I am having a hard time getting my plants adequate sunlight. Most of my plants are looking pretty bad. On Thursday, I cut back all the dead leaves on my spider plants (cut them back to nothing) and have repotted everything with a mixture of Miracle Grow Moisture Control and Miracle Grow regular potting soil. The roots on everything looked fairly firm and in good shape. Now I am planning on taking them to my basement and placing them under 4' plant lights. I am also wondering if I should hang plastic sheeting around the entire table to try to create a greenhouse effect. Any comments or suggestions?

THERE IS A WHOLE LIST OF VARIABLES HERE!
You could do this, you must provide air flow to prevent problems, what type of plants, heat build up, and of course the distance from the lights. More info please!

I have 4 spider plants, 2 prayer plants, 2 pythos and a dish garden with maybe a varigated pineapple? The plants will be about 5 feet below the lights and I am more concerned with cold in the basement than heat build up, which is another reason for the plastic sheeting.

Basement temps vary, but most stay in the 50's. this will prevent your plants from growing too much during thier stay there, BUT, 5 feet is much to far to have your lights above the plants.

How far should the lights be from the plants?