recessed flourescent lights

[unvago]

I am starting to wire my new 24 x 24 x 12 garage and have thought about recessed 2 x4 flourescent lights.
http://www.drillspot.com/products/276753/Lithonia_2GT8_332_A12_MV1_3GEB10IS_Lens_Troffer_Fixture
These are the ones I am looking at. Would six be enough?

 

[evil16v]

I would say yes. I have a 20x20 with four four bulb troufers, and they are great. i used 3 of them in my 12x30, and they worked equally good. The three bulb would be fine if you have six spaced well.

one thing to watch for though...24" center is a pretty tight fit inbetween, but you can make it work.

 

[unvago]

What did you have to do to make them fit?

 

[evil16v]

a couple of things to think about....

First.. get up in the attic and make sure your trusses or joists are straight and you have the full width to deal with...i.e. they are off center. that is a go /no go, right there.

Second what thickness of sheet rock do you have? I think mine was 5/8. I think some older stuff is 1/2. Why does this matter? Because the fixure is only 24" at the face. It narrows about 3/4 inch or so from the face (lense). This is why they will usually fit in between a 24" on center, spacing. You will have to trim the corner of the joist/ truss around a 1/4" square. This can be done by trimming the sheet rock back slightly by scoring with utility knife. This is so you don't cover your self in sheet rock dust. I used a circular saw set to the right depth and a sharp chisel. I could see a router doing this nicely though(I didn't have one at the time).
This took a while, was a mess, but looked good when i finished.

Two problems I can see happening. Newer fixtures could be built different at the lip(mine were salvaged from a hospital renovation and were fairly old. Find the one you want and measrure CAREFULLY.
AGAIN the joists may be too close together to place a fixture. Measure each Location where you would like to put one, INDIVIDUALLY. Your framer may have drank his breakfast that morning

Just measre very carfully before you even take the trouble to purchase one. I'll get a picture later...

 

[evil16v]

Here are some cruddy pictures (taken with my boys camera -mine is out of commision). I think they tell the tale though. they are pretty dark. the garage is actually pretty bright. Note my avatar with a picture that was taken with my camera.

I never have gotten around to putting up some trim... but it's really not that noticeable. in the picture with the one W/O the lense and frame, you'll see what i am saying aout the shape. they taper quite a bit from the flange.

 

[unvago]

Thanks for all the info. I will check the measurements before I buy,
thanks,
Pete

 

[dipper]

I've got 8 parabolic lights, a mixture of 3 bulb and 2 bulb in my shop. They are great and will go into the drop ceiling like a champ. I paid $10 each for mine brand new from a surplus store.