Trying to figure out what to do here on a seemingly straight forward problem and it got messier and messier. I have this house where the previous owner basically turned into a "man cave" so to speak and did a lot of additions which I end up having to get undone for a variety of reasons. In one of the living room / kitchen area, he has glued mirrors onto the ceiling, and actually he also glued full length mirrors on the walls in the bedroom, which kind of making it look like that endless reflection fight scene in one of the Bruce Lee's movies, but I was successful in removing the wall mirrors. Now my focus is onto the ceiling, specifically the recessed lights on the ceiling. The purpose of this thread is to see if there is a non-destructive method to remove the recessed light housing from the ceiling safely and painlessly. He has remodel recessed light housings installed - fitted onto the ceiling sheetrock. Then I believe some time later he got the idea of mounting mirrors up there, so he cut holes in each mirror panel and glued on the mirrors. The problem is the hole size he cut on the mirror allow the trim piece to be installed, but the hole is SMALLER than the bottom flange of the housing. Now that flange is sandwiched between the sheetrock and the mirror and there is no way to remove these housings. He should have removed the housings, mount his mirrors, then reinstall the housing. So now I have to find a way to remove these housings from below. Here is a sketch of what I am describing. [IMG]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w67/143house/11th/recessed%20light%20behind%20mirrors.jpg[/IMG] So let me back up a step here. Why do I want to remove the housings? There are a number of reasons. But the #1 reason is he installed non-IC rated cans and he got blown insulation in his attic that is too close too these cans. I can see it from 20' away with a flashlight but I cannot get to it due to lack of head room in many areas. Whether I remove the housing and stick my hand up the hole to push the insulation away, or install new IC rated cans, either way, I need to be able to remove these cans. Besides, the remodel can junction boxes are supposed to be accessible (by releasing the clips and lowering the housing), if they aren't accessible, then it's a code violation. There are a total of 20 recessed lights, of which about half I can get to from above, and half I cannot reach. What about just breaking the mirrors from below, refinishing the ceiling and leave the lights? Well that is one option. But this option is extremely expensive and time consuming. Because the previous owner has created a "tray ceiling" with a recessed light in each of the "tray". Then he built wood trims all around them. Like this. [IMG]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w67/143house/11th/IMAG7214.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w67/143house/11th/IMAG7216.jpg[/IMG] So to remove the mirrors mean removing all this stuff. Not really my taste but still...oh and even worse, he set his custom kitchen cabinets and built in pantry, refrigerator and oven cabinets high, only several inches below the ceiling, so there is no way to demo all the ceiling to the edge without having to remove all the cabinetry below. [IMG]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w67/143house/11th/IMAG7236.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w67/143house/11th/IMAG7238.jpg[/IMG] So back to the problem...is there a relatively pain and safe way to remove a 6" remodel housing from the ceiling, if the bottom flange of the housing is blocked in by a mirror? [IMG]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w67/143house/11th/IMAG7219.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w67/143house/11th/IMAG7220.jpg[/IMG] Right now, my thinking is to use a dremel tool with a metal cutting disc, to cut the entire housing from the inside, like how you would use an internal pipe cutter, as close to the flange as possible. This will leave the thin slice of flange in place, which I will then try to tease out with an aviation tin snip. But that will end up destroying 20 cans, not to mention long hours on a ladder facing up with a mask and eye protection.:wall::wall::wall: I am hoping someone has a better idea. :thinker::thinker::thinker:

Hi, I just replaced my Programmable Light Switch (PLS) with a new one and the wire setup is a little different and I was hoping you can help. My previous PLS did not have a white wire to connect to the Neutral wires in the 2 gang box... and the new PLS has one which I connected (merrett) with the existing one (one merrett) only for 5 white wires (including the new one). My question is: Can I split the load of the 5 wires from one merrett to 2 merretts, i.e. 3 whites wires on a merrett and the 2 last ones on another one ? I believe I can as this is Neutral wires, but I prefer asking before doing so. Here is more info on the setup: Double gangbox. 4 cables entering the double gangbox, called C1-C2-C3-C4 for below. Right hand side - a single switch for 1 indoor light fixture (entrance-home) Left hand side - a PLS for 3 outdoor light fixtures All on the same circuit C4 : for the right hand side wall switch and going to indoor light fixture (entrance-home). Black going to Light Switch. C1 : for the Left hand side PLS going to the outdoor light fixtures. Black going to PLS. C2 and C3 : I'm assuming one is the incoming current (source) and the other going to another part of the house i.e. light switches for other rooms in the house. C1-C2-C3-C4 White, all merretted together. PLS: Blue is the LOAD going to C!, Black is the LINE As discussed above, I now have a new white wire (neutral) coming from the new PLS which I have merrett with the 4 wires existing white wires for a total of 5 wires on the same merrett. I tried the new switch and everything up to now works well. Please see the pics below. Just re-asking the question: Can I merrett the 5 white wires on 2 merretts instead of the 5 wires on only one ? Your help would be greatly appreciated, thank you. [ATTACH]70519[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]70520[/ATTACH]