Can I cover the fixtures completely with insulation?
Upstairs is so drafty and we have these high hats everywhere except most look like this in the attic.
Until I swap these old fixtures out and then blow in additional inches of insulation, can I do a better job without compromising safety or breaking golden rules of electrical work?
Depends: some cans are IC rated and some are non-IC (Insulation Contact is what I was always told; never actually looked it up). Impossible to tell just from a picture.
Open the junction box, and if there isn’t a sticker there that says it, then remove the bulb and trim and there should be one in there.
If it is not IC rated, DO NOT lay Insulation against the housing - not that it would be an imminent fire hazard, but I wouldn’t take the chance.
This.
If they aren’t IC rates you can always place a plywood box over it, then insulated around that, but I would check the light manufacturer specs first.
However, it looks like you have no vapour barrier and only batted insulation between your ceiling joists. I don’t think you will find a noticable difference by just addressing your potlights, unfortunately.
LOL, it looks like this is your fixture. Having said that, pop the JB cover or look for IC rating inside the can as JK said.
Maurice
Yep looks spot on hah. Thank you. That was a good read and I’ll check them out tomorrow.
Makes sense.
Best bet is to purchase covers, air seal them with high quality caulking and then insulate around the cover.
You will want the covers anyways before you blow in any insulation. Buy some fireblock foam and start looking for any other electrical penetrations while you are in the attic. Don’t forget any other electrical boxes, fan and random light boxes. Those will let a bunch of air in.
I had a air infiltration test done on my house. One of the suggestions was sealing around the pot lights in the attic. The recommendation was to use vapor barrier applied with acoustic sealant.
That being said, I agree with BCTri. If the only place you then have vapor barrier is around your pot lights, it’s not going to change much.
If you are going to add insulation, you should take out all the current stuff and add a vapor barrier prior to putting new insulation in.
Another option is to just replace the potlights with a slimline led version like this:
Then insulated right over them.
This is the way
This might be a good option. We put these around the main floor and like them a lot. Easy install and I like the “halo” feature too.
Yeah, they have quickly become the gold standard here. Easy to install, you don’t have to worry about joist placement interfering with spacing of lighting, no insulation/VB woes etc.
Cans do look a bit better IMO but they’re just a major pain to work around. In my area, even with IC rated cans you need to install a vapour boot over every light and make sure it’s sealed to the continuous vapour barrier. And its nearly impossible to get your ceiling trusses aligned with where your pot lights need to be, especially in areas like kitchens etc when you want them perfectly aligned with the center of your cabinets, for example.
You put these over the high hat in the attic then you can insulate over them;
https://www.homedepot.com/pep/Tenmat-Recessed-Light-Cover-FF130E/204286308?source=shoppingads&locale=en-US&pla&mtc=SHOPPING-CM-CML-GGL-D22-022_004_INSULATION-NA-NA-NA-PMAX-5718363-NA-NA-NA-NBR-NA-NA-NEW-Pmax-CL3TestA&cm_mmc=SHOPPING-CM-CML-GGL-D22-022_004_INSULATION-NA-NA-NA-PMAX-5718363-NA-NA-NA-NBR-NA-NA-NEW-Pmax-CL3TestA-19116999312--&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADq61UfR-ZehJcsHTOWioqLjXwTic&gclid=CjwKCAiApsm7BhBZEiwAvIu2X1GwdQ7pci6_F-_eS4tdA8rr2HZF1ixdHRDcpXU7bAEnPMKLuAqd6xoCT5cQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
You seal them down with spray foam and you change the bulbs to LED
You can also get nice LED fixtures that screw into you socket then snap in place to mostly seal the opening
Then you can insulated over everything. But use rolls of fiberglass not sprayed in loose insulation. With loose fill insulation, if someone has to do any work up there, they’ll have to go up with a snow shovel, with rolls they can move it out of the way and put it back after.
