POT LIGHTS (recessed lighting!)

[broken_legs]

Hey Yall

I already installed 4 x 4" pot lights in s to-be kitchen in th basement.

Now im eyeing up the MASSIVE den area for the same.

Im not worried about installing them (EASY!) but more curious as to the actual placement in a large room. In the kitchen (long rectangle shaped room) it was easy. IN the MASSIVE den, im not too sure,


The room is approximately 28 ft x 18 ft.

6" Pots is what I will be using and I have 12 lights to place. The room is continous, however the ceiling is divided roughly in two by a large support beam that holds the floor joists above.

Do I want to put the lights closer to the walls? Or should I evenly space them out in the room to provide an even lighting effect?

Can I use pot lights as the main lighting source for the room?

Thanks for the input!
b


Along the walls for accent lighting?



evenly spaced?

[Wrinkly]

edit: reading fail (too much vino)

[tictactoe2004]

I'm assuming they're regular incandescent bulbs and not MLV or some type of lower voltage, if so I would recommend the second option with the lights being more evenly spaced.

You can't really use regular incandescent bulbs as accent lighting, they would just light up your entire wall, if you use a lower voltage light you will get very defined edges and can really accent things without flooding the whole area with light.

edit: and yes you can use them as a main light source for the room but I would highly recommend nice lutron dimmer.

[eblend]

I am doing mine similarly and mine are even spaced. On a related note, does anyone know any place that sells insulation boxes that aren't $20 a peice..i got to install 12 lights and would love to not spend $250 bucks just for some metal boxes which probably really retail for like $3 bucks each

[danno]

yes use potlights as the main source of lights. put some wall sconces in if you would like a theater look. don't forget to put dimmers on the pots. i like the top layout myself.

[broken_legs]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Do the dimmers need to be installed on each light or at the 3 way switch?

Originally posted by eblend
I am doing mine similarly and mine are even spaced. On a related note, does anyone know any place that sells insulation boxes that aren't $20 a peice..i got to install 12 lights and would love to not spend $250 bucks just for some metal boxes which probably really retail for like $3 bucks each

In the kitchen (built under neath a covered deck) I used R 7.5 1.5" styrofoam insulation and built a little enclosure around each light fixture so allow a space for the light to heat up and not contact the R 40 in the ceiling.

Also, i just bought a 'Contractor 6 Pack - 6" Pot Lights' at Home depot for 79$.

[mr2mike]

The dimmer just goes where the 3-way switch is.

Just make sure you place the furniture accordingly. I hate having the spot light blaring down on you while sitting on the couch or standing at the eating area in the kitchen. A friend has that with seemingly 100watt lights and it's irritating especially if you don't have very high ceilings. No dimmers either, I believe, or I would have dimmed them.

[InRich]

my entire house is potlight lighting, I just have them evenly spaced, and about 2 meters away from eachother throughout the entire room. my house is 2200 sq feet, and I have 63 pot lights. they light up the rooms nicely, and I get ALOT of compliments from anyone visiting. I HATE light fixtures.

[eblend]

Originally posted by mr2mike
The dimmer just goes where the 3-way switch is.

How does this work? I am thinking of putting a dimmer on my lights as well and they are currently wired with 2 - 3 way switches. Do I replace one with a dimmer, or do I put in 2 dimmers, this is all a mistery to me haha

[black_2.5RS]

You should draw in where you plan to put the TV and couch in your diagram. If you put the pot lights right over your head on the couch, it'll feel like you're in an interrogation room and it'll piss you off. I got that tip from a buddy and boy were they right.

Also, if you're going to have your TV mounted, move your lighting a little bit away from the wall (esp. if it's up high). ideally, it would be better to split the lighting so that the lights over a TV can be turned on separately but that can be really hard if re-wiring is difficult. A good second option might be to put recessed lighting with an eyelid on it (I don't know what they're really called) but they have a cut off on have the light so you can redirect the light to where it's needed.

[mr2mike]

Originally posted by eblend



How does this work? I am thinking of putting a dimmer on my lights as well and they are currently wired with 2 - 3 way switches. Do I replace one with a dimmer, or do I put in 2 dimmers, this is all a mistery to me haha

You actually can't put two dimmer switches in, you have to pick one location where to install the dimmer switch. Usually the place where you'd turn the lights on/off the most.
Then you need a 3-way dimmer switch.

In my house, we have a dimmer switch for the hall lights upstairs where all the bedrooms are. You can turn the lights on at either end but the dimmer is the switch closest to the stairs.
I'll answer your next question that you haven't asked yet. If you have the dimmer set to say 50% lighting (figuratively)and you turn the lights on at the switch with no dimmer, the lights will come on at the set dimmer level of 50%.

Article that would help: http://www.ehow.com/how_2280970_wire...er-switch.html

Not too hard to do, just check that you got the right breaker off before you attempt.

