Lighting Redux - So many Boxes?

[aleccolin]

Do I need a box at each fixture location? The lights I have were installed as shown, but I'm hanging sheetrock and need to know if I need a bunch of boxes or if I can poke the wires down through the sheetrock into the fixture when I put them back up. I have something like 22 fixtures total. What's the best way to do this?

 

[Big Bad Dad]

That hole busted through the bottom chord of that truss weakens it, and should be a building code violation. I bet the truss manufacturer would void any warranty claim submitted in case of a problem. And you have 22 of these??

 

[aleccolin]

Yes, which is why I'm sistering another 2x4 (glued and screwed) across that area at each location. I'm not worried about the warranty which is probably out by now since it's 7 years old, I just want to strengthen it a bit so they don't crack when the blown insulation is going in.

I'm taking the opportunity to rethink/rework my lighting scheme. At this point, I'm inclined to sister on the back side, so I can just put everything back up the way it came down. I may be adding some more fixtures down the middle. Still not sure if I need boxes for everything. My old shop had receptacles in the ceiling and all the fixtures plugged in. I'm leaving this hard wired.

 

[Mzungu]

You don't need boxes, but you do need some sort of connector on the fixture which I doubt it has. Normally I would loosely staple the romex on the side of the truss 2.5 to 3 inches up so you can freely move the cables up and down. After drywall strip the cable put the connector on and slide it up into the drywall so just the needed amount of connector and thread is showing. You may have to drill an new 1/2" KO in the fixture or extra holes in the fixture to mount it to the truss, and some of these new style fixtures may be too narrow even to hit the truss at all, In which case you will need to use anchors. No matter what you end up doing after installing those lights and before insulating you need to seal all the penetrations through the drywall with foam or some other type of sealant.

 

[Innovate1]

If the fixtures are too narrow to get the wires next to the truss the fixtures can be turned 90 degrees and hang from 2 trusses. Usually gives more options for wire locations.