What alternative are there to metal can lights? We do want recessed lighting in our new home, of course our electrician says just use metal cans, we do it all the time. Insulation goes on top so its' no problem. We all know that's not true but arguing is pointless. I'd just like to say use this or that product instead, I'll pay the difference. Any recommendations for well sealing can lights? Or should I just build foam insulation boxes around all the cans in the ceiling?

Recessed lights are like fossil fuels - there are much better and cheaper alternatives. There are numerous brands of LED lights that look like recessed but are 1"-1-1/2" thick. In a ranch style house we use an air barrier on the ceiling, then strap the ceiling, then sheetrock. The LED lights fit in the space and don't puncture the air barrier.

Since you are dealing with new construction I would think you could reasonably seal a regular J-box. In fact, J-boxes that are marketed as "air tight" are available. Have never used them so can't substantiate their claims, but there are a number of methods used to seal regular boxes.

From there a good LED surface mount light can be installed. I have had good luck with this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00X9F1ZB6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 , but my application was for old work. Use the biggest 4" box you can find or go to a 5" box for ease of installation. Its a tight fit with the smaller 4" box.

Ditto: They have LED's now that look like recessed lights, but mount on a traditional 4X ceiling box which is fairly easy to seal properly. Got a box store(lowes, HD, ect) near you? You will find them in the lighting isle if you want to see what they look like, or get one or two to experiment with like I did...

Awesome thanks!

Bob I, what do you use for the air barrier before strapping?

Would another option be to build a box around the metal can in the attic with 2" foam insulation?

Posted By rgonyer on 09 Mar 2017 04:48 PM
Would another option be to build a box around the metal can in the attic with 2" foam insulation?

I have done this and for the most part it works pretty well. You can always lay your fiberglass insulation over & around the boxes too.

SIGA Majpell. Available at Performance Building Supply. http://performancebuildingsupply.com

I built boxes around my can lights, and am happy with the results. When I built, surface mount LED's weren't that common, and rather expensive. If I were paying someone else to do the work, though, I'm sure the surface mount lights would have been a cheaper option. I spent a lot of time detailing my attic prior to insulation.

Box the can lights. I use a fire retardant cardboard box when ok'd made for this, gypsum box out of scrap when I have too. Sealed with 1 part foam. Blower door testing shows very effective, but j boxes are much easier to seal. My experience with the airtight boxes are cheesy foam flaps that don't do anything after the wire goes through so you seal it anyway.

I would spec fiberglass boxes, much tighter than the plastic.

Continuation from above. There are plenty of J-box mount led light out now. Home Depot and Lowes carry them. They mount in a regular octagonal light box, (much the size of an outlet box). Builders don't charge as much to put them in. Some builders charge $50 per outlet box and $150 for a can light. The cost savings pays for the $40 j-box light that is needed.

I used some of them in my new home and wouldn't use can lights anymore. They are that good!

Can anyone point to a specific one on HD's website? There are over 130 recessed LED lights on there! If you have bought some and liked them, LMK.

Posted By greentree on 14 Mar 2017 09:32 PM
Box the can lights. I use a fire retardant cardboard box when ok'd made for this, gypsum box out of scrap when I have too. Sealed with 1 part foam. Blower door testing shows very effective, but j boxes are much easier to seal. My experience with the airtight boxes are cheesy foam flaps that don't do anything after the wire goes through so you seal it anyway.

I would spec fiberglass boxes, much tighter than the plastic.

I was thinking about boxing the can lights using leftover 2" XPS foam from my sub slab insulation. The contractors around here are all robots, anytime you mention something they aren't used to doing, they don't want to do it. Obviously I should have had all this in my contract up front. There are already can fixtures all over my house. I'm not the GC and I don't want to slow the build down so I'm just going to cope as well as I can.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Commercial-Electric-4-in-Soft-White-Recessed-LED-Can-Disk-Light-CE-JB4-600L-27K-E26-2/206105620

Homedepot stocks about 3 different types.

Search Home Depot site for "j-box led" and some new ones come up that they don't stock.

I have compared the three from homedepot and they are all really good. We are building a new house and will be buying around 50 soon.

Awesome thank you!!

Ever think about these that require no box? Once again I don't know how you'd really seal them though....

http://www.homedepot.com/p/EnviroLite-Easy-Up-6-in-Day-Light-LED-Recessed-Light-with-93-CRI-5000K-J-Box-No-Can-Needed-EV608941WH50/207156696

Posted By rgonyer on 15 Mar 2017 11:49 AM
Ever think about these that require no box? Once again I don't know how you'd really seal them though....

http://www.homedepot.com/p/EnviroLite-Easy-Up-6-in-Day-Light-LED-Recessed-Light-with-93-CRI-5000K-J-Box-No-Can-Needed-EV608941WH50/207156696

Those are new to me...was reading a couple min ago, watched the video and it looks like it would be better to add those after inspection. Maybe put an outlet box in the attic add line cords to the lights and just plug them in later. hahahah

The lowest profile box mounted LED I've found was the Blink line from Satco. I'm having trouble with their site right now so I'll just post a link to one of many products: https://www.satco.com/s9190.html For reasons I won't fully explain we needed a product with the sides perpendicular to the base and that had a square option and came in 3000K. And for the specific application we wanted fewer, larger lights vs several smaller ones. For those reasons and for our ceiling height we're going with a product line called Strike 2.0 from Access. http://www.accesslightinglights.com/product/access-lighting-strike-2-0-flush-mount-20800ledd-wh-acr.html?page=1 It's possibly that there are thinner overall LED's but these were the first we found that met all of our criteria. They're ordered but not here so I can't comment on how them yet. If we build a house I'll look much more carefully for a product that is closer in appearance to a can light.