Heat Streak Reality

I haven't been totally honest with you. From the beginning, I've had a pretty good idea what the heat streak is all about.

As you know we have a soffit above our kitchen cabinets. In the soffit there are recessed lights. When we moved in, I bought air-tight, insulation-contact recessed lights to replace them. From up in the attic I got one of them replaced.The other two I haven't been able to get to. The roof slants too close to the top of the soffit to get into it. My plan was to replace them when we had the new windows put in. I figured they'd have to cut out some of the soffit for the new window, and I could throw the new lights in then. No luck. They did the window without coming anywhere near the soffit.

I was stuck. Without cutting into the soffit (big and ugly job), I couldn't figure out what I'd do, so I left them. While finishing the home network in the kitchen, I figured it out. As I was cutting out an old receptacle box with my Dremel, I realized I could basically cut out the recessed lights (from the inside) the same way. I'd take out the bulb, kill the juice, stick the Dremel up inside and start cutting. Little by little I'll cut away the can/fixture to gain access to the wiring and mounting brackets. It will be messy, but not nearly as messy as hacking up the soffit.

So that or this is it. The gaps around the bulbs go right up into the soffit and into the attic. Though I can't feel any kind of draft around them, I'm pretty sure this is my heat streak source. Now it's just a matter of getting enough time and daylight to cut the two of them out and put in the new. The fact I want to wire them all to a three-way switch isn't helping me to get motivated.

If and when I do get them done and that damn heat streak is still there, I'm moving. Done. Outta here!


- b