circuits with a duplex on each. You then use a power strip (or up to 4--that's why the 2 dedicated circuits) to distriibute the power to all the "things" a a/v system seems to require nowadays. That's two so each one can be on its own leg in the panel.
For a desk, a similar situation applies.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
NO POWER STRIPS! PLEASE!
BLUEWarning! Be cautious when taking any framing advice from me. Although I have a lifetime of framing experience, all of it is considered bottom of the barrel by Gabe. I am not to be counted amongst the worst of the worst. If you want real framing information...don't listen to me..just ask Gabe!
NO POWER STRIPS! PLEASE
Oh, c'mon, where's your sense of adventure <g>? It's really a lot more fun when the pets step on that on/off switch just before you hit save (or just as that pass goes up) . . .
I should have more properly said electronic protection strips--I use IsoBar and the like, not $10 box store cheapos. That way, there's one stout cord gonig to where the equipment is, not 6 skinny (and one juuuuusst 2" short of reaching) going the other way.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
even with a black baffle and a wide flood, they still put out alot of heat and glare
If you are only using them for "fill" light, and have "task" lighting on a desks, etc., try the "track light" style mini floods. GE & Phillips have some 25W & 40W minis. They are about half the volume of a "standard" bulb, yet give pretty good light. I use 40W "halogen" mini spot in some uplighting floor cans, and bump down to a 25W mini flood come xmas time (so as to not compete with tree, etc.)
Moving the visible portion of the bulb back into the fixture will reallycut down on glare (you are improving the angle of incidence). Another item is to sometimes try a white baffle & trim. This will be counter-intuitive, but the white trims are sometimes "flatter" than the black, whic reduces the glare by reflection.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
thank you for the tips CapnMac, I'll try that in the other basement room with the "ceiling's headlights"