Install Recessed Ceiling Lights

If you need more light in one of the rooms in your house, consider installing recessed ceiling lights. They are a modern and sleek way to add extra light to your home, without using lamps. There are a few different types and styles of recessed ceiling lights, and the kind you use for your home will be based on the size of the room and which room you’ll be using it in.

Step 1—Decide Where Your Lights Will Go

The first step in installing recessed ceiling lights is making sure you have enough space and enough voltage for the project at hand. You can use a voltage tester to help you decide if you have enough power for the recessed ceiling lights. Next, make sure you cover any furniture with a drop cloth.

Step 2—Be Safe

Make sure all the electrical is shut off to the room you’re working in before you start cutting holes in the ceiling. It’s helpful to use a head lamp or use daylight to help you with your project. Wear old clothing and goggles, since stray dry wall will be falling from the ceiling when you cut holes.

Step 3—Begin Cutting Holes for the Ceiling Lights

Use a stud finder to find your ceiling joists. Drill a small hole in what will be the center of the hole you plan to cut in the ceiling. Push a wire hanger bent at an angle through this hole to ensure you won’t cut into anything with your drywall saw. Next, use the pattern that came with your recessed lights to draw a circle to cut out. Use the drywall saw to cut out your hole. Repeat these steps until you have the correct number of holes in the ceiling.

Step 4—Connect Ceiling Lights to Junction Box

Use wire cutters to strip the ends of the wire. If you don’t have junction boxes in place, you’ll need to find out how to install and wire them. Wire nuts will help you to connect the wires in the junction box so your ceiling lights will work properly. You’ll generally find with recessed ceiling lights that there are black, white, and ground wires to be connected.

Step 5—Install the Housing and Trim

After connecting the wiring, it’s time to install the housing for your recessed ceiling lights. Make sure the housing doesn’t smash the junction box against a ceiling joist; don’t force it up into the ceiling. After the housing is in place the trim and light bulb can be installed. Once the light bulbs are in place you can turn the power back on and test your lighting to make sure it works properly and covers the right amount of space.