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Recessed Lighting Licensed Electricians Guide How to Install

Licensed Electricians guide to installing Recessed Lighting . Get a permit with local government permit office , Turn off Main breaker to home .Recessed lighting can be a great addition to any home. Before you install lights you need to know what type of light fixture to get. Whether you are installing the recessed lighting yourself, or having a qualified professional install lighting buying the material yourself and save you money.

Recessed Lighting

So your at your local box store and you find the lighting section that has the recessed lighting fixtures. This is usually an area near the ceiling fans and florescent lighting fixtures. Now there are several different styles and sizes recessed lighting. So I'll try and break it down into a way that you can understand. First of all let's start with the sizes. Recessed lighting comes in 3 inch 4 inch five inch and six-inch. The six-inch lights are the most popular as well as 4 inch lights. The six-inch are considered standard lights and the 4 inch are considered mini. Now that having been said 90% of the time you're going to want the six-inch recessed light, that is the standard light and if you're thinking about putting in recessed lighting chances are that's exactly what you've envisioned.

Okay let's move on to the different trim styles. The white baffle is the most popular and commonly used recessed lighting trim. Again if you seen recessed lighting in other people's homes this is probably exactly what you envision. They also have a black baffle style trim it has a white ring on the exterior and a black interior. These were very commonly used in the 1980s and tend to date your home. There are also baffle trims that have a silver interior. These are most commonly used in commercial environments.

Okay, so you've probably come to the conclusion that you would like to install 6 inch white baffle trim, recessed lighting. Now when you look at the shelf you see that they are not sold with all of the parts in one box. Also there are very different types and styles of the main housing units. So I'll break down the different types of housing units for you.

IC and Non IC. IC stands for insulated ceiling. Most electricians will simply use always insulated ceiling recessed lights wen doing an installation in a home that has already been sheet rocked.. this is because the type of recessed lighting that is necessary for remodeling type applications are usually always IC rated. Now typically speaking you can tell the difference between IC and non IC rated recessed lights in fact that the insulated ceiling rated ones are not painted and are silver in appearance Rather than the white ones.

The next question is what type wiring to run to your new recessed light? Well the answer is 14 two nonmetallic sheath cable. Better known as Romex. Many people will try and run a 12gauge wire in this situation. If you're doing this wiring in a home the proper wire to run is 14 -2 nonmetallic sheath cable. There several codes that be taken into consideration when doing this installation. The wiring should be supported at least every 4 feet. That having been said if the wiring being fished into a cavity in the wall or ceiling most local counties allow for it to not be stapled. The wiring that is entering into the Junction box of the recessed lighting needs to have a minimum of 1/2 inch of sheeting penetrating into the box. The proper wire connectors for the size and type of wire that you're using being copper number 14 should also be used.

Now that you've got all of your material you get back to the job and you're ready to place the recessed lighting in the ceiling. The primary factor to take into consideration is are there any obstacles in the ceiling in the precise location where you want to place a recessed light. The answer is of course yes. A primary question is is there a bathroom above the area that you're going to install recessed lighting? If there is a strong consider the placement of your recessed lighting so as not to cut any live plumbing pipes. It may be a good precautionary measure to go shut off the main water supply to the house. Now the ceiling joist are the number one obstacle and placing all of your recessed lighting. Typical ceiling joist if there is a second floor above you are placed 16 inches on center. That means from the center of each board measure horizontally there will be another board approximately 16 inches away. In your home was built in the 90s they use what is called a manufacture truss system. They are two by fours that are placed in a zigzag pattern flat and are open so that you can run the wire right through them, these are typically place 24 inches on center.

Laying out the recessed lights. The very first light hole that you cut is absolutely critical. It will determine the placement of all the other recessed lights that you install, and experience electrician will know exactly where to put this recessed light. Technically speaking the layout for recessed lighting is as simple as that of the configuration of a symmetrical pattern on a dice. You can either have four, five or six or eight depending on the size of kitchen that you're placing the recessed lighting in. Your electrician will start by placing first light, this light will be one of the corner lights. By determining a good place for the first corner light, and then calculating the distance to the closest joist and then the layout of all the other subsequent choice that are in the relative. The installation, you can develop a game plan for having your recessed lighting symmetrically laid out in a pattern so that they all cleared the floor joints. Sometimes because the obstacles it is simply impossible to have a completely symmetrical pattern that is an equal distance from light to light. If that's the case your electrician may opt to have that second line 2 inches further away than the first light, and the third light 3 inches further away in the second light and so. By doing this optically you will not be a able to see that there is a difference. In the overall installation will look symmetrical and even the placed.

Now electrician is ready to cut the holes for the recessed lighting, the first thing that you should do is stick a screwdriver in the center of the hole where the recessed lights going to placed. Bend it over where is almost flush with the ceiling and check that there is Clearence on 3 inches either side of the center hole. I strongly suggest cutting the hole with a keyhole sheet rock saw. Should you happen to encounter any plumbing pipe you are not using electric saw that will pierce the pipe.

Once you have holes cut in the ceiling were going to assume that you are not lucky enough to have open joist construction. The only way to properly do this installation at this point is to have at least a 5 foot long fish bit. These are readily available in any of the box stores. Also take this into consideration when doing the recessed lighting layout. Sometimes by altering the layout you can make it much easier to drill the hole for recessed light to recessed light. And experience electrician but the foresight to see this. For example rather than making a five on a dice, you may opt to add six lights and have a shape similar to an H. on the ceiling, greatly reducing the amount of time that it takes to install the lights.

Once the lights are wired and install the ceiling the job is pretty much complete. The amount of electricity that the recessed lights going to draw should be taken into consideration by your electrician. However if the house was built after 1980 chances are you have sufficient wiring to power them but each individual house is a unique situation. Also here concerned about the draw that you're putting on the circuit compact fluorescent floodlights can help diminish the amount draw but should not be depended upon to bring the circuit within compliance as someone may change these. Later. Well that's all I have on recessed lighting and you'd like more information visit our website at the following links and I appreciate your time.

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