How many lumens for a 16 × 16 ft laundry room?
Total light needed
7,680lumens
256 ft² × 30 foot-candles
| Room area | 256ft² |
|---|---|
| Target light levelIES guidance for a laundry room | 30foot-candles |
| Total lumens | 7,680lm |
| Colour temperaturecolour accuracy matters for stains | 3500–4000K |
| Bulbs (800 lm each) | 10bulbs |
| Recessed cans (4 ft spacing)480 lm each | 16fixtures |
Notes
- Foot-candles are lumens per square foot at the work surface. Ceilings above 9 ft, dark walls or dark flooring all eat light — add roughly 10% per extra foot of ceiling height.
- Spread the total across several fixtures rather than one bright source. One 7,680 lm fixture and 16 smaller ones add up the same but look completely different.
Where 7,680 lumens comes from
Lighting is specified in foot-candles — lumens landing on each square foot of the surface you care about. A laundry room is worked to 30 foot-candles. Across 256 ft² that is 7,680 lumens in total.
Split it up
One fixture putting out 7,680 lumens and 16 fixtures adding up to the same number light a room very differently. A single source throws hard shadows and glare; several spread the light and make the room feel larger. Aim for layers — ambient, task, and something low for the evening.
Color temperature
3500–4000K suits this room. Warmer light reads as relaxed and is what you want where people wind down; cooler light keeps edges and colors crisp, which matters where there is work to do.
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Read more
- Hallways and Stairs: The Lowest Lumen Target and the Strictest RulesCorridors need less light than any other room and more care about where it lands. On a staircase, the tread nosings are the whole job.
- Home Office Lighting: 30–50 Footcandles, and Where the Desk Lamp GoesThe room number is the easy half. The half that decides whether you get headaches is where the light sits relative to the screen and your writing hand.
- Garage Lighting: 50–75 Footcandles, and Why the Fittings Go Over the SidesThe commonest garage layout is one row down the middle, which lights the roof of the car and nothing you are working on.
- The Fan Runs and the Mirror Still Fogs — Six Causes, in OrderThe fan is rarely broken. It is usually starved of make-up air, fighting its own ductwork, or being switched off twenty minutes too early.