Hanging a false ceiling

[Jerry Ingraham]

I have a 24'x24' pole building shop which I studded with 2x6's and insulated. Walls are covered with osb and I applied 2" styrofoam to the overhead doors. My problem is the high celings. I heat with a woodstove and it takes forever to get the shop warm as it must heat all that dead space overhead. The walls are 10' and the peak is probably 16'-17' high. There is only a thin layer of insulation rolled out underneath the delta metal roofing. I'm thinking of hanging a drop ceiling at the 10' level. I am unsure what to do with my lighting. I am ok with putting up some fluorescent fixtures but how do you suspend them? Any tips or suggestions on the whole project are welcomed.

Jerry

[Bill ThompsonNM]

Ceiling fans. Do wonders for getting that heat back down where it belongs.

[Jerome Stanek]

If you go to an electric store they carry brackets that clip on the ceiling and and the lights clip to them.

[Phil Thien]

Have any beams overhead? If yes, go to Mcmaster.com and look for "beam clamp" or "beam clip" for ways to attach fixtures to beams.

And instead of ceiling fans, I wonder if one could arrange an air cleaner in such a way that it would fire the clean airstream up one wall. That may cause enough air circulation to keep the air mixed and allow the shop to warm somewhat faster. And keep the air clean, too. You could experiment with this by aiming a box fan up and placing it in a corner.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

In the hospitals I worked in, you would often see the light assemblies attached to the drop ceiling and supported by wires from the overhead roof/ceiling. The wire was a pretty heavy gauge wire.

[Jim Andrew]

The ceiling in my shop is a grid type, has 2 x 2 tiles, my lights are the 2 x 4 drop in 4 bulb fluorescents, caught them on sale. Have to add a few wires to support the lights, as they are fairly heavy compared to the tiles.

[Jerome Stanek]

Code here is a hanger within 6 inches of each corner.