Recessed Lighting Project

I recently decided to add some recessed lighting in my family room. This was a much needed addition since the only light in the room was two CFL wall mounts on both sides of the fireplace (with the switch located on the other half of the room), and 2 end table lamps. On top of that, there was 1 receptacle which was on a switch, presumably intended for a floor lamp of sorts, but the receptacle was conveniently located next to the coax jack and I had all of my A/V equipment plugged in to it. A simple flick of that switch and you just turned off my TV, STB, speakers, etc. No good.

Step 1, as with any remodeling job, was to plan the location of the lights. I was originally going to do a 2 x 3 x 3:

X   X
X  X  X
X  X  X

If you knew the dimensions of the room you'd know this design wasn't totally crazy. The 2 lights up front were to light up the television and the 6 lights behind were for general illumination. After an additional quick measurement, I opted to only do a 2 x 2 x 2:

X  X
X    X
X    X

Basically I followed the rule of thumb: for every inch in diameter your can is, place the adjacent can one foot away. So, for 4" cans, space about 4' apart. In my situation, I used 6" cans, so an approximate spacing of 6' apart was appropriate. That, plus I didn't mind the cost savings and labor efforts of installing 2 less.

Next I decided what switches I wanted these on. I decided to rip out the single gang, metallic box and replace it with an old work, double gang, plastic Carlon box. I used a double gang because I want to switch the front 2 lights (over the TV) independent of the general lights in the rest of the room. The theory here is I'd want to kill the general lights and provide dim, ambient light behind the TV. I also used a SuperBlue box (a little deeper than the standard I believe) since I want to use deep dimmers, and also need to tuck the existing wiring to the receptacle in the same box.

For switches I went with Lutron Maestro for the TV lights, and a Lutron Maestro IR for the general lights. Ideally I would of liked to have the IR (infrared) dimmer for both, but the switches wouldn't operate independent of one another via the remote. In other words, the Lutron's don't let you pair a specific remote with a switch. So, if you used the remote to turn on the lights, it'd turn both sets on. Same for turning the lights off. I preferred to have the general lights on the remote since I figure the TV lights will be on most of the time - it'll only be those moments when I'm laying down on the couch ready to relax that I'd want to turn the general lights off, and that remote sure will come in handy!

For the cans I used 6" Halo H7RICT cans. Halo is a pretty trusted brand, used them growing up, used them in other spots in my house.

Of course, I used the EcoSmart E26 LEDs in all the cans. At 10.5 watts, fully dimmable, great light, and the power equivalent of a 65 watt bulb, you can't go wrong with these. I also got them when they were on sale for $20. Picked up a bunch more for future expansion .

When cutting the holes, I first used a quick cutter adjustable drill bit. On the plus side, it gives you a super clean cut. However, if you run into any obstruction, i.e. a joist, you just drilled a 6" hole that you need to patch. In my house, I have strapping which runs perpendicular to my joists which the drywall ties in to. When cutting, I needed to be concerned about not only the strapping (easily found with a stud finder), but also where my joists were. I learned the hard way that my joists and strapping are not always evenly spaced - that would only be too easy. Luckily I only goofed once in the front of the room ... nothing a little joint compound can't fix.

As an alternative to the quick cutter, I decided to go old school. After picking the location for the can, I drilled a 7/8" hole in the center where I wanted to place the can. I then stuck a piece of wire in to the hole and poked around to check for neighboring joists or strapping. This isn't a full proof method, but it'll get you an idea if you're way off. I then used the template provided with the can and marked the 6" circle in the center of my drilled hole. Next, I used a drywall jab saw and cut to the extremes of the circle, directly towards where a joist or strapping board might be. If I was able to get the edge, I was confident this spot was OK!

Running the wire was fairly straight forward. Trick 1 was getting the wire through the top plate. Luckily the first row of lights over the TV lined up perfectly with where I ran power out of the switch and through the top plate. I was able to snag the wire from the first 6" hole I drilled. Running the wire left to right was trivial as it stayed in the cavity of the joist. Running front to back, however, needed to run underneath the joists and parallel to the strapping. A quick trip to the hardware store and a simple wire snake later, running the wire front to back was simple.

All 6 in place	Front 2 installed, and wire run all the way to the back	First wire run north - south

To power these lights, I ran a new, dedicated 15A AFCI circuit using 14/2 WG romex. Nothing crazy here, just ran power from the panel right to the switches. I much prefer bringing my power to the switch first, rather than to the lights ... makes wiring much simpler and cleaner if you ask me.