Sunslight, "Checking the actual, inside, dimensions of the shelves, I came up with approximately 46x16." Actually, I have one of those shelves right here beside my computer, in use to hold my computer, scanner, video camera, CD drawers, and a bunch of books. I bought three of those shelf units, and I have one of them in use as a fluorescent plant stand right now. The distance between the posts is actually a bit less than 16 inches. I measure about 15¾" between the chrome posts. The distance between the heavy wire structure at the bottom ends of the shelves is about 46¾ inches, maybe a hair more. However, that should be not problem, because you hang the fixtures from the wire shelf above the shelf, and the fixtures can extend well beyond the end of the shelf, if need be. I use 1" S-hooks to hook over the wires of the overhead shelves, and the lightweight chains that came with my Home Depot shoplights. The chains let you adjust the height of the lights to keep them reasonably close to your plants for the best results. That leaves the problem of how you fit three fixtures in the relatively narrow space of 15¾ inches. There are several possible solutions. For your 50" x 6" fixtures, you hang them in a "staggered" configuration. Hang two of your fixtures snug against the poles, down a few inches lower than the minimum hanging distance, and hang the third fixture higher up and centered so that its light can come down between the other two fixtures. A variation on that would be to hand the outside fixtures at enough of an angle to allow the third fixture to fit between them. That would put your three fixtures in sort of a "hip roof" configuration, fitting between the poles and protruding a bit beyond the end of the shelves. A third possibility would be to hang all three of your fixtures at an angle, in a sort of "venetian blind" configuration. A fourth possibility is to buy some narrower fluorescent shoplights. Home Depot has $8 48-inch T8/T12 shoplights that are only 5 inches wide, and three of them fit neatly between the chrome wire posts. Since Home Depot sells a box of 10 Philips Cool White T8 bulbs for $19.95, they cost only $2 each. They draw only 32 watts each, contain less mercury, and are more efficient than T12 bulbs, so they put out as much or more light. And their lifetime is rated for 20,000 hours, which is a long time. Another advantage of the Home Depot Commercial Electric shoplights is that they can be converted to "overdrive" your tubes for at least 50% more light output per tube. That would give you the light equivalent of 9 tubes per shelf. MM

There is another factor that no one has touched upon. I am a Plumber and I have spent many years earning a reputation amongst the local builders and plumbing inspectors as being a stickler for detail, to the point that often an inspector comes on the job site and when he or she sees me standing there they barely go through the motions of an inspection, relying upon the fact that they know my work. In return, I can command top money amongst the builders and I am still in high demand because they know that I will get the job done on time, in budget and have no follow-up problems. Along comes Mr & Mrs gotlotz acting in the stead of a competent GC and they immediately begin giving me attitude. NO problem. The first thing out of their mouth is that they will not settle for the quality of work we do on tract homes. Fine with me, never let it be said that I cheated you out of your bragging rights, I just add an additional 10 or 15% aggravation fee for putting up with the attitude. The quality of the work speaks for itself.

