Installing Recessed Lighting for Dramatic Effect

Installing recessed lighting, even in the toughest situation—by angling wires.

Time

Multiple Days

Complexity

Advanced

Cost

$101–250

Introduction

Give your room a stunning new look and feel by installing recessed lighting. Even if you don't take access to the ceiling from the attic, y'all can install these lights by post-obit the directions shown here. You don't have to tear upward your ceiling either. We'll show you how to add these lights to your room with minimum ceiling tear-out and patching. You tin can also utilize these wiring techniques to install other types of ceiling lighting.

Tools Required

Installing recessed lighting with minimal tear-out

Dramatic lighting

Family Handyman

Recessed fixtures cast dramatic lite in the room.

Recessed lighting

The lights give the room a dramatic advent. Thinking well-nigh calculation recessed lights or pot lights merely don't desire to tear out your whole ceiling to do it? Luckily y'all don't have to. With a picayune ingenuity and special remodeling housings, yous can install a roomful of recessed lights or canister lights with minimal drywall tear-out and patching.

Nosotros'll show you how to install recessed lighting, the housing and fish the wires through a narrow, strategically placed slot cut in your ceiling. The techniques we'll show you volition work in virtually whatsoever situation, but if you're lucky enough to have access to the ceiling from the cranium, the chore will be even easier. Even so, this is not a project for novices. Yous should know the basics of connecting wires and installing electrical boxes.

In this commodity, we'll be focusing on recessed lights (aka can lights or pot lights or canister lights), although you could install any other blazon of calorie-free fixtures using the same techniques to run the wire. Depending on your choice of fixture, lamp and trim, recessed lights can provide full general illumination or accent lighting. In this story, we're installing a number of four-in. diameter depression-voltage fixtures that work best for providing emphasis lighting. These operate on regular household current only take built-in transformers to power the depression-voltage halogen lamps. We'll show how to add a second switch to control a group of v-in. diameter recessed lights designed to provide overall illumination.

How to Install Recessed Lighting: Describe a lighting programme

This room is the end effect of a good lighting programme.

Showtime with a drawing and finish with lighting similar this. Planning ahead is the central to getting the lights in the correct spot. Begin past measuring your room. Using graph paper, brand a calibration drawing in which 1/iv in. equals 1 ft. Sketch in the furniture arrangement and any wall-mounted feature you lot'd like to accent. Decide what you desire to reach with the lights. For example, y'all may want to provide accent lighting for a favorite piece of fine art, add task lighting over your hobby area and ameliorate the full general room lighting.

Have your drawing to a lighting showroom for assistance with the design. A knowledgeable lighting salesperson will help you lot cull the right combination of recessed light housings, trims and lamps and assistance figure out the ideal locations on the ceiling. If you experience confident in your planning ability, buy the lights from a habitation center instead. Yous'll save a piddling coin just take a smaller selection of fixtures to choose from. Make sure to obtain an electrical permit from your local building department and take the work inspected when yous're done.

Project step-past-step (12)

Step 1

Wiring recessed lights: Observe a circuit to provide power

Cut holes in the ceiling.

holes

Saw a slot in the ceiling for admission to the ceiling joists and elevation of the wall for wiring. Then lay out and cut holes for the recessed light housings.

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Pace 2

How to install recessed lights: Identify a power source.

power

Find an existing box to utilize as a ability source and turn off the power to the outlet at the main electric panel. Pause it out and use the hole to fish a power cable to the new switch location.

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Footstep three

How to install recessed lights: Locate your new switch box.

box

Cut in the new switch box co-ordinate to your programme (Effigy A). Use a remodeling box that has built-in cable clamps. Don't mount the box until you've pulled in cables from the ability and lights.

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Footstep 5

How to install recessed lighting: Drill through joists.

joists

Reach through the recessed light holes to drill through joists that aren't accessible from the slot in the ceiling. To ability your new tin lights, notice an existing receptacle or switch box that contains a "hot" wire on a suitable circuit. The National Electrical Code prohibits whatsoever connections to "dedicated" circuits such as 20-amp minor-appliance circuits in kitchens or dining areas, twenty-amp laundry room circuits and 20-amp bath circuits.

