How To Get The Most From Recessed Lighting

Posted by Marylou Biederman in Lighting

Using recessed lighting in your home can be very tricky.  Their clean look draws many people to them, but they don’t work well in many situations.  Recessed lights have a very narrow spread, which makes their functionality somewhat limited.  However, when used properly, there aren’t many lighting setups that work better!  In this post I want to share some do’s and dont’s for using recessed lighting in your home.

The most important thing to consider when researching recessed lighting is what is going on in your attic.  If you have loose pack insulation in your attic there is a special class of can light that is designed to work with this.  These are called IC rated recessed lights.  The housing of non-IC rated lights gets extremely hot in the attic and will cause loose pack insulation to catch fire.  Attic fires are extremely difficult to contain, and tend to do an immense amount of damage to the roof and nearby rooms.  Talk with someone experience in installing these lights if you are unsure of what your insulation is like.

When planning your lighting layout the spacing of the lights is very important.  Lights that are too close are going to be very harsh, and lights that are too far apart will be ineffective.  A solid rule of thumb is inch to foot.  That means that for every inch across the light fixtures is, that’s how many feet they should be apart.  For example, if you are using four inch recessed lights, they should be installed four feet apart.

Avoid installing long, parallel lines of recessed lights.  This gives the feel of an airport tarmac on your ceiling, and can be slightly disorienting.

If you are looking to illuminate something on the wall, like art or a picture, the light should be centered horizontally on the picture, and between 12 and 18 inches away from the wall.

Using recessed lighting in the home is a fantastic idea when it is done properly.  Use these simple tips to start your plan.  The more you plan the details, the more likely it is that you will spot any problems beforehand!

For more info, visit recessedcanlights.net.

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Tags: home recessed lights, recessed can lighting, recessed can lights, recessed light planning, using recessed lights