Outdoor Recessed Lighting

Recessed lighting is a beautiful, simple and inexpensive way to update your home. Also if you are handy and knowledgeable, simple to install yourself.

Recessed lighting is remarkably functional; it can be used to accentuate certain elements of your home without breaking the lines of your ceiling and will make your room feel and look bigger. Though most fixtures are meant to be installed between ceiling joints of new home building projects, some fixtures are designed for retrofit applications and can be placed into an existing ceiling space that is fitted for wiring.

You should also know of the styles available to you. Recessed lighting has made a major transformation over the years as more manufacturers are creating a variety of trims for many applications. You can go with the usual baffle in white or black. This type is made to absorb extra light and is best used for highlighting special pieces in your home. You can also use a cone trim for low brightness. Adjustable trim will allow for an easy switch between high and low brightness. You can choose between a gimbal ring, which is easily adjustable or an eyeball style which protrudes from the fixture.

If you like to do home repairs yourself, this will definitely be a fun project for you. Be sure, though, that you are comfortable and familiar with electrical wiring, as this project requires a thorough knowledge beforehand.

If you are comfortable, however, here is a short guide of how to install recessed lighting:

Be sure that for your own safety, you purchase an insulation contact, or IC, rated fixture. Should insulation touch an incorrectly rated recessed light, it can cause a fire.

Your first step is turn off the power, then use the stud finder to locate ceiling joints. Next, use the drywall saw to cut an opening for the light between the joints, making sure not to cut through any existing wire that may be up there. Insert the electrical cable into the junction box of your fixture and fasten it with your cable clamp. If necessary, strip the wires and splice them to the fixture with twist on wire connectors. Now, connect the black wire on the fixture to the black house wire, the white wire to the white wire and green to bare wire (or ground to ground). Place the writes in the box and put the cover back up.

Rotate the fixture housing until the mounting tabs engage and are securely in place. Attach the inner baffle according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Now you can put in the bulb, turn your power back on and see how fantastic your new light looks!