How to Install the Right Amount of Recessed Lighting

How to Install the Right Amount of Recessed Lighting

Sometimes getting the lighting just right in a room can be tricky. Much like the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, there is often a very fine line between what is too much, too little, and just right when it comes to lighting design. Lighting design is a science, and it is an art. It is only when we strike the right balance in terms of lighting that our homes become the warm inviting sanctuaries we want them to be. Too much lighting can be harsh and discordant, making your home look clinical and office like, too little and you run the risk of looking gloomy and dull. Including recessed lighting into the design mix can help enhance the lighting design. Recessed lighting (also known as downlights or can-lights available at https://www.lepro.com/led-recessed-lighting) can serve you well in accenting prominent features in a room. To make sure you have the “just right” amount of recessed lighting, keep these three essential things in mind.

Calculate your total wattage needs.
To calculate how much light is needed in a room use the following formula: Multiply the width and length of any room to get the total area. Multiply the total area of the room by 1.5and the answer you get will be the total wattage you will need in that room. For instance, if the room you have in mind is 18feet wide and 25 feet long, the area of the room is 18x25= 450square feet. Then when we multiply 450 by 1.5, we get 675, so that means you need 675 watts of light to light your roomefficiently.

Figure out how many fixtures you will require.
Once you have calculated how many watts you need to brighten your room, divide that with the wattage of the bulb you would prefer to use. Do you like fewer but bigger and brighter lights or more but smaller light fixtures. For instance, the room in the earlier example needed 675 watts of light, and supposing you want to use the average can lightbulbs of 60-watts each dividing one by the other will give you the number of recessed fixtures you will need. In this example you will require 11 light bulbs to light the room sufficiently. Keep in mind though, that while LED recessed lights like the ones available at lepro.com are a better alternative to halogen lights, but the wattage on LEDs can be confusing. A wattage of 5 to 8 on an LED bulb is equivalent 40 to 60 on a halogenbulb.

Ensure your recessed light fixtures are spaced evenly.
Once you have calculated the wattage and figured out how many recessed lights your room needs, you need to figure out the placement of said lights. Making sure that the lights arespaced out evenly is important. Try to split your recessedlighting all around the room evenly. Ensure that there is a distance of at least 2 feet between fixtures and that the overall spread of the lighting is geometrically symmetrical unless you want to trigger your OCD visitors.

These are general guidelines, and unless you are qualified for the job, always have an electrician do the actual installationfor the safety of yourself and others.