Installing Cool New Lights

This should be fun. It may be overkill, but if so it's an experiment to show architectural clients.

The shop lights are flooding the space with 9600 lumens and I couldn't be happier. However, when the garage doors are closed, the area under the loft feels a little shadowy--and that's the part where I expect to work. These LED downlights put out 550 lumens, and I have six at each garage door, so that's another 6,600 lumens in the room. The shoplights are motion-sensitive, but the downlights are on a separate switch.

It appears to be a 4" downlight (the orange tabs
will be hidden by the drywall).

The thing about these particular lights is that they are only about as thick as drywall, so you can place them under joists. My layout avoids that, but you don't have to.

The 'ballast' in these LED lights is called the driver, and it's housed in a small metal junction box, where you do your connections. You carefully cut a 4.2" diameter hole, reach into it to find your power wire, attach it to the junction box and then put the junction box into the ceiling, just resting on the drywall.

I thought about it for a few days and decided that I want to pre-wire the junction boxes. After the drywall is in place, I'll cut the hole, reach up and find the white connector wire coming from the box, attach it to the LED light and install the light. I'll still leave enough power cable in the ceiling to be able to pull the junction box through the hole. By pre-wiring, I'll be able to test everything before I put up the drywall. My location can be approximate--the layout that matters is the one I draw in pencil on the drywall.

The first and second boxes are installed. I added the gray strain-reliefs so that the sharp metal box doesn't scrape the Romex wire. Also note the push-in connectors instead of wire nuts--the lights come with the connectors.

The power wires are stapled into place at about the light's location (in the east-west direction). There should be 12-14" of slack in the ceiling when everything is done. For maintenance, I'll be able to pull the junction box through the hole to open its cover.

I'm done with priming for a while. For now, I'm an electrician. This door was a hideous dark brown--the second coat of primer should be a lot less blotchy. The other door is bare wood.

I was very happy with how this turned out, until I invented a new trick...

Shine a bright LED flashlight on it from the side and we see the imperfections and (saddest of all) the joint tape.

So, the Bedroom #3 wall needs a skim coat of drywall compound at the coffee maker (the refrigerator hole below looks okay). I have expanding urethane foam for the voids around the hallway/garage door. The plan is to install and test the 12 downlights, then cut the drywall for the ceiling under the loft. I'll see if I need to rent a drywall lift--it's only 5 pieces, and they are less than full sheets.

Once the drywall is in, cut the holes, set up the lights and phase 2 of the electrical is done. There's a lot of miscellaneous drywall I want to do--just to hide the studs and insulation. The tall wall at the east between the garage and the BR3 Hall is completely uninsulated--what R-value does 1/2" gyp bd have, exactly? No wonder it gets so cold down there.

But that's about it. Button up the walls with drywall, paint the steel shelves, epoxy coat the floor and move stuff back in. I bought the epoxy paint today--I was so happy that they make a 1-car garage size so that I wouldn't be wasting material.

I'm targeting May 11 for project completion. Then it's on to the post light, the deck, and a bunch of other things, but I'll have all my tools and everything else ready to go.