How To Install Outdoor Recessed Lighting

Installing Recessed Lights at a Glance

Tools & Materials: Screwdriver or power drill, drywall saw, pencil, record, 14 AWG wire nuts, wire strippers, 14 AWG electrical cable, thin wire
Step 1: Make lighting plan
Step ii: Plow off power
Stride 3: Remove old fixtures
Step 4: Create ceiling layout
Step 5: Cut holes in ceiling
Step half dozen: Run electric cables
Step 7: Attach wires to fixtures
Footstep viii: Mount lite housings
Step nine: Add bulbs and restore ability

Recessed lighting — likewise known every bit canister lights — tin fundamentally transform the await and feel of whatsoever space. They can increase the amount of lite without taking up ceiling infinite, make rooms appear larger and highlight decorative features or artwork.

This May Also Interest Y'all: How Much Does It Cost to Install Recessed Lighting?

Nonetheless, depending on your circumstances, can lights can exist challenging to install on your own. Read on to learn how to install recessed lighting in your home and how to decide whether it'due south a task y'all should leave to the pros.

Can You Add together Recessed Lighting to an Existing Ceiling?

When first considering recessed lighting, many homeowners worry about whether the claiming of installing them in an existing, or "finished," ceiling is worth it — or even possible.

Fortunately, there are recessed lighting fixtures designed specifically for finished ceilings, called "remodel housings." With remodel housings, you don't have to cut open up large sections of your finished ceiling or crawl into your attic to attach the fixture to ceiling joists like with new construction fixtures. Remodel fixtures are significantly easier to install, and they also minimize damage to your ceiling.

Do I Need an Electrician to Install Recessed Lighting?

If y'all're replacing existing overhead light fixtures with recessed lighting — or if you're installing recessed lighting in shut proximity to an bachelor power supply (i.east., an outlet box or wall switch) — you may be able to save some money by installing recessed lights yourself. Yet, consider hiring an electrician in the following cases:

You're installing recessed lights in a ceiling that's between an upper and lower story of your home. Because at that place's no attic to work from, installing recessed lights between floors oftentimes involves drilling holes into ceiling joists for the electrical cables, which can cause structural bug if done incorrectly. If you programme to drill through the joists yourself, don't drill a hole larger than ¼ of the width of the joist.
You have to install a dedicated electric circuit. If you're installing brand new lights, you lot demand to assess whether your existing lighting circuit can handle the electric load from the number of recessed lights you want to install. If you're connecting to a 15-amp circuit, the combined wattage of all the lights shouldn't exceed 1,440 watts. For a xx-amp circuit, the total shouldn't exceed 1,920 watts. If you desire to install more lights than your current excursion tin handle, y'all may need to hire an electrician to install a dedicated circuit.
Yous're not experienced with or comfortable working on electrical wiring.

In whatever case, it'due south strongly advised to work with a licensed electrician to ensure your recessed lighting is safely and properly installed. Otherwise, yous risk facing expensive electrical repairs down the route.

Tools and Materials

Screwdriver or ability drill
Drywall saw or power drill with hole saw attachment
Carpenter's pencil
Tape
14 AWG wire nuts
Wire strippers
14 AWG electrical cablevision (optional)
Coat hanger or thin and direct wire (optional)

Installed ceiling lights in kitchen -------------------------------------------

How to Install Recessed Lighting

Step ane: Make a Lighting Plan

Regardless of whether you're installing the lights yourself or hiring a professional person, you need to form a good lighting program before getting started.

Begin by choosing what type of trim you want your recessed lights to have. While there are about a dozen trim types available, the iii most common are:

Open trim: Open up trim sits flush to the ceiling, providing a simple and make clean look. This style of trim is normally the easiest to install and the cheapest to purchase.
Baffle trim: The most mutual type of trim, bamboozle trim, has the fixture'south seedling recessed inside the housing to minimize glare. To further reduce glare, you tin install a dimmer switch to command the brightness of the lights.
Eyeball trim: Also called "fisheye trim," eyeball trim allows the lite bulb to swivel with a 360-degree rotation. These trims are typically used to highlight individual pieces of artwork or other decorative features.

Next, have a await at what's above your ceiling. Is there an attic or a 2d floor? If you're installing the lights between floors, yous need to verify that at that place are at to the lowest degree 8 inches of infinite in the ceiling cavity.

