Fluorescent strip lights recessed in ceiling

[warren57]

With my limited garage ceiling height, I'm thinking of recessing standard t-8 two bulb 4' strip lights into the ceiling between the trusses. Probably about 4" so the bottom of the bulbs and shield are level with finished ceiling.
I looked at troffers and they are to wide to fit the 22 1/2" space between the trusses. The troffers didn't appear to have any special ballast or any other design specific to recessing.
I was thinking of boxing in the space between the trusses, sheet rocking the inside of the recessed area to maintain the ceiling fire rating and then basically surface mounting the fixtures in the top of the recess boxes.. Sort of an alcove with a light.
The area around the fixtures would be around 8" on all sides.
Has anyone done anything similar?
I appreciate your comments, but please, I don't need any future, self taught, want to be, inspectors, to recite codes. Just looking for members with common sense and realistic comments.
Thanks

 

[rsanter]

I did that
I decked the top of the stringers with OSB
I cut out the Sheetrock the width of the trusses and then 4ft long
I screwed the florecent fixtures to the OSB
I installed some trim around the opening and then I put the diffuser lenses in
Came out looking really nice for not too much effort

Bob

 

[toplessHO]

I have a loft area that has similar construction and I chain hung some 2 lamp industrial fixtures in the space between the floor joists. air space is needed to keep the ballasts cool but Ive converted all of them to electronics so thats not really an issue.

 

[warren57]

Thanks guys, you confirmed my thoughts. Think I will go ahead and give it a try!!!

 

[black00lightning]

Have you thought about using high wattage cfl's in a 6" recessed can. I'm planning on doing the same thing using either 65 or 85 watt bulbs in the recessed can. The bulbs will stick out a couple of inches but it won't be a problem in my case.

 

[SilverSS1969]

Glad someone brought this up before. I was planning on doing something similar. The T8 housing I have are too deep to recess all the way into the rafters, but Id like to at least get 4-5 inches of them inside. Then use some crown molding to finish them out and house the lenses.

rsanter: Do you have any pictures of yours? It sounds like what I want to do but mine will hang down a few inches. They are very deep housing and looks like the ballast is on the top of mine.

 

[Dieselndixie]

Pics of the can lighting?

I'm struggling with a similar situation and my garage door sits close to the ceiling when it's "up". I want lots of light....

My temporary solution was to simply hang two sets of T12 lights and plug them in to the outlet in the ceiling. Happy to take any suggestions. I need more light back towards the garage door area. If I add 2 more sets of lights, the output would be fine, but they seem to burn out a lot