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Building a Home

Recessed LED lighting for new build

10 years ago

We are in the design phase and looking at LED lighting options. Amazon has these lights that can be fitted with LEDs. We live in a temperate climate (hawaii) so I don't think we will have insulation (maybe to keep out the heat). The question is would these be appropriate for a new build and does anybody have experience with these?

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Comments (5)

LOTO
10 years ago
I am looking at 4" LED cans (the complete housing with bulb) and they are 8.75 watt and produce 641 lumens and color accuracy is 82. About $42.00 with discount but the cans are sealed very well and you can insulate right over the top of them.
I don't know if all areas do this but we can go to the post office where we are changing to (about 20 miles from our last home) and sign up as a new resident and get the welcome packet and in it is a 10% off discount from Lowes. and that is where I probably will get our LED lights...about 60 cans and 10% off adds up...my electrician even told me to buy them there.
kcinkc71
10 years ago
Have to ask....Lock out, tag out? Good info on the lights from lowes. Will try the post office thing. Not yet as far along, but want to do LED 4" cans as well. Did you get snow? Saw Springfield was getting some. Where the hell is spring?
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The kitchen area should have a higher illumination (e.g. - 35 lumens per sq ft) than other areas (e.g. 20 lumens per sq ft for the living room). Each can will have an effective output of ~ 500+ to 600+ lumens as a good amount of the light is trapped. Your electrician would love for you to have all the lighting from recessed cans as he would be able to earn more. Depending on where your home is located, the installation cost per can could be ~ $100 or more. If you use CFL cans (with the integrated ballast), the bulb itself could cost ~ $8 - $10. When the ballast fails, you need access to the upper side of the can, which in certain situations could require the entire can to be replaced or the ceiling torn apart (If there is another floor above, or a hole is made in the ceiling while attempting to crawl through the attic to reach the can). In 2012, standard incandescent bulbs are no longer sold in the stores so the main choices are either CFL or LED. What is your definition of soft natural lighting? How did you come to the conclusion that LED lighting will not provide soft natural lighting? The Cree LED recessed lights (also available from HomeDepot under the Ecosmart brand) work very well and are at the moment the best lighting you can get for recessed cans.
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Be careful of the Home Depot CR6. I own a lighting store and from what I have heard Cree stripped down the components from what is being sold by electrical distributors / lighting stores. It is kind of like the difference between Hunter fans in the box store vs. the Hunter fans I buy. I think price difference between a lighting store and HD on the CR6 is around $15 per unit. My recommendation is if you are buying something to last 15 years, you don't want to get it from a big box store.
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air tight trim is a joke in my opinion.I base this on having tested for air leakage with a blower door while sealing these lights & trims. the foam rubber gasket does little to stop the air leakage from exiting the trim. the best way I've found is to use the hardcast 1402 mastic tape to seal housing to the sheetrock. similar to how supply box is sealed in pic of previous posting. tape goes into edge of housing and overlaps to sheetrock. allow 1'2" overlap as trim will cover the tape. this with the ICAT recessed light will stop as much of the air leakage as possible. there will still be a small amount of leakage, but not enough to be of concern. note this when you look at the recessed lights again: Halo's insulation contact air tight lights have two things that identify them. no holes in housing and a orange sticker inside the can that says it is air tight. orange sticker, not red. the red sticker says air tight when used with the following trim kits. deceptive lableling IMO. reading the small print inside IC cans the trim kits include, insert/baffle to fit inside the can to address holes in housing (@$14 each) and air tight trim kit, not sure of cost. as the insert/baffle would be needed at every recessed light, buying ICAT makes better economical sense. installing the baffles is a pita. so add labor for that to cost. buy ICAT, use mastic tape in place of 'air tight' trim. if you are putting IC cans outside under porches patio, unconditioned space this is what happens. as the install of recessed lights is ongoing, the electrician mixes up the boxes. some inside are ICAT, some IC. same outside. make it easy on everyone and buy all ICAT. wasps like IC, but not so much ICAT, less air movement. the cost per contractor case between the two is minimal when you compare to retrofitting each IC to air tight. best of luck.
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Check out these LED Wafer lights from Lithonia Lighting... No visible bulb or ridges at the trim, 4" or 6", wet/dry locations, dimmable, recommend 2700K (Kelvin) 3000K or 3500K for residential applications. The LED wafer fixture is detachable from the wiring compartment if replacement is needed. We use them for our recessed lighting projects when replacements are required or desired. https://www.acuitybrands.com/products/detail/579430/Lithonia-Lighting/WF6-Downlight/Wafer-LED-Indoor-Outdoor-6-in-Housing-Free-Recessed-Downlight New construction pan shown below - WF4PAN or WF6PAN
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kcinkc71
10 years ago
Have to ask....Lock out, tag out? Good info on the lights from lowes. Will try the post office thing. Not yet as far along, but want to do LED 4" cans as well. Did you get snow? Saw Springfield was getting some. Where the hell is spring?
LOTO
10 years ago
kcinkc21...not sure what you mean by lock out, tag out...I know what it means but not sure if/how the questions relates to me.
I also have a Lowes commercial credit account and you don't have to be a contractor to get one and you get 5% off of all items when using it.
No snow but a little rain today and I showed Lake houses all day..it was a little brisk on the docks though.
flgargoyle
10 years ago
LOTO= Lock Out Tag Out.

I've been experimenting with LED cans for our build. We're not ready to install them yet, but I tried some out in our barn to see if we like them. At Home Depot, they have 6" re-fits for $30. The cans themselves are about $5-6. These are Cree LED's, which are supposed to be very good, and are fully dimmable. The lights are 9.5 watts, and generate almost no heat at all. I've gone from wanting a 'few' cans in the house to probably about 20!

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