To make up one's mind this, drill a ¼-inch pigsty into the ceiling, and insert a straight and thin wire — similar a cut and aptitude coat hanger — until you feel resistance. Mark the spot on the wire where information technology touches the ceiling, then remove the wire from the ceiling. Measure the distance from the mark to the tip of the wire. That'south the amount of space you take within your ceiling cavity.

Standard remodel housings crave viii inches of space, which many multi-story ceilings won't have. If that's the instance for your ceiling, you lot will need to use a shallow ceiling light housing instead of a standard remodel housing.

Finally, check to see if there's ceiling insulation in the locations you want to install your lights. If so, you will need an insulation-compatible (IC) fixture. Standard fixtures tin can overheat if they're surrounded by insulation.

Footstep 2: Plow Off the Power

To eliminate the risk of electrocution while installing your lights, shut off the power to the area you'll be working. Switch off the circuit breaker that controls the room's overhead lighting on your habitation's principal electrical console. If you can't find the right switch, consider shutting off the ability to your whole home by switching off the principal breaker. You could besides turn off all the wall switches in the room you'll be working in.

In either instance, utilize a not-contact voltage tester on any wires you're working with to verify they aren't being supplied with electricity.

Step 3: Remove Onetime Fixtures

Carefully remove any old fixtures you lot will be replacing. Once removed, leave 12 to 18 inches of wire hanging from the ceiling then they tin can be used to wire the recessed lights.

More Related Articles:

Do Lite Fixtures Add Value to Your Domicile?
How to Install LED Strip Lights: A Step-past-Step Guide
Permit's Shed Some Light on the Situation: How to Change a Lightbulb
How Much Does It Cost to Install Light Switch Dimmers?
How Much Does It Cost to Install Outdoor Lighting?

Stride 4: Lay Out the Low-cal Locations on the Ceiling

Utilize a stud finder to identify any possible ceiling joists in the locations you want to install the lights. If no joists are present, take the paper templates that were provided by the manufacturer of your lights and record them to the areas of the ceiling where you want your lights to go. Use a pencil to trace effectually the circumference of the template, then remove the template from the ceiling. Drill a ¼-inch hole into the center of the outline y'all drew.

If at that place's an cranium above the ceiling, go into the attic to see if at that place are any obstructions — like plumbing pipes or heating and cooling ducts — around the ¼ -inch holes you drilled. If at that place's no attic, insert a thin wire with a aptitude stop into the hole and rotate it effectually to experience for obstructions.

Step five: Cut Holes in the Ceiling

Apply a handheld drywall saw or a hole saw attached to a ability drill to cut out the template marks, being careful not to cutting or pinch any electric wires in the ceiling. If using a hole saw, make certain information technology'south the same diameter every bit the template.

Step 6: Run the Electric Cables

If you're installing your recessed lights in a new location instead of replacing existing fixtures, run an electrical cable from a nearby power source to the light fixture nearest the power. This tin can either exist from an existing outlet box or wall switch or from a defended circuit.

Pull 12 to eighteen inches of wire down through the hole. Continue running cable to each of your light fixture locations. Depending on how many recessed lights you lot're going to install, you may need to add additional lengths of 14 AWG Romex wire. If you're replacing existing light fixtures, you should be able to use the wiring from your previous fixtures that yous accessed in Step 3.

Pace 7: Adhere the Wires to the Fixture

If using new wiring, employ a wire ripper to remove well-nigh four inches of insulation. This volition expose a black, white and bare copper wire. Utilise a wire stripper to remove an inch of insulation from the white and black wires.

Press the wires into the fixture's junction box (the rectangular, metallic box that houses the electric wires) and connect them to the wires within the junction box with wire nuts. Connect the black wire to the black wire, white to white and copper to copper. Afterward all the wires are continued, fold them into the junction box and secure the cover. Continue connecting the ceiling wires to the fixtures until all your recessed lights are wired.

Step 8: Mountain the Light Housing

Most remodel fixtures are secured to the ceiling with three or 4 clips that button down on the top of the ceiling's drywall or plaster. Printing or pull these clips into the fixture so they aren't protruding out. Then, insert the fixture into the pigsty in the ceiling. In one case the bottom lip of the fixture is affluent with the ceiling, push out the clips until the fixture is held firmly in identify.

Pace 9: Add the Calorie-free Bulbs and Restore Power

Screw the lightbulbs into each of the fixtures and turn the power dorsum on. Check each light to confirm they're all working correctly.

Source: https://www.homeserve.com/en-us/blog/how-to/install-recessed-lighting/

Posted by: daughertyconesee.blogspot.com