Recessed Lighting

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Recessed Lighting Primer

Why recessed lighting?

Lighting is a key element to emphasize the assets of your home. Open up spaces so they feel bigger. Highlight artwork and areas where you spend most of you time. To achieve this goal, different lighting methods are used (track lighting, pendants ...) but the first step is to install recessed lighting fixtures. Recessed lighting is where most of your lighting effort is made because it is so polyvalent.

When to use recessed lighting?

Recessed lighting may be used in virtually every room of your house, whether the dining room, kitchen, bedrooms and even bathrooms. The reason for that is because most of the recessed lights today can swivel to give direct or indirect lighting. Recessed lighting can be installed in a new construction or as retrofit (for renovation). However, the fixtures you choose must be rated for use near insulation (IC housing rated) whenever ceiling insulation exists. When a ceiling is not insulated, non-IC housing may be used.

How to dispose recessed lighting?

Avoid installing recessed light fixtures too close to each other, or in rows in the center of a room. We at lightingexperts.com recommend that you space the fixtures a minimum of 2 feet apart. You should always dispose the fixtures as to light the objects you want. (Ex: Light a painting on the wall, a table...) There are 2 main types of recessed lighting positioning: general or task lighting. The first aims at giving a general illumination to an area with a comfortable level of brightness, enabling one to see and walk about safely. The second permits you to brighten specific areas or objects. The best lighting results are achieved through a combination of both techniques. For example, when lighting a bedroom, you will want to create an overall atmosphere of quiet relaxation, while providing some bright spots for reading and other activities.

Which fixtures to choose?

The first choice you have to make when buying recessed light fixtures is whether you want to purchase line voltage or low voltage recessed lighting fixtures. Low voltage means that there is a transformer in the fixture that converts the voltage from 120v to 12v. This results in a fixture that gives a better light output and works with bulbs (MR16) that last twice as long as the one you'll find on regular line voltage fixtures (GU10). However, line voltage fixtures are much more affordable. When you buy your fixtures don't forget to install a dimmer as well. This allows you to create unique atmospheres and moods. Beware, for low voltage lighting fixtures you need to buy a low voltage magnetic dimmer.