I am beginning to hang my recessed light housings (not remodel but new
work).

I laid out the desired spacing and location in CAD, and when it comes time
to install, I ran into a few challenges. Right now I am struggling with a
set of 9 lights.

I put in the first, second, and when it comes to the third, the joist is
right in the middle of where I want the light to be, so it won't work.
Which means if I want the light to be spaced the same, I need to move the
second light. I can slide it along the flange, but if it's already butt up
against the joist then I can't slide it. Furthermore, by sliding the second
light, the other two rows will need adjustments as well. Basically, to run
into trouble positioning one light, there is impact on the positions of many
others. I have nine in the living room, eight in the dinning room, and six
in the kitchen and since it's all open, they are all aligned with each
other, so I decided I will need to plan it out better before I start hanging
the lights.

So what I am looking for is tips on what the best way to hang them. I
started to mark them down on the floor, since there is no way to mark them
on the ceiling (ceiling sheet rock is down). Now when I start to hang them,
how do I align where it is on the floor to the location on the ceiling? Do
I use a plumb-bob?

Even though the ceiling is down, the fiber glass insulation is still there.
I need to trim the insulation back a few inches since what I got are Non-IC
housings. What is the best way to trim them? A pair of scissors? or just
rip them apart?

Another question is what if some insulation get too close would that start a
fire? These are fiberglass insulation I think they are highly flammable.

Last question is once I have all the housings wired, in order to test them,
can I screw the bulbs in without putting in the trim first - just to test?

Thanks,

MC

I am beginning to hang my recessed light housings (not remodel but new
work).

I laid out the desired spacing and location in CAD, and when it comes time
to install, I ran into a few challenges. Right now I am struggling with a
set of 9 lights.

I put in the first, second, and when it comes to the third, the joist is
right in the middle of where I want the light to be, so it won't work.
Which means if I want the light to be spaced the same, I need to move the
second light. I can slide it along the flange, but if it's already butt
up against the joist then I can't slide it. Furthermore, by sliding the
second light, the other two rows will need adjustments as well.
Basically, to run into trouble positioning one light, there is impact on
the positions of many others. I have nine in the living room, eight in
the dinning room, and six in the kitchen and since it's all open, they are
all aligned with each other, so I decided I will need to plan it out
better before I start hanging the lights.


*Welcome to my world. Happens all of the time. Basements are the worst
because of gas and water pipes and ducts.



So what I am looking for is tips on what the best way to hang them. I
started to mark them down on the floor, since there is no way to mark them
on the ceiling (ceiling sheet rock is down). Now when I start to hang
them, how do I align where it is on the floor to the location on the
ceiling? Do I use a plumb-bob?



*There are laser levels and sights for transposing from the floor to the
ceiling. I usually lay it out on paper first. You can tweak the distances
a little and it will not be perceived on the finished ceiling. As I have
mentioned in other posts no one really takes a good hard look at recessed
lights.



Even though the ceiling is down, the fiber glass insulation is still
there. I need to trim the insulation back a few inches since what I got
are Non-IC housings. What is the best way to trim them? A pair of
scissors? or just rip them apart?


*I just use a sharp razor knife.



Another question is what if some insulation get too close would that start
a fire? These are fiberglass insulation I think they are highly
flammable.



*I've never encountered a problem. Do the best that you can. You only need
to stay back 3" and no insulation on top. The non-ic units are rated for 150
watts and that is what the requirements for keeping the insulation away are
based on.



Last question is once I have all the housings wired, in order to test
them, can I screw the bulbs in without putting in the trim first - just to
test?


*Yes. I sometimes put in regular or rough service bulbs so that there will
be light for others to work in the room. Save the good bulbs until the job
is done and the trims are in.

I had a similar situation but fortunately it was only a few inches. I went
ahead and mounted the lights as close to 'plan' as I could and it is hardly
noticeable that they aren't perfect (although I know!).

The other option if it is too noticeable is to come up with an arrangement
that doesn't put the lights in a straight line. IE if you have 2 rows of 3
lights each, have the two on the ends of each row 5 feet apart while the 2
in the middle are only 4 ft apart. that keeps the eye from 'drawing' the
straight line between the lights and noticing the variance.


"MiamiCuse" wrote in message
...
I am beginning to hang my recessed light housings (not remodel but new
work).

I laid out the desired spacing and location in CAD, and when it comes time
to install, I ran into a few challenges. Right now I am struggling with a
set of 9 lights.

I put in the first, second, and when it comes to the third, the joist is
right in the middle of where I want the light to be, so it won't work.
Which means if I want the light to be spaced the same, I need to move the
second light. I can slide it along the flange, but if it's already butt
up against the joist then I can't slide it. Furthermore, by sliding the
second light, the other two rows will need adjustments as well.
Basically, to run into trouble positioning one light, there is impact on
the positions of many others. I have nine in the living room, eight in
the dinning room, and six in the kitchen and since it's all open, they are
all aligned with each other, so I decided I will need to plan it out
better before I start hanging the lights.

