Hey everyone, feeling a bit defeated and could use some advice. We just moved into a new place and I really want to use my existing Philips Hue smart lights (I have around 23 Hue downlights total from our old house, plus three 6 inch Hue slim canless lights that could technically work, but our new ceilings have 4 inch holes). It feels completely insane that I wont be able to use my lights.

The problem? Every single ceiling in this house is wired with ultra thin, canless wafer lights that connect to a remote metal junction box. There are no traditional metal cans anywhere in the ceilings. To make matters worse, the previous owner had crazy paint colors on the ceilings so we already had to get them all repainted and I completely forgot about the lights until now.

When my husband tried pulling one down, it tore up some drywall around the edge and loose insulation is packed right up around the boxes, so it immediately spills out and makes a massive mess everywhere. I honestly dont remember it being this messy when we installed our can lights at our old house, but taking just one down here made me completely second guess what kind of project this would actually turn into.

Is there any way to make our old lights work, or am I just opening up a can of worms here? Is there any workaround without cutting open all our newly painted ceilings to install metal cans or even cutting larger holes to fit those three 6 inch slim lights, or am I just shit out of luck and forced to buy a mountain of super expensive Hue 4 inch Slim Canless versions instead and try to resell what I have?

Honestly, is it even worth the hassle, or is it completely dumb to try and tackle this right now? Im only weighing it because some rooms are still empty and my painters have to come back this week to do another room, but after seeing how much mess that packed insulation makes, Im worried if I do this later on it will be more of a mess with furniture in the rooms. Any advice is appreciated!

lsd_runner

1 | 11 hours ago

If there’s loose insulation coming down that means there’s attic above. Any decent electrician should be able to cut those 4” holes to accommodate the 6” lights. There may be additional damage depending if there’s a plaster coat.

Misty_Ticklebottom

1 | 10 hours ago

a 6in can gets a 6 ³⁄₈ hole, and the cans are about 6inches deep. There cant be anything in the way.

Wafers dont give a shit about this, they are thinner than the sheetrock. They can have a joist right behind them and still fit flush.

Shot_School_3869

1 | 4 hours ago

Oof, 23 lights just sitting in boxes while you stare at freshly painted ceilings, that’s a special kind of frustration. The insulation spilling everywhere the second you touched one is a pretty strong sign this isn’t gonna be a quick weekend swap.

An electrician could absolutely enlarge those holes for the 6” slims you already own, especially with attic access above. The mess factor is real though, and if your painters are already coming back this week, having them patch and touch up after the electrician finishes would be the cleanest path. Doing it later with furniture in place and no painter on standby would be a nightmare.

Trying to retrofit the old Hue cans with no actual housing to screw into is a dead end, so you’re really just deciding between enlarging holes for your three 6” slims or biting the bullet on the 4” ones. If the 6” lights would cover the rooms you care about most, I’d coordinate that electrician visit before the painters wrap up and call it a win.

Advice needed! Trying to swap new slim wafer lights for my old Hue retrofit can lights, but the new house has zero cans.