Theater Recessed Lights

[BPRetrofitters]

We are looking to build some air tight boxes over some theater/spot lights in an old church, does anyone have any experience with this. With standard residential cans we build the boxes 24x18x12 to dissipate the heat. How big would they need to be on the larger (and much hotter) lights? Thanks for your help

[robhelms]

That is a tough question not knowing just how hot the lighting gets. If it were me i would give at least the 3" clearance around the cans, and i would most likely make the boxes out of gypsum board, or drywall, and use fsk foil tape to seal the joints. Then put a bead of red fire caulk around the lights to embed the boxes in to seal the bottoms. Another option might be to drill a couple holes in the top of the boxes and caulk some hardware cloth over the holes to let a little heat out, especially if the boxes are taller than the insulation.