Recessed lighting adds a sleek, attractive look to your overall lighting design, but in a vaulted ceiling it can be dangerous. By virtue of the way they are designed, vaulted ceilings leave little space between the ceiling and the roof. Recessed lighting may cause warm air to leak out of rooms while inviting cold air in, so they must be placed with care and precision. Because recessed lights may also be a fire hazard in vaulted ceilings, which are commonly insulated, homeowners must choose their lights carefully.
Instructions
1. Design a lighting plan on paper, drawing a diagram of your ceiling and determining the placement of each light; you can always tweak this design later.
2. Mark the physical location of each light in the ceiling with blue painter's tape, making a 2-inch X in each spot.
3. Step back and visually look over your plan. Make any necessary tweaks. Once you begin cutting holes for the lights, there's no going back.
4. Make a template for your lights by placing one light on top of a piece of cardboard. Draw a circle around the light with a pencil, then cut out this circle with scissors.
5. Hold the template up to each X and trace around it with the pencil. Remove the tape as you mark out the circles.
6. Precut each circle using a utility knife, lightly scoring the drywall of the ceiling.
7. Drill a one-half-inch hole into the center of with a power drill.
8. Cut into the ceiling with a drywall saw, starting at each drilled hole and making lines spreading out to the circle you outlined. Applying pressure to the cut drywall pieces will jostle them out of position so they may be disposed of.
9. Take one light at a time up the ladder to each hole. Connect the wires on the recessed light to the lighting wires running through the ceiling only if you are familiar with manipulative electrical wiring. You may need to consult with a professional electrician to complete this task safely.
10. Push the lights up into the hole once the wires are connected, placing the lamps so they are flush with the ceiling.
11. Secure the brackets on the lamp to the ceiling. Wiggle the light to make certain it is secure inside the ceiling.
Tags: ceiling with, circle with, , each light, Recessed lighting