Recessed lighting can give your home a much cleaner, more modern look and provide practical illumination that completely transforms its appearance and ambiance. However, the recessed lighting installation process can be complicated, so it’s important to have a good idea what you’re getting yourself into before you make any final decisions.
At New London Electric, we approach every new lighting project with meticulous attention to detail, keeping every aspect of your space, electrical system, and goals in mind. We want nothing more than for you to love your new lighting, so if you think you’re ready to install new lighting in your home, here is what you can expect the process to look like.
What Happens Before Recessed Lighting Installation Begins?
Before we begin cutting openings or running electrical wiring, we take time to understand your space and determine how the new lighting should function. Planning helps us create a layout that provides useful illumination that works naturally with the room so that you’ll be completely satisfied with the final result.
Planning the Lighting Layout
The right recessed lighting layout depends on a lot more than just the size of the room. Ceiling height, furniture placement, existing fixtures, natural light, and how you use the space all play a role in determining the ideal placement of each new light.
Different rooms also call for different approaches. Though rooms like kitchens often benefit from more focused lighting over countertops and prep areas, spaces like living rooms tend to require more balanced illumination that spreads evenly across the room. It all just depends on the specifics of the room and the goals you want to achieve with your project.
Evaluating Your Existing Electrical System
We also need to evaluate your home’s existing electrical systems before we can start coming up with a concrete design. Your new lighting needs to get power from somewhere, and if the right circuits, wiring, and switches aren’t there already, we’ll need to make sure there is space to add them before getting started.
What Happens During the Recessed Lighting Installation Process?
Once the lighting plan and electrical requirements are established, we can begin the physical installation. The exact process and timeline can vary widely depending on a number of different factors, but we’ll always make sure that you have the most up-to-date and accurate information throughout every phase of the project.
Marking and Preparing Fixture Locations
Every installation starts by carefully measuring and marking the location of each recessed light. You can never be too careful with measurements, and marking everything down early helps us make sure that everything will be in the right place before making any cuts.
Creating Openings and Running Electrical Wiring
After confirming fixture locations, we’ll create appropriately sized openings for the lights you selected. We then route the necessary electrical wiring between fixtures and connect the lighting system to the appropriate circuit and controls.
How involved this step becomes depends almost completely on how easily accessible everything is. If there is an attic above the room that we’re installing lighting, it often provides a much more direct route for wiring. Finished spaces between floors require a different approach as we’ll need to route the new wiring through existing walls and ceilings.
Installing the Recessed Light Fixtures
Once the wiring is in place, we’ll move on to installing the lights themselves. Again, this part of the process can look different depending on the type of lighting we are installing. For example, traditional recessed lights usually use housings installed within the ceiling cavity, but most modern LED systems utilize slim or canless designs with different mounting requirements.
The right option for your home will depend on factors like available ceiling space, insulation, desired appearance, and your lighting preferences, but we’ll make sure that you choose fixtures perfectly suited to the conditions in your home.
After the electrical connections and fixtures are installed, we add the appropriate finished touches and trims, so that your new lights sit neatly and cleanly within your ceiling.
What Happens After the Lights Are Installed?
Our job isn’t quite over when the new fixtures are secured in the ceiling. During the final stages of our recessed lighting installation process, we still need to make sure that everything is functioning properly.
Testing the Completed Lighting System
During this step, we’ll test the installed lights and their controls to confirm that every part of the system is operating as intended. This includes checking all switches, dimmers, and any other lights and controls that we installed.
Reviewing the Finished Project
Once testing is complete, we review the finished lighting with you and explain how all the new controls or features we installed operate. Then we’ll clean the work area and get out of your way so you can begin using your updated lighting without any unnecessary disruptions.
How Long Does Recessed Lighting Installation Take?
Every recessed lighting installation project is different, and so the exact timeline will completely depend on the specifics of your home, the scope of the project, and what additional electrical services you may need. Everything from the number of fixtures and wiring accessibility to the ceiling construction and existing electrical infrastructure can all have a huge impact on how long the project will take to complete.
Before work begins, we’ll be sure to evaluate every detail of your project and keep you updated as the timeline changes. This gives you a clearer understanding of exactly how long you can expect your project to take, so that you have everything you need to plan accordingly.
Contact New London Electric Today
Good recessed lighting starts with a thoughtful plan. The fixture layout, wiring, controls, and installation all need to work together to create lighting that complements how you use your space.
At New London Electric, we provide professional recessed lighting installation for homes all throughout Southern Chester County, PA and Northern Delaware. We even offer free project estimates and will happily walk you through all the best options for you and your home.
Don’t push off your next recessed lighting installation project any longer. Contact New London Electric and get your project started today.
