Incandescent bulbs can still be used with recessed lighting.
Floor and table lamps enhance living spaces with their decoration and illumination, but they take up space. Wall and ceiling lights save room, but still project fixtures into the room that may run counter to contemporary decor. Recessed lights disappear into a ceiling, saving both visual and actual space. If spaced correctly, they can light an entire room.
Choices
The proper spacing for recessed lights begins with the correct housing size. A 4-inch housing disappears into the ceiling and works for accent lighting. For small areas such as hallways, a 5-inch housing provides more coverage. For high ceilings or large living areas, a 6-inch housing allows better coverage with higher-wattage lamps. As for lighting style, the open style is the most economical choice. Baffles minimize glare, and reflectors increase light output. Eyeballs can direct light to a specific wall or art piece, and lenses can diffuse the light in closets and bathrooms.
General
To determine coverage in square feet with general lighting, the basic rule is to multiply the mounting height in feet by four. For example, a single downlight on a 10-foot high ceiling can cover about 40 square feet of space on the floor. A small 5-by-8 closet would need just one recessed light. A 10-by-20-foot (200 square feet) living room would need five such units. To determine spacing, draw out the coverage on a room plan and put the light in the center of that coverage. For the closet, the light goes into the center of the room. For the larger living room, one goes into the center of the room. The remaining four go in each of the corners, equally spaced at about 3.5 feet away from the closest 10-foot wall and 3.5 feet from the closest 20-foot wall. General lighting typically uses baffle or reflector styles.
Division
Another method is to determine the number of recessed lights you want and divide the space into enough equally spaced parts to accommodate those units. This gives the room a symmetrical look, but may focus the brightest point of the beam away from the center of furniture underneath it. For example, assume you want to place six recessed lights in the same 10-by-20-foot living room. Space every short group of two lights every five feet across the long wall and every long group of three lights every 3.3 feet across the short wall.
Structure
Place recessed lighting that illuminates wall features, such as art, the same distance from the wall, using a minimum of a quarter of the ceiling height. For example, an 8-foot ceiling uses a minimum wall distance of two feet, while a 10-foot ceiling can use 2.5 feet. Another limiting factor is the location of ceiling joists. Recessed lighting must be placed next to or in the spaces between such joists. Corners and exterior walls where the roof comes close to the ceiling may also change placement with obstructions such as roof trusses or air ducts.
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