Recessed lighting is probably one of the best ways to light your home, but there are some considerations first before you start!

Scenario One: You are having a home built from the ground up, and you are meeting with the electrician tomorrow....

Great! make sure you ask for recessed lighting throughout your house, including the bath and exterior patio areas. This will probably require a change order,(recessed lighting is almost always considered an upgrade, as the housings are an added expense to your electrician and there will be additional labor involved) Its going to cost you more right now, but think of all the money you can save on fixtures! By electing to go with recessed lighting now, you will pay the electrician extra to wire in all the recessed fixtures and have them properly switched at the "rough in stage" On the "trim-out stage" , you will be purchasing bulbs and trims only, which are very reasonably priced compared to the cost of standard fixtures, will not go out of style,  and should last for the life of your house, or very close to it. Additionally trims are interchangeable within your selected size range  so you can update and adapt the look if you so choose. The only other ceiling fixtures you will really require are ceiling fans, which I recommend. Everything else , including bathroom bar lights , chandeliers, accent and task lighting can be replaced with recessed can lights. At this point you can read guides about styles and features, everything is available for you to choose from, and let the contractors deal with the actual installation (which at this stage is very easy to do anyway.)

Scenario two: Your house is already built and you think you might like to add some recessed can lights.

hmm, lets take a look at what we have to work with!

First of all, I am  not going to tell you this is an easy project. It is not. At best it will be somewhat messy, time consuming and is guaranteed to have at least one frustrating episode. Anyone who tells you differently is trying to sell you something! That is why I will tell you to look first before you start shopping and plotting.

First of all, you need to take a look at your ceiling or attic and see what you have. Is there insulation? (this is important to note as recessed lights are rated IC for insulation contact and non IC, which means they will create a fire danger if installed near insulation) Is there lots of room to fish wires and manoever , are there feet of "free space " or mere inches? How is it accessible?

The easiest scenario is lots of space, a nearby attic access,a existing light outlet that is switched that you plan to abandon,  good support for your weight while you work and no insulation ( not very energy efficient!) If you have a ceiling like this you could almost work as if the house was new construction. You would  pick your placement for your lights, cut the openings and drop in non IC standard recess fixtures, wiring as your go, and tap into your abandoned light as a junction for your switch leg to your lights. Easy(relatively). Just not very likely!

Speaking of cutting openings, you are going to need some tools for this project. A hole saw is recommended with a saw blade which matches the cutout diameter for your lights (round circles are really hard to cut by hand with a drywall saw or  a wood saw)Also,  a fish tape and/or green stick, as well as a good set of electricans hand tools, a cordless power tool set, a flashlight and a sturdy fiberglass ladder. 

What is more likely is that you will look in your ceiling/attic and find one or more of the following issues:

Insulation: old, thick, nasty and/or dusty.

Great for energy efficiency and a problem for you. Protect yourself! You don't want to have it contacting your skin,especially in the case of fiberglass, or breathing in the dust. A good ventilator mask and full skin coverage are essential. If you see any evidence of vermin (mice or insects) please be extra careful. Diseases like Hanta virus, a problem where mice droppings are present, really do kill people , and an attic is a dandy place to be exposed to that. Insulation is also going to make it difficult to see where your supports are (ceiling framing or trusses) so be cautious. Most ceiling sheeting will not support your weight on its own, and you don't want to fall through, and test your "cat-like " reflexes.

With insulated ceilings, you will need to choose IC rated recessed can housings. Even with these, experience teaches that you should make sure the insulation isn't packed up tight to the fixture. They will still overheat (though not as readily as the non IC ones) and there is an internal device which will act as a fuse to shut down your light until it cools off. This can be a nuisance , (causing your lights to blink out at random when they get to warm ) so you want to clear away insulation from the immediate area of installation.

If the insulation and the dread diseases therein terrify you, hire an electrician for this job. They have the safety equipment (and the skinny little apprentices, aka "attic rats"  to cope)

Ceiling framing is in the way

I'm not a carpenter, but I know you can't cut trusses! Existing framing issues need to be adapted to, and this means your lights may not end up centered exactly where you want them. Deal with it, or get an expert in.

No direct access to the attic/ceiling

As an example, on the first floor of a two storey house. This is where remodel cans are essential. A remodel, or cut-in can is adapted to be inserted through the circular opening you cut for the fixture itself. The junction box is generally on a flexible arm which can be fished through the opening while you are standing securely in the room space below (well probably on a ladder, but it sure beats being up in an attic!) The whole assembly is very light weight and the ceiling acts as the support You will want to have your romex connected into the junction box before you fish this assembly up. Once in place it is a bit difficult to remove it again.

Not much space

 The fixtures generally come in standard sizes of 4"-6" in diameter, and heights vary from 6 inches to over 12, so you can probably find something to fit that is standard (line) voltage. Look for "shallow" housings if height is an issue. If you move to "low voltage" lights there are some truly tiny options , incluing halogen "puck lights" which are remarkably enough about the size of a hockey puck, but you need to plan for a suitable transformer if you go this route.

No existing power /switch leg

This is one of those areas where you will likely want to consult with an electrician. You will need power run from an appropriate 15A or 20A  circuit to a location where you want your lights switched . You can get a special cut-in switch box to do this so you don't have to tear your wall apart to put a switch in . If you would like more than one switch for your lights(which you should seriously consider where a room has more than one entrance) you will also want to run your power to that switch as well (unless you are a master of the dead-end three way switch. But thats a whole other guide topic!)

From your switch you will run a switch leg to your first recessed can light. From there the rest of the fixtures in the circuit are run in series.There is a limit, and if you are installing a lot of fixtures (say, more than six) you may want to split the circuit into two or more seperately switched runs, and/or have a new dedicated circuit run for these lights, so you don't blow a breaker when you plug in a radio or toaster. Do ask a licensed electrician if you are uncertain.

While we are talking about switches, recessed can lights are great candidates for dimmer switches, so you may want to plan ahead for that too.

Well, this is a start. By now you might be starting a shooping list, or looking up the phone numbers for electricians...either way best of luck!This is could be just the beginning of a whole series...if you have any feedback or additions please contact me I would love to hear from you!