So what I am looking for is tips on what the best way to hang them. I
started to mark them down on the floor, since there is no way to mark them
on the ceiling (ceiling sheet rock is down). Now when I start to hang
them, how do I align where it is on the floor to the location on the
ceiling? Do I use a plumb-bob?

Even though the ceiling is down, the fiber glass insulation is still
there. I need to trim the insulation back a few inches since what I got
are Non-IC housings. What is the best way to trim them? A pair of
scissors? or just rip them apart?

Another question is what if some insulation get too close would that start
a fire? These are fiberglass insulation I think they are highly
flammable.

Last question is once I have all the housings wired, in order to test
them, can I screw the bulbs in without putting in the trim first - just to
test?

Thanks,

MC

I am glad that I had the ceiling down so I can see what's going down,
between the studs and ceiling furring strips and EMT conduits, if I had used
remodel cans, even with a stud finder it would be very difficult to figure
out the pattern not knowing what's up above.

Yesterday I was trying to wrestle with the kitchen counter lights, and as
John recommended, switch to 4" (Halo H99T) made it easier and I was able to
place three H99T cans 32" apart, evenly, although not centered to the room
or center to the big window. It's strange that the joists are spaced 24"
apart, the room kitchen is 140" wide, I could not easily find a spacing
(tried 36", 38", and just about every increment) using the center of the
room as the middle light, or the center of the window as the middle light,
had to shift over before it would fit.

I suspect when I get to the center areas where I have the three pendants
over the kitchen island, which is aligned with the 9 lights in the dinning
room, which is also aligned with another set of 8 in the living room, I
will have even more trouble...I briefly toyed with the idea of completely
random spacing, this way no one can tell if it's off.

MC

"Mark" wrote in message
...
I had a similar situation but fortunately it was only a few inches. I went
ahead and mounted the lights as close to 'plan' as I could and it is hardly
noticeable that they aren't perfect (although I know!).

The other option if it is too noticeable is to come up with an arrangement
that doesn't put the lights in a straight line. IE if you have 2 rows of
3 lights each, have the two on the ends of each row 5 feet apart while the
2 in the middle are only 4 ft apart. that keeps the eye from 'drawing' the
straight line between the lights and noticing the variance.


"MiamiCuse" wrote in message
...
I am beginning to hang my recessed light housings (not remodel but new
work).

I laid out the desired spacing and location in CAD, and when it comes
time to install, I ran into a few challenges. Right now I am struggling
with a set of 9 lights.

I put in the first, second, and when it comes to the third, the joist is
right in the middle of where I want the light to be, so it won't work.
Which means if I want the light to be spaced the same, I need to move the
second light. I can slide it along the flange, but if it's already butt
up against the joist then I can't slide it. Furthermore, by sliding the
second light, the other two rows will need adjustments as well.
Basically, to run into trouble positioning one light, there is impact on
the positions of many others. I have nine in the living room, eight in
the dinning room, and six in the kitchen and since it's all open, they
are all aligned with each other, so I decided I will need to plan it out
better before I start hanging the lights.

So what I am looking for is tips on what the best way to hang them. I
started to mark them down on the floor, since there is no way to mark
them on the ceiling (ceiling sheet rock is down). Now when I start to
hang them, how do I align where it is on the floor to the location on the
ceiling? Do I use a plumb-bob?

Even though the ceiling is down, the fiber glass insulation is still
there. I need to trim the insulation back a few inches since what I got
are Non-IC housings. What is the best way to trim them? A pair of
scissors? or just rip them apart?

Another question is what if some insulation get too close would that
start a fire? These are fiberglass insulation I think they are highly
flammable.

Last question is once I have all the housings wired, in order to test
them, can I screw the bulbs in without putting in the trim first - just
to test?

Thanks,

MC

In article ,
"MiamiCuse" wrote:

I am glad that I had the ceiling down so I can see what's going down,
between the studs and ceiling furring strips and EMT conduits, if I had used
remodel cans, even with a stud finder it would be very difficult to figure
out the pattern not knowing what's up above.

Yesterday I was trying to wrestle with the kitchen counter lights, and as
John recommended, switch to 4" (Halo H99T) made it easier and I was able to
place three H99T cans 32" apart, evenly, although not centered to the room
or center to the big window. It's strange that the joists are spaced 24"
apart, the room kitchen is 140" wide, I could not easily find a spacing
(tried 36", 38", and just about every increment) using the center of the
room as the middle light, or the center of the window as the middle light,
had to shift over before it would fit.

I suspect when I get to the center areas where I have the three pendants
over the kitchen island, which is aligned with the 9 lights in the dinning
room, which is also aligned with another set of 8 in the living room, I
will have even more trouble...I briefly toyed with the idea of completely
random spacing, this way no one can tell if it's off.

MC


Straying from your immediate concerns: Not sure what your control scheme
is going to be, but the place I just bought with the g.f. has CFLs in
the kitchen ceiling cans. There are 13 cans total: three rows of three
(on one switch) interspersed by two rows of two (on another switch.) The
result is that we have HI, MED, and LOW light in the form of 4, 9, or 13
bulbs in illuminated. It seemed like a good workaround to the CFL
dimmability issue.