Besides brand certain the circuit you choose won't exist overloaded by the additional lights. To determine this, showtime shut off the circuit in the main panel. Then get through the business firm turning on lights and other electrical items to find what is already on the circuit. Add together up the wattage of everything that doesn't go along. Add to this total the wattage of the lights you lot'll be installing. We recommend a maximum connected load of i,440 watts for a fifteen-amp circuit and 1,920 for a 20-amp circuit. (The amps are printed on the circuit breaker or fuse.) If the full amperage exceeds these amounts, you lot'll take to find a new excursion.

Endeavour to find a power source for your new switch that'due south convenient to fish wires from, preferably in the same wall (in either the same room or the room opposite, or a basement or cranium). Subsequently you've chosen the electrical box to tie in to, turn off the circuit breaker or unscrew the fuse that controls the excursion. Some electric boxes comprise more than ane circuit. Before doing whatsoever piece of work in the box, test all the wires with a not-contact voltage tester to make sure they're "dead."

Calculating Box Sizes

To figure the minimum box size required past the National Electrical Code, add: i for each hot and neutral wire entering the box, i for all the ground wires combined, 1 for all the clamps combined, and 2 for each device (switch or receptacle, simply commonly not light fixtures) installed in the box. Multiply this figure by 2 for 14-gauge wire and 2.25 for 12-gauge wire to become the minimum box volume in cubic inches. Plastic boxes have the volume stamped within.

CAUTION:

If yous have aluminum wiring, telephone call in a licensed pro who is certified to work with information technology. This wiring is slow gray, not the wearisome orange that's feature of copper.

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Stride 6

Wiring recessed lighting: Remove the erstwhile box

Run a string through the receptacle opening.

string

Drop a weighted string downwards through the pigsty in the top plate and tape the cease of the cablevision to it. Pull the cable upward and route it over to the switch pigsty. Whether you choose a switch or outlet to provide ability, supervene upon the existing electric box with a new one. Photo 2 shows how. With the erstwhile box out of the manner, you'll exist able to use the pigsty to fish in the new cable (Photograph 6). And so determine the box size required (see "Calculating Box Sizes" at the end of this article) and install a new remodeling box that'due south large plenty to safely concord all the wires (Photo 11). We used a 20-cu.-in. plastic box. Make certain the new box has built-in cable clamps.

CAUTION:

If yous take aluminum wiring, telephone call in a licensed pro who is certified to work with it. This wiring is dull grayness, not the dull orange that'due south feature of copper.

Cutting a slot for easy access

You'll need slots in the ceiling for the wiring and the housings.

Yous'll have to cut holes in the ceiling for installing recessed lighting housings. Now that you've located a source of power and have a plan showing your recessed light and switch locations, it's time to figure out how yous'll run the cables. Start by locating the ceiling framing members (joists) with a stud finder and determining which direction they run. They're commonly spaced 16 in. or 24 in. on heart. Sketch the joist locations onto your lighting plan. Now draw in the cable road. We installed a standard recessed light housing in the slot where nosotros had access to the ceiling framing. In other areas, nosotros installed remodeling housings that mount in a hole cut in the drywall.

Effigy A shows how nosotros ran the cables for our lights. Brand sure the junction boxes on the remodeling housings are listed for "through branch circuit wiring" so you tin can run at least i cable in and ane out to the side by side fixture. Cheque the labeling on the housing to be sure. Some recessed calorie-free junction boxes allow more than than two cables.

If you don't have access to the joist spaces from the attic, remove a 12-to sixteen-in.wide piece of drywall from the ceiling (Photo 1). Cut the slot perpendicular to the joists about vi in. out from the wall and get in long enough to include all the joist spaces that volition contain a recessed fixture and the power source. Ideally, the opening will be in line with the switch and power source then you lot can utilize it to drill down through the peak plate (Photograph 4). If not, you lot may have to cut some other opening.

Before you cut any holes, make a small hole and mensurate the depth of the joists to make certain your recessed light housings will fit. Most housings require about 7 in. Await through the slot with a flashlight to check each joist space for obstructions. So measure and mark the middle of each recessed light according to your plan, adjusting the position every bit needed to avert joists and other obstacles. Finally, marking and cutting the holes for the housings (Photo 1).

CAUTION:

Some insulating materials, ceiling spray textures, plaster and joint compounds made before 1979 contain asbestos. Breathing asbestos can cause cancer and other health bug. Telephone call your local wellness department for information on testing for asbestos.