[eblend]

Originally posted by mr2mike


You actually can't put two dimmer switches in, you have to pick one location where to install the dimmer switch. Usually the place where you'd turn the lights on/off the most.
Then you need a 3-way dimmer switch.

In my house, we have a dimmer switch for the hall lights upstairs where all the bedrooms are. You can turn the lights on at either end but the dimmer is the switch closest to the stairs.
I'll answer your next question that you haven't asked yet. If you have the dimmer set to say 50% lighting (figuratively)and you turn the lights on at the switch with no dimmer, the lights will come on at the set dimmer level of 50%.

Article that would help: http://www.ehow.com/how_2280970_wire...er-switch.html

Not too hard to do, just check that you got the right breaker off before you attempt.

Thanks, I watched many youtube videos on how to install a 3way dimmer but none of them mentioned the other end, but did end up finding the information. Apparently it is possible to have dimming from multiple locations, but the dimmer has to be a digital kind and not a mechanical one.

Here is the video that helped me figure that out.

http://www.monkeysee.com/play/14340-...pes-and-styles

[mr2mike]

Yup, as I was typing, I thought about adding a blurb about maybe the new dimmers can dim from both ends.
Mine is for sure mechanical.

Good link tho

[eblend]

A semi related question, I want to install recessed lighting in my basement, however, I also want to add sound insulation since this particular room will be my home theatre. My floor joists are 12" deep. I want to install the insulation (3" deep) right up against the ceiling in between the joists, and then hold it in place (and prevent dust) using vapour barrier poly. With this configuration, I would still have 3 inches above my recessed lights (they are the non IC type). Would there be any issues with that? I understand that I have to have 3 inches of clearance from insulation on each side of the light if I am using non IC fixtures.

[eblend]

Sorry, attached is the picture to explain better my situation.

[mr2mike]

There are these:
http://www.soundisolationcompany.com...nlight-covers/

Personally, I wouldn't risk it with the poly, it will heat up even with the airgap, sag and could touch the light, then you're dealing with melted plastic smell till it all burns off, if it doesn't start a fire. What dust are you preventing? Nothing really. There will be fiberglass dust, regardless, if you're cutting the insulation. From what I have read, roxul (fire and sound) isn't much better than regular thick pink fiberglass. It's the air between the fibers that helps deaden the sound.

Also detatching the drywall from the joists, will help a lot.

In my place, I wanted to prevent the foot traffic and being able to hear people talking. So I insulated between the joists (R-20), 3/4" drywall floated with whisper clips on a hat channel. Not cheap, but I seems to have worked. Can't hear people talk and can't hear them walk unless they stomp.

Also do some reading:
http://www.soundproofingcompany.com/...fing_ceilings/

http://www.soundisolationcompany.com...ndproofing101/

I bought my product from this store and they've got good info too.
http://www.soundisolationstore.com/s...s-and-ceilings

[sillysod]

YOu can use 2 dimmers on both ends of a 3 way. Lutron makes a digital one I have in my hallways - it comes with remotes too etc. Can't remember the model #, but I will look it up.

As far as pot light spacing goes my basement is very similar. One thing I would do is put each row on it's own switch and put a dimmer on it.

That way you can adjust the ambient room lighting as you wish.

And yeah E-Blend to do it properly just get pot lights that are rated for insulation.

[eblend]

Originally posted by sillysod

And yeah E-Blend to do it properly just get pot lights that are rated for insulation.

Unfortunatelly I already have 12 pot lights from a while ago that i want to use, and IC contact pot lights don't come in small sizes readily, so I would be limited in a way, unless I used an insulation box.

I think that as long as I have 3 inches of clearance I should be fine. I think most poly is rated for 90 degrees, and I would staple it to the joists.

I will read up on some of the sound proofing stuff that mr2mike posted, however I am not really hardcore into soundproofing, just want a little bit.

[eblend]

Well..I did some more digging on sound proofing (sorry for derailing the thread) and I think I came up with a new way of doing this, instead of poly I will use drywall that will be attached to 2x2s that I will run the lenght of the joists, creating the same affect with sound insulation in between. This will prevent the chance of poly coming off and also provide for better insulation to sound, and allow me to use my potlights without issue. Additionally I will double up on my drywall and use the green glue on all of the walls and the sealing to create a double layer of drywall for mass with greenglue in between. I know this won't be cheap but might as well do it right the first time.

I see that Winrock sells greenglue at about $20 per tube, I would need at least 2 tubes for each sheet of drywall, so I am looking at about $50 per sheet cost, for the ammount I will need for the basement it will be about 1200 bucks total, which isn't terribly bad (just for drywall and glue) and another x amount for the insulation, this should give me a good enough result I would imagine.

[sillysod]

Try 1-800-DRY-WALL too for pricing. I used them and was super happy.