Laying Out Recessed Lights

Glenn F.

Member
I am in the process of wiring our evolving 14x14 "cabin" in the back yard. It will have knotty pine car siding and drywall ceiling. I am about to install recessed lights but do not know how many, or how to space them. Any advice you can offer is appreciated. Building has an 8' cceiling, and will have hardwood floor. There is also a 10x14 upstairs.


Thank you,
Glenn F.
 
I put 9 in a 19x22 closed in garage. I don't remember exactly how I figured the spacing but there are diagrams online that can explain better than I can. One thing to watch for is if you have ceiling fans, you don't want the fan blades to break the "cone" of the light. If it does you will get a subtle strobe effect. I used two smaller diameter fans in that room.

They are about 6 feet apart and I put each row of 3 on a dimmer switch. With them all on it's like you're in the middle of Wal-mart. With the center row only on low it makes nice mood lighting.
 
I might add that the recessed lights would be a primary light source and hooked to a dimmer switch.

Glenn F.
 
With a 6" recessed light in an 8' ceiling a 75 watt PAR 30 halogen light will light up a circle on the floor about 8' in diameter. So if you want yo figure for a counter top go closer together, buy I'd you want dimmer go further apart. In my experience I usually don't go Much further apart than that in a big room. However if you use the newer LED bulbs or trims and get one equivalent to a 100 watt bulb or bigger you may try to go further apart.
 
Lay the cans out on the floor. You'll be able to visualize how they'll look in the ceiling. Move them around till you get a layout you like. Measure then tranfer those measurements to the ceiling. From there you'll be able to see if there are any conflicts where you want to put them and adjust accordingly. Roughed in many, many Halo cans that way. HTH. Mark.
 
you have to start in the ceiling and determine hat pattern is available based on the location of the ceiling joist. What looks good on the floor might not fit in the ceiling. You determine the amount of cans after you determine a working pattern. I have put up hundreds and always had to work out my layout based on the ceiling framing.
 
The builder put incandescent bulbs in our recessed lights; we changed them to CFL's that dispersed light in a wide area that didn't quite reach the floor from the 9ft. ceiling. Then we installed FOCUSED LED bulbs from Costco that light the floor.

You may want more light over the cooking area.
 
You'll probably want to place most of the lights fairly close to the walls; that's usually where you need the most light. If your walls were drywall just lighting the walls might be sufficient, but since you have pine paneling you won't be getting much reflected light off the walls.

If I was installing new recessed lights, I would go with LED lighting.
 
I added a 16x16 sun room to my building a few years ago. I installed 5 of those 65 watt can lights in the ceiling. Imagine a circle with about 1/4 of it cut off. That is my pattern with the "no lights" section adjacent to the interior door and the two exterior doors. And all the lights over the "furniture area". I also used two dimmer switches with the lights split three and two. Can create some unusual effects. No light fan in the middle.
 
It's been awhile, but I seem to remember that the ceiling height determines the circle of lighted area, in other words - 8 foot ceiling will give you an 8 foot circle of good light on the floor. Limitations - naturally a 20 foot ceiling would be a deal breaker. Different lights may have different design, too. The lights I used had real good layout instructions right in the box.
 
To lay-out evenly across the ceiling space add 1 to the number of light rows. 4 lights divide space by 5 [or five even spaces ]between the four lights. This is to keep a uniform and even spacing. Minor adjustments may occur due to ducts etc. But adding one will keep you even. 5/ ceiling length.
 
I also use the bulk pack cheaper bulbs. I'm also experimenting with the new LED bulbs in two of the sockets. The light quality is good and they dim to a point and then go off. They won't glow like the incandescents but I didn't expect them to.
 
Also the light cans are rated for insulation contact or no insulation contact. Using the ones for insulation contact will cover the bases as far as setting insulation on fire. You'll also want to seal any little gaps in the cans with silicon to stop air leaks.

As others have mentioned, I too remember some issue with working around the framing. Fortunately it still worked out in a symmetrical pattern.
 
What I should have typed . Ceiling length in inches divided by number of lights plus one. Result is how far the spacing is between lay-out marks
 

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