Are you an experienced do-it-yourself individual and looking for the next challenge? We may have just the project for you – installing recessed lights! As with most electrical DIY projects, this one is both riskier safety-wise as well as in cost-efficiency. When dealing with the electrical hook-ups in your house, it is important to know what you’re doing. We will help as much as we can in this guide, of course, but the responsibility ultimately lies on your to make sure the job’s done right.
If that did not deter you, keep reading for the necessary steps in the installation of recessed lighting:
- Draw a detailed plan with the correct proportions of the rooms in which you wish to install the lights. In this plan, include the locations of wires and other appliances. You will also need to plot out where the joists are in your ceiling to ensure you do not cut into them or damage them during the installation process.
- When you have everything else in the plan, decide on the placement of the lights. Coordinate strategically with light fixtures and lamps to provide the appropriate luminosity in the room.
- As is routine with most projects, mark where the light will go by converting the scale of your into the actual size. It is always a good idea to mark before you make any changes to your home to double-check the accuracy of the plan and find potential problems before they become actualized. When you have the center of the recessed lighting fixture marked, draw the appropriate size circle around it. If you’re installing a line of lights, a useful tool is a laser level, which will produce a perfectly straight line for you to mark both ends of the lights by.
- Before you cut into the ceiling, check for joists using the coat hanger trick. Unravel the coat hanger and feed it into the center of the marked location for the light. Have another person ready in the attic above to check whether the plotted location is clear from joists on either side to ensure the project is safe to proceed with.
- It is time to drill a hole for the light. Drill from below and install the recessed light from above.
- You need to prepare the wires to connect with the electrical grid. Two devices will be your friend in this: easy connectors for plugging straight into the house, and wire connectors to keep your wires together and in one place. Just strip the wires of their ends and plug them in the appropriate places.
- The final step is to lay down more insulation. This protects the light and helps capture some of the lost energy from cutting a hole in the ceiling.
For more information on any of these steps, or even if you just want to see how it is done, watch the attached video.
*Featured Image by Contemporary Closet
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