Question about recessed, can lights - sloped ceilings?

12 years ago

Hello:

Our house has sloped ceilings, and I'm wondering if there's a significant difference between recessed lights for sloped ceilings and recessed lights for flat ceilings. Can flat ceiling recessed lights be installed on sloped ceilings?

I'm in the process of figuring out what trim kit/baffle to put in my recessed lights (family room, kitchen, and den) and I just saw the sloped ceiling baffles with the ridges that are parallel to the floor. Are these significantly better for sloped ceilings than the regular baffles?

It looks like the sloped ceiling baffles can only be installed in the sloped ceiling cans, but I'm not sure if I have flat ceiling cans or sloped ceiling cans. My electrician never even mentioned I had an option, and I had no idea such a thing as a sloped ceiling can existed. Short of hauling myself into the attic, is there an easy way to tell if I have sloped ceiling cans or flat ceiling cans?

I realize the most obvious answer to my question is "Why don't you ask your electrician?" However, I'd like to avoid calling this particular company because they basically cheated and lied to us, and we had to fire them.

Thanks.

Featured Answer

dim4fun

12 years ago

Recessed fixtures for slope ceilings are adjustable to allow the lamp to be aimed straight down. Standard recessed housings can use adjustable trims. Recessed fixtures made for slope ceilings have this adjustability inside the housings for a cleaner looking ceiling with less glare.

With typical 6" housings the cylinder walls will be perpendicular to the ceiling if standard or approximately perpendicular to the floor if slope. You need to find out the brand and model of the housings to choose trims so you're going to need to get up there and read the label. Buy the trims from the company that made the housings to be ensure code compliance because they are ETL or UL listed that way.

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Comments (8)

ladoladi
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks, dim4fun. Dragged myself through the attic to find the model #. Turns out their made by Juno.

Are compatibility issues that significant?

The house already a few can lights before we installed additional ones, and when I was up in the attic I could not find a model or brand name on the old ones. They're from when the house was built in 1987, so whatever sticker was on it is long gone.

I'd been planning to put the same trim kit in the old ones and new ones... Is that clearly a bad idea? Do I have options?
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dim4fun
12 years ago
The stickers with brand/model number are inside the cylinder. I'm sorry you climed into the attic just to see the Juno brand. You need to look inside the housing. Not all brands of trims and housings are size compatible. What you want to do is often done but unless the trim and housing are intended to be together it's a code violation. It's all about heat. Someone has to accept responsibilty that a specific lamp & wattage in a specific trim will work in a specific housing, safely. If you do otherwise then you are the engineer.

Slope housings are generally more unique.
chisue
12 years ago
Do you even want cans in a sloped ceiling? I regret putting them in the cathedrals in our library. I would have prefered to 'wash' the ceilings with light from below. By the time light from a can reaches the floor, it's pretty useless. If you make the bulb brighter, I'd think you'd have some significant heat.
dim4fun
12 years ago
It's a designer's job when choosing lamps, trims and housings to ensure that - by the time light from a can reaches the floor it is NOT useless -
lilindo
11 years ago
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octevenings2001
5 years ago
Can I ask what you ended up doing? I’m in the same predicament. Thanks.
son truong
4 years ago
Question: my house was built during the 70s and i want to install recessed lights in myfamily room but the ceiling is sloped, any tips or advice if my entry point is through the attic. Thanks for your help.