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Footstep 7

Wiring recessed lights: Fish the cable

Apply a fish tape reel to pull cables through joist spaces.

reel

To run cables through difficult areas, tape them to a metal fish record and pull them dorsum through joist spaces. o run cables through difficult areas, tape them to a metal fish tape and pull them back through joist spaces.

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Step eight

Wiring recessed lights: Connect the low-voltage fixtures.

voltage

Blast up standard "new work" housings in open ceilings. Use the junction box on this low-voltage fixture to connect wires leading to other depression voltage fixtures.

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Step 9

Wire and then install the remodeling housings.

Wire

Wire remodeling housings before you slide them into the ceiling. Follow the manufacturer's instructions for wiring the fixture and mounting the box.

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Footstep 10

Button the cables into the remodeling box and label them.

cables

Button the power and switch cables into the remodeling box and label them. Then slide the box into the opening and tighten the screws to secure it. Connect the wires co-ordinate to Figure B.

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Step xi

Reconnect the outlet.

outlet

Install a new remodeling box at the old outlet location. Connect the new wires to the power source, then reconnect the outlet.

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Footstep 12

Install the trim and lamps.

lamps

Phone call for an electric inspection, then patch and pigment the ceiling. Finish up past installing the trims and lamps according to your plan.

Select cable co-ordinate to the circuit rating—fourteen-estimate for 15-amp and 12-guess for 20-amp. Photos 4 – vii show methods of drilling and fishing the plastic sheathed cable.

Here are a few tips:

  • Uncoil, cut off and straighten a length of cable at to the lowest degree xv per centum longer than you lot remember you'll need before angling it through the framing.
  • Leave about 2 ft. of extra cablevision at each opening.
  • Staple the cable to the joists where yous accept access (Photo 8).
  • Run only one or 2 cables through each iii/4-in. hole you lot've drilled. Keep holes at least two in. from the elevation and bottom of the joists.
  • Strip 12 in. of sheathing from the cable before sliding the cable into the electrical box. The sheathing should extend 1/4 in. beyond the clamp (Photo 10).

When you're through running cables, make final connections at the lights, switch and receptacle (Photos 8 and 11 and Effigy B) and install the remodel housings in the ceiling (Photograph 9). If yous're using low-voltage lights like ours and desire to dim them, install a special magnetic dimmer. Replace the ceiling drywall and patch the ceiling later the electrical inspector has approved the work. And so paint the ceiling and finally install the recessed lite trim and lamps (Photo 12). Follow the instructions included with your recessed lite for verbal installation procedures.

Buying Recessed Lights

A recessed light assembly consists of the housing (Photos 8 and 9), trim (Photograph 12) and lamp. Labels inside the housing list the compatible trim styles and lamps for each. Deviating from the specifications can cause inefficient lighting, and more important, dangerous overheating.

Dwelling centers stock a choice of basic housings and trim that cost from $20 to $40 depending on manner. You'll have to special-order less-common lights similar the 4-in. low-voltage fixtures nosotros're using. Lighting showrooms usually have a wider selection and salespeople who tin help you design your lighting and guild the fixtures. Manufacturers' catalogs are another great source of data, including a complete list of housings, trim styles and lamps too as design tips and technical information.

For open framing, buy standard housings that include mounting brackets (Photograph 8). If yous're fishing wires into an existing ceiling, buy remodeling housings (Photo 9). Brand sure to buy IC (insulation contact) rated housings if your recessed lights will exist covered with insulation. Non-IC housings require a one/two-in. minimum separation from combustible fabric and a 3-in. minimum separation from thermal insulation. For extra energy efficiency in insulated ceilings, look for closed housings. Low-voltage housings operate on standard 115-volt wiring simply have built-in transformers that allow the employ of small-scale 12-volt MR-xvi lamps.

The quality of light and the ability to precisely focus the axle by changing lamp types or trim styles make depression-voltage recessed can lights peculiarly useful for accent lighting. The merchandise-off is higher price. Including housing, trim and lamp, the average toll of each fixture is about $100.

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Additional Information

  • Effigy A: Cablevision routing
  • Figure B: Switch wiring
  • Acquire how to soffit box with recessed lighting