Recessing suspended ceiling troffers

[splam]

I am wiring a new third car garage stall(16x28 with 11'6" ceiling). It will be dry walled and painted with white ceiling light gray walls. I intend to use it for more of a man cave with a storage lift since I already have a 36 x 85 work/storage shop which is detached. I was thinking of recessing 6-8 of the 4 lamp T-8 fixtures that are designed for installing in suspended ceiling. I like the idea of having a nice clean ceiling without the lights hanging down to reduce the usable height. What I am unsure of is how much light is lost where it is needed due to the translucent diffusers most of these units have. I could remove them and just look at the bulbs if it is an issue. The other thing I have noticed on some of them is the diffusers tend to yellow with time. Have any of you installed this fixtures in this fashion? I thought I had seen somewhere some type of bracket that would make it easy to mount these easily between 24" on center trusses but have not been able to find them again.
Any help or advice from someone with experience would be appreciated.

 

[cybrdyke]

I am wiring a new third car garage stall(16x28 with 11'6" ceiling). It will be dry walled and painted with white ceiling light gray walls. I intend to use it for more of a man cave with a storage lift since I already have a 36 x 85 work/storage shop which is detached. I was thinking of recessing 6-8 of the 4 lamp T-8 fixtures that are designed for installing in suspended ceiling. I like the idea of having a nice clean ceiling without the lights hanging down to reduce the usable height. What I am unsure of is how much light is lost where it is needed due to the translucent diffusers most of these units have. I could remove them and just look at the bulbs if it is an issue. The other thing I have noticed on some of them is the diffusers tend to yellow with time. Have any of you installed this fixtures in this fashion? I thought I had seen somewhere some type of bracket that would make it easy to mount these easily between 24" on center trusses but have not been able to find them again.
Any help or advice from someone with experience would be appreciated.

Hardly any light is lost thru the prismatic lens as opposed to no lens at all. It's job is to help scatter the light so it softens shadows. You shouldn't be concerned about that. They turn yellow over time due to UV from the tubes themselves. But it takes years of burning to make that happen. How long are they going to be turned on in your man cave? If it's only a few hours / week then you shouldn't be concerned about that either.
These are normally used in grid ceilings, so that's what they're made to attach to. Several people on this forum have "boxed them" meaning that they built a box into the joist space which would allow for easier mounting.
I'm sure someone will jump in with some pics of their install for you.
Good luck.
CD

 

[Norcal]

If you in either a hot or cold climate there could be issues w/ heat loss or gain due to the fact that You can't insulate above the fixtures.

 

[cybrdyke]

...also, the manufacturers make something called a "flange kit" that is used to mount these into drywall. Doubtful that they would be easy to find at HD. Stop by the electrical supply house.
CD

 

[splam]

Norcal
I was wondering if I would need to have an air space above the lights due to heat from the lights. I am in a northern climate and will be heating the garage full time so will be using fiberglass bats in the ceiling.

 

[Norcal]

Norcal
I was wondering if I would need to have an air space above the lights due to heat from the lights. I am in a northern climate and will be heating the garage full time so will be using fiberglass bats in the ceiling.

You cannot insulate over the fixtures but a low profile wrap around would allow insulation above them, if you have money to burn, Lithonia LB series come in LED, or T5HO, in addition to the more reasonably priced T8. The insulation issue is one of the drawbacks of recessed lighting, besides lower efficiency, but the efficiency issue is more w/ cans they are horribly inefficient compared to other types.

 

[gregtwojeeps]

I am wiring a new third car garage stall(16x28 with 11'6" ceiling). It will be dry walled and painted with white ceiling light gray walls. I intend to use it for more of a man cave with a storage lift since I already have a 36 x 85 work/storage shop which is detached. I was thinking of recessing 6-8 of the 4 lamp T-8 fixtures that are designed for installing in suspended ceiling. I like the idea of having a nice clean ceiling without the lights hanging down to reduce the usable height. What I am unsure of is how much light is lost where it is needed due to the translucent diffusers most of these units have. I could remove them and just look at the bulbs if it is an issue. The other thing I have noticed on some of them is the diffusers tend to yellow with time. Have any of you installed this fixtures in this fashion? I thought I had seen somewhere some type of bracket that would make it easy to mount these easily between 24" on center trusses but have not been able to find them again.
Any help or advice from someone with experience would be appreciated.

Parabolic lens could be used in lieu of lexan flat lenses if so desired. jmo

 

[splam]

I like the looks of the parabolic diffusers but did not see any with 4 lamps only saw 3 lamp fixtures.

 

[Platonic Solid]

If you're willing to spend a little extra for cool factor, the recessed flat panel LED edge lits are a thing of beauty to look at. Perfectly flat solid white light and you can insulate right over most of them as there's no heat issues. (Image linked to one of many available flat panel options)

​

Here is the Cooper Drywall Frame Kit DF-24W-U here for $39.33 or here for $43.67