Our energy auditor, Mr. Byrd, was appalled at the amount of air infiltration caused by the recessed lights in this house. All the reports remark that they are terrible energy wasters when the housings are in unconditioned spaces. They play hell with air quality, too, allowing dust and gases from the attic into the house. Lyman installed most before Halo (Home Depot, Lowe's) manufactured airtight housings.

That's one of the reasons why Mr. Byrd was pushing us toward foam. Well, foam is right out of the budget, and I've been worrying about what to do about the lights.

After some research, I've found that Halo makes retrofit kits to make housings airtight for six-inch housings. In combination with a gasket fitted under the ceiling trim, these lights can conform unto California's Title 24 Energy Efficiency Standards, which are strict.

That would only leave six four-inchers without protection.

If you have the same problem, be informed that the Halo retrofit trim kits are part of the SUPER TRIM catalog. It took me half a day to find out the name of the series. Kits for flat recessed lights run about $15 for white ones at Home Depot and Lowe's. I haven't found a price for eyeballs, but they are available.

Sure beats Lyman going into the attic and rewiring all of them. There are 16 of those up there.