Installing recessed lighting is a moderately easy DIY wiring job. If you know how to install a regular light fixture, you will be able to install a recessed light. Before you can begin, though, you need to determine where or not your ceiling can accommodate a recessed light. Is it a dropped ceiling? Are there ceiling joists there that give you some room to work with? If so, then you can make a trip to the hardware store to find a suitable recessed light fixture. It is easier to buy one that comes with support bars attached. This supports the light above the ceiling. You will need to have some idea of how many inches of space there are above the ceiling because the fixtures come in different sizes.
What you need for this job
Safety goggles, screwdriver, wire stripper, wire connector, folding dry wall saw or utility knife, measuring tape, 12/2 with ground wire, electric voltage tester, switch, switch box and light fixture.
Installing a recessed light
1. Lay out where you want the light to go on the ceiling and mark it with a pencil. Trace around the light fixture.
2. Cut out the hole using a dry wall saw or utility knife.
3. Determine where you want the light switch to go on the wall. Hold the switch box against the wall and trace around the shape. Cut out the shape.
4. Install the switch box, securing it by nailing it either into the stud in the wall or with flexible box holder bars that secure it to the dry wall.
5. You now need to feed 12/2 with ground wire from your main panel box to the fixture. You need to determine whether it is easier to run wire to the switch or the fixture. This depends on where your panel box is located in relation to your light fixture.
6. Assuming you decide it’s easier to take the power to the switch, you then need to run wire along or through a joist either in the basement or ceiling (securing it in place using cable staples) and then through the wall to where your switch box is located. Take the most convenient route to your switch box.
7. You need to run another 12/2 with ground from the location of the light fixture to the switch box. Feed the wire from the fixture location through the ceiling and down the wall to the switch.
8. You can now connect the wires. First connect the black (hot) wire from the power supply to one of the terminal screws of the switch. You do this by stripping about an inch from the end of the wire and wrapping it around the screw. You then connect the black wire which you ran from the light fixture to the other terminal screw.
9. Connect the two white wires together with a wire connector.
10. The ground wires must attach to the switch box (if the box is metal) and the switch, by either connecting the copper wires or connecting the copper wire to a green screw in the switch. The ground must be continuous from the panel to the box and switch and ultimately to the fixture.
11. Install the switch cover.
12. Now wire the light fixture. Connect the black wire from the switch with the black from the fixture. Do the same with the white. Ground the fixture by attaching the ground wire to the green screw or copper wire from the fixture. There should be a drawing with wiring instructions that comes with the light fixture.
13. Install the light fixture by pushing it into the ceiling hole and attaching the support bars to the joist above the ceiling. There may be spikes in the support bar to pound into the joist or you may have to nail them in.
14. Put your bulb in and put the shade and housing ring on.
The trickiest part comes next–wiring the fixture to the panel box. You need to turn off the main breaker to the panel so you don’t electrocute yourself.
15. Identify a circuit breaker you can use, or install a new one. Most breakers will snap in or bolt on. You have to know the kind of breaker your panel box uses before you can do this because there are so many different kinds of breakers available.
16. Connect the black wire to the screw on the breaker and connect the neutral and ground to the neutral/ground bar.
Now turn on the main breaker and the circuit breaker that feeds power to your fixture. Turn on your switch. Hopefully, you will see the light!
Adding another recessed light to a room
You may have a situation where you want to add another light to an existing set up. This is a much easier job. All you need to do is run a 12/2 with ground from an existing light fixture to the location of the new fixture. Make sure the circuit you are working with is de-energized while you complete the job.
The new fixture must connect with the leads from the existing fixture. As before, connect the black with the black and white with the white and ground the fixture with the copper wire. Make sure you do not attach your new wire to the one that runs directly from the panel box (if your existing light fixture is wired that way) or your new fixture will be on all the time. Your new light must be connected to the wire from the fixture that runs to the switch. You should be able to operate the light when you turn on the existing switch in the room.
By exercising care and proceeding in a methodical manner, these 16 steps outlined here should get you on your way to installing your own recessed lighting.
