Upgrade Your Home Lighting With Modern, Recessed Lights

Have you noticed other people starting to replace old fluorescent tube lights with sleek new recessed lighting? Here’s how you should be updating your home lighting to make your house appear more modern with the help of Art Plumbing, Air Conditioning & Electric.

What Are Fluorescent/ Tube Lights?

Fluorescent bulbs became very popular at the start of the 21st century, and quickly replaced the incandescent bulb. Fluorescent lights have a long lifespan, use less energy than incandescent bulbs, and are cheaper than LEDs.

Although they are safe, fluorescents do contain a small amount of mercury. Consequently, they have to be disposed of properly rather than just thrown away.

Fluorescent lighting is commonly used in ‘tube’ lights. These long, cylindrical lights can often be seen in commercial environments, or in offices and warehouses. Tube lights can come in a variety of colors, and thus appeal to a large audience.

What Are Recessed Lights?

Recessed lights, as the name suggests, are a type of light fixture that is installed into shallow openings in walls or, most commonly, in ceilings. ‘Hat lights’ are a particular type of cylindrical recessed lights that face downwards.

Hat lights are comprised of 3 separate components: the trim, housing, and bulb.

• Trim
  The trim is the portion of recessed lighting that is visible. The average trim comes in black or white and is usually used to absorb any extra light. However, as recessed lights became more popular, different styles of trim emerged. Nowadays, it is common practice to buy adjustable trims that can be personalized relatively easily. Large trims are able to produce wider, more direct light, while smaller trims are less conspicuous.
• Housing
  The housing is the portion of recessed lighting that is not visible and can be quite large. When installing recessed lighting, it is important to notify the technician doing the installation if you have thermal insulation. Insulation Contact (IC) rated housing can come into direct contact with thermal insulation, whereas non-IC rated fixtures should be kept at least 3 inches away from any sort of insulation.
• Bulb
  The type of bulb used in recessed light fixtures is often dependent on the housing that has been installed. The main options are directional or diffuse home lighting sources. Directional bulbs produce lights from specific light sources, while diffuse lights are softer as they produce light in many different directions.

Why Should I Change from Tube Lights to Recessed Lights?

If you currently have tube lights in your home or your place of work, you will know that they can cause eye strain and headaches due to the high frequency flickering of the bulbs. Tube lights can also decrease the aesthetic appeal of an environment, and make low ceilings appear lower than they really are.

Recessed lighting, on the other hand, has less negative effects on the human body. The clean, uninterrupted lines that recessed lights provide are also architecturally appealing to the eye.

How Do I Change from Tube Lights to Recessed Lights?

Switching from fluorescent lights to recessed lights can be a relatively easy process, depending on the area the lights are located. If there is a lot of space above the original tube lights, for example an attic or crawl space, installing housing is not very difficult. Unlike tube lights, which can easily be attached to any ceiling, the housing for recessed lighting has to be built into the ceiling itself. In order to do so, a technician will have to make holes in your ceiling, but do not worry, you won’t be able to see these holes at all!

Once the holes have been made, the technician will insert the housing and connect it to electrical wires in your ceiling. Once the wiring is done, inserting a bulb into the housing is an easy task, as is applying a trim to the fixture.

Although there are many DIY fluorescent replacement techniques on the Internet, it is always recommended to hire a certified electrician to re-wire any new lights. Plus, you don’t want to go bashing holes in your ceiling only to find that a recessed light won’t fit!