How To Seal Recessed Lights In Attic

You can stem the flow of air and money by air sealing your light fixtures from the inside with just a roll of painter s tape a can of spray foam insulation and a tube of painter s caulk.

How to seal recessed lights in attic.

If you have recessed light fixtures in your home you may also have a significant volume of conditioned air escaping into your attic. Reinstall the bulb in the recessed light fixture. This video from green homes america provides a good overview of the air leakage issue with recessed lights and shows an actual top hat installation. Sealing from below in homes where attic access isn t available or is difficult and for recessed fixtures mounted in first floor ceilings a top hat and insulation is not an option.

Here are the solutions we recommend if you have recessed can lights protruding into your attic. The best way to deal with these lights is to remove them completely. For more information see air sealing can lights safely fhb 249 the best alternative in your situation is to replace the recessed lights with nonrecessed lights. A good lighting showroom will have lots of options.

Recessed can lights no easy solution cut a 6 in. Up in the attic clean the ceiling surface around each fixture slit the cover to accommodate the electrical cable and place the cover over the fixture. Hole in your ceiling and add a 100 watt bulb enough heat to bake cookies and you have a recipe for huge heat loss as well as a major contributor to ice dams. We ve shown how to use led retrofit inserts in this process so here we take a look at the steps behind using foam sealant to ensure the can is correctly installed into the home envelope.

Now it will be safe to heap insulation onto that spot. Apply a bead of caulk around the cutout in the ceiling. Only caulk recessed fixtures to the ceiling if the trim ring doesn t have to be removed to change the bulb. Apply the sealant around the cable and along the edge of the cover where it rests on the ceiling.

That s what a recessed light does. After removing the old fixtures add insulation to the empty spots left in the ceiling install airtight electrical boxes and use the same wiring to put in surface mounted fixtures such as track lighting or pendants.