Lighting Guides

I am looking at installing recessed lighting in my basement renovation (about 1200 sqf) in about three different areas (rooms) . Can you point me to any guides that tell you how to lay out your recessed lighting for general lighting

ie) Based on ceiling hight, and Base on the wattage & size of blub how far from the wall should you be and how far from each other. I'm sure there is some chart somewhere based on ceiling hight, and wattage that would spell this out.

I have installed recessed cans before, usually about 3' from the wall and about 6' apart and that seemed to work okay, but since this is a large project I though it best to work it by the numbers.

 

Try this.

 

There are no hard fast rules for residential environments. A lot depends on how much light you want or need. If this is work space, then more light is required, mood lighting requires less.

A few thoughts to make life a bit easier:

1. It's hard to overlight a space, as you can always add a dimmer to cut light levels.

2. any recessed light closer to the wall than 2' is going to wash the wall more than light the room

3. if you have too few fixtures in a room, a change to Par30 halogen lamps will greatly increase your light levels.