I'll try not to repeat too much of the excellent advice given here, esp by pjb999 (you can build my house anytime!) But here's a bit of my personal experience - and since we got hit by the southern OK tornados a coupla weeks ago, we'll be doing all this again with the same guy, thank God! When we started planning our build, there were certain things I knew I wanted my house to "do," but I had no idea how to make it happen. The smartest thing I did was meet with a CEDIA-certified "guru," as I call him. I see from the date of most replies that this may be too late to benefit you, but you got excellent advice and someone else will surely come along with the same questions. We're a family of four, so we knew there would be at least four heavily-used computers in the house. I had him explain to me the basics of what an LAN is, basically our own in-home network. I wanted to be able to access certain info and a centralized printer from any station, much like some larger firms I'd worked in. We were building outside of city limits, so DISH tv and satellite internet service were our only real options. Britt (our guru), handled EVERYTHING for us, short of selling us anything. Yep, that's one reason I trusted him so quickly is because as a member of CEDIA, he doesn't make his living off selling the technical equipment for your home theater/cable system/family computers/etc. Now, he most certainly advised me as to what HE would purchase at each step, going so far (only at my request) as to handle the ordering from pro catalogs from which he received a discount, and taking delivery since he would be the person responsible for installing everything. But I saw every receipt, matched them up with every invoice received from him, and I can say without a doubt we paid only for his considerable expertise, labor, and of course the wire/cable he provided. There might be a piece of equipment on an invoice from him, but since I had the prices ahead of time and the receipts, it was clear he did NOT make a profit on equipment. (Unlike the "pros" who set up my parents' hi-end theater room, which has never functioned as it should.) We DID dedicate a closet to rack mounts and a hard-wired distribution panel. Next time I'll just make it a bit bigger for better access - once you get all those cords in there, it gets crowded quickly - and I'll make sure it gets more than just a basic a/c vent to handle the heat of the equipment! And to be clear, we weren't doing anything over-the-top: no true "home theatre," but we did wire for in-ceiling speakers in the living rm. We also wanted to be able to watch the same DVD in multiple rooms (I'm a junkie, and I love knowing I've got my movie going and can move from the laundry rm to the kitchen to the bedrm, and continue watching the same movie.) The same with regular tv channels; and since we were having to use DISH, I wanted to watch and record in most rooms without a ton of receivers. Britt even talked w/the tech pp whenever there was a glitch, because he's the guy who knows where everything is buried, so to speak! I absolutely agree that wiring is still a good investment, no matter where you live. Once a house is built - esp a 2-story like ours - retrofitting can be close to impossible. The best Britt could do for us 5 yrs ago was to run cat5 and fiber optic, and hope we were good for ten years. I can tell you that including the master hub panel, receivers, all the in-wall wiring, and of course labor, it was the best $30K we spent on that entire house. Sorry to go on so long, but I've seen too many pp spend a fortune on an elaborate whole-house system, and end up having the local cable guy or computer tech that knows less than I do installing the wiring. After that, the problems never completely go away. You are wise to seek advise and have it done right, from the start. One added note: if anyone does embark upon a custom build and works w/a certified technology expert, make sure you click on a personal level and can work well together. At the rate technology changes, we have improved upon almost every system in the house at some time or another, and Britt has now become a dear personal friend - he was one of the first pp I called after the tornado hit, and he immediately offered to do anything he could to help ease my mind about removing, cleaning and storing any surviving equipment. I feel privileged to have stumbled upon him, and am grateful we'll be working with him on our rebuild.

Good for you Steph. Do you need supports or brackets that would work with manufactured housing? Make sure the ones you price can work for you. Oh yeah, in Arizona desert country your southwest windows get pretty hot I bet. I got a roll of 90% shade cloth from Home Depot several years ago. It is wonderful stuff. That which I have has been in my sun porch on the east side for a long time now. I have it mounted inside the Lexan windows. I had split the 6 foot wide strip in half so I had 2 36 inch wide shades. It doesn't require sewing, it does not ravel. I put tacks into the wood at the top of the window, and took my fingers and rolled up the "shade" , then clipped the roll each end with a clothes pin. I liked it that way when I first did it, and find no good reason to change it at present. I mean, I have enough to do without fixing something that isn't broke. I suggest that in your climate, you put such a piece of shade cloth over the outside of your SW windows. YOU CAN SEE THROUGH THEM when the sun is shining. People outside walking or passing on the street (road in your case) cannot see through the fabric. I'm suggest outside mounting because of the intense heat striking your glass. Keep it from heating up the glass and your power bill will go down quickly. Now, no reason it must be mounted only over glass or on windows. I bought a 100 foot x 6 foot roll of this 90% shade cloth. I intended to use it to cover my hosta garden but falling tree limbs made me reconsider. It is also used a lot for patio covers, or maybe attached to a wall or some posts and cover your automobile or make a shelter for your picnic table. Or cover your dog kennel? Many uses. Keep your climate in mind to allow for high winds or dust or sun fading. Let me try to show you the shades I have in the sun porch. I simply tacked the widths up without any reinforcing. However, a wooden yardstick would make a nice straight top if you have an extra one lying about.