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I recently moved and am planning out the new workshop space. I will be dividing up the finished part of the basement to accommodate my workshop. This will require me to build one wall and install a door so not too much work. However, where I have decided to build the wall puts two recessed light cans in the workshop area that are controlled by the light switch in the other area of the finished basement. I need to either 1) wire those cans to the workshop circuit and add two new cans to the the other room, or 2) remove those cans and replace them with "remodel" cans and add 2 new ones to the other room.

I have no access to the other side of the drywalled ceiling and I would like to not have to open up the drywall if I can avoid it, making option 1 difficult. Is there a way to remove the "new construction" cans without destroying the drywall? In the ideal situation, I could remove the cans and access the wire boxes so I can connect the lights to the other cans in the workshop and free up the wiring from that circuit to connect to two new "remodel" cans on the other side of the wall I am building. Is there a better way to go about this?

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Remodel or "old work" cans are pretty easy to remove. Lust loosen up the screws around the rim and then you can move the clamp-wing thingys out of the way to drop the box out. Then just connect the wire to the new cans with wire nuts in the connection box. Hopefully you can run the new wire with no joists in the way.
There's lots of stuff on youtube to explain this better.

Sadly these are the new construction cans that were nailed to the joists before the drywall went up. . .

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Assuming (ass-u-me) they are of the type that are ~8x8 boxes attached to rails (those are fastened to the joists), the only "clean" thing I can think of is to locate the joists and using a reciprocating saw cut through the fasteners (most likely screws which are harder to cut than nails) taking out the right angled bend on the end of the rails with them. Then hope you have the room to move things about and get to the wiring box, then push the thing out of the way and put in a remodel fixture (wasn't aware such things existed...then again I'm not an electrician and too boot the remodel jobs I now and again work on are complete gutting of about everything...if not just buying the property for just the land and tearing down the structure and starting over)

The above scenario of course leaves a slot in the ceiling from the sawzall blade.

Of course you can always tear out the flooring above it and deal with it in that fashion, but that would most likely be completely motarded

The can may be able to be unscrewed from the arms which are nailed to the joists. This is brand dependant. If you pull the trims, you should be able to see if there are screw heads holding the can to the frame. The can would then drop away, suspended by the wiring. Without more drywall removal the frames would need to remain attached to the joists.
I have successfully used this method numerous times to fish cables or other items through the joist cavity. If the drywall is attached directly to the joists you will be limited to the one joist space, unless you have open web joists, but if the DW is suspended you will have reasonable access.
A few dry wall holes are not that hard to patch. Usually more easier than worrying about making them, unless the ceilings are textured. You are putting up a new wall any way, is it getting DWed?

B

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My memory is so good, sometimes I remember things that never happened.

Yes the new wall is getting drywalled so I will have to mud and tape the ceiling to wall corners but that’s really easy to blend. If I have to remove ceiling, I will deal with the discomfort while I repair it but I’d rather not have to.

If I can drop the can, maybe I can get the box open from inside. That would be ideal since all I really need to do is disconnect two and reconect them to another circuit.

Since I am keeping the can locations and adding two new ones, I may just open the drywall next to the fixtures so I can get in and open the boxes. If I have to repair drywall anyway, I may as well save the fixtures.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Is there no hole to run a snake to the new wall? Or are the joists running the wrong way?

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

The joists runs are not really an issue, I just can't get to the electrical boxes for the fixtures without opening the drywall (I asked my wife and she will not let me tear up the floor in the kitchen to access them from above ).

Forgive the crude and not to scale drawing but it should illustrate the arrangement (I think) I have and what I want to do below. The joists are brown, the current fixtures are grey and the wires are red (and where I assume they run). In the second part the new "remodel" cans and wall are in green and the new wiring I hope to install is in blue. This is the ideal situation but I am open to having to replace some fixtures if I need to destroy the old ones to get to the wires.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Oscillating tools are great for cutting drywall. They can make it so you can reuse the piece you cut out to patch the hole.
I was using mine this morning with a scraper blade attachment to cut the caulk under the kitchen sink flange so I can pull the sink and replace the faucet.