Ceiling Residential Light Fixtures

I liked these a lot. I had a friend who does high-draw electrical for furnaces put them in. They look great. Minor downsides, the hexagon electrical box was never recommended, nor were the correct light bulbs. I wound up buying bulbs from Ace, and the "punch" electrical hexagon boxes from HD.

In a perfect world, these would have more power capacity. But they work fine and tuck in between the floor joists as I wanted. I GUESS you could drill through them to look a bit neater like you see online, but I'd ask an electrician or contractor about that. You clearly have to be real careful and not compromise the joists. My plan is to paint the whole thing matte black, and I started with engine black spray paint (heat resistant, plus, that's what I had lying around). I painted the boxes first. Be careful, as they'll scratch.

This is a fairly dark 11 x 20 basement. It's lighter in daylight shown, obviously; over at night. I used 60 watt (13 watt power use), 2300k daylight bulbs. The curly florescents, I think they are.

It replaced 2 ugly old 60s florescent fixtures.

We plan to put up at least another 3. Plus probably 6 or so in a 1.5 car garage on main floor.

My basement has a 7 foot ceiling. The box measurements aren't included with the fixture measurement. So it DOES stick out MAYBE 2 inches from beneath the floor joists. The bulb is way in there and you'd have to make an effort to touch it. From what I can tell, they get just warm, not scalding hot, unlike the old bulbs.

Using these really opens up the ceiling, over the long florescent fixtures of the old days.

I found these fairly priced and they showed up just fine (we're in a major city, just for the record).

The installer said he really got the hang of it by the last few (I bought 6).

Since old houses have REALLY dumb setups for plumbing, HVAC and electrical, my plan is to paint everything that won't walk away with engine black (in case of heat, you never know) gradually, as you still have the water heater/furnace with a pilot light, and paints/sprays tend to be flammable. And basements aren't known for lots of air flow. That way, even the ugly stuff will blend in for cheap. It's not how I would have done it originally, but it's expensive and very labor-intensive to rip it all out and start over. If it's all the same color, it'll blend in and look bigger. And updated.

Btw: pro tip. If you have tons of one finish of paint (flat, Behr's Marquee, in this case) you can mix it all up after you strain it (just in case you get paint boogers in there), assuming it never froze. You'll know b/c it looks like cottage cheese. Don't use that, it won't work. If it's still smooth, mix it up, get it shook at the paint store, and use it for the garage or utility room. As shown here. Then, you'll have fewer ugly gallon cans lying around and it makes the room look much nicer.

Just save a small jar in a glass Ball canning jar for touch-ups. It comes right open and closes right up again. I use a cotton ball or Q-tip for small wall nicks.

These are supposedly rated for damp conditions. I haven't seen any damp in this basement at this point yet (2 years of ownership), so I can't say.

I find minor repairs like painting and updating light fixtures and such, nice to live with and should help when you go to sell (makes it look like you took time to care for the house consistently).

I highly recommend these.

Great lights to update my new to me house…

Just what I needed in my kitchen. Good quality.