I have watched a number of youtube videos on installing recessed can lights in an existing home, we are remodeling our kitchen; this is the best video I have watched so far.
I agree with most of the comments. Phenomenal video. Seen a lot of hack jobs, rush jobs, and jobs where they don't explain HOW they decided to commit and pop the hole. Your coat hanger trick, the radius of the hole you're making, GOLD. I will use that coat hanger trick for years to come. Now if only I can figure out how to do the same with plaster and lathe. Ugh.
Cool! I wanted to add a light but wasn’t sure how to access the existing light circuit/box. This is the first video I saw that shows the process.Thanks
I planned to add few more lights in my living room but wasn't sure how I can thrill holes thru the 2x10 and run the wires thru it until I found your video. Thanks a lot for posting.
Hey Adam - thanks for the video, I am doing almost exactly what you showed and it was a great help to me.I hate those florescent bulbs as well and I am probably going to use LED or just go old fashioned incandescent.
Thanks for sharing the video we just have our own house and i was planning how to install those recessed light now i know thanks to you and many others here in YOU TUBE thanks......
Yes you are right, I was worried about overloading the breaker. Not sure if the wattage of the lights. It's the same hook up as you performed on the video. I will be attacking this project tomorrow and watching this video about 100 time, lol
The bulbs should have writing on them telling you the wattage. LED recessed lights use about 20 watts if I remember correctly. Compact fluorescents in a flood light shape use 14 watts or so. 20watts x 6 = 120watts and 14 watts x 6 = 84watts. If your breaker trips from overload on that, I would be shocked. It's really nothing. Even regular bulbs are not a big deal, but I cant say for sure because I have no idea what kind of work has been done on your home. It's possible someone maxed out the line, but I doubt it.
Yes the ceiling tiles are removable. The recess lights will be attached to the ceiling frame as well. Looking at your video it Doesn't look hard to do. I was just worried about adding more lights being that I only have 1 light fixture in the room
You sound like you are worried about overloading your breaker. I would not worry, but you can add the wattage of the bulbs on the line and see if it is too much. Do you know the wattage of the one you are removing? and also the wattage of the ones that will replace it? If you are putting in LED's you really wont need to worry.
When you attached the wire initially inside the first light with the plastic box,, was that plastic box attached to the recessed light? I’m looking to add 1 additional light in my kitchen, and I’m just thinking I need to run a wire from one light to my new one,, correct?
What’s the maximum load that I can use? For example in my kitchen I have four recessed lights like this, I would like to add a chandelier using a similar method to what you did, would I be able to do that or will that be too much load on the breaker and be against code?
Looking @ 0:48 in your video, 3 screws then lift the old housing up. Curious what those screws are attached to, is it the dimensional lumbar visible in other parts of the video? If so, is that considered firesafe?
You only needed one light , I thought you were adding another, since drilled thru the wood , I guess I’ll watch it agin I must miss something, I want to add two lights from the one over the sink , don’t you link them together by wiring light to light ?
Hi, i want to do this in my bathroom by tapping into the exhaust fan (light will come on when fan is on). my questions are. 1. I notice is has 12w wire. should I use the same or can I use 14w? 2. the light will be about 24" away from the shower area. is there a fixture intended for bathrooms because there is moisture there all the time? Thanks in advance
How many LED cans can I add to a circuit? I just bought a house and it has one or two recessed cans in each room but I want to add about 4-6 total in each of those rooms, all LED complete drop ins
Code permits 12 outlets per circuit. But, it also permits if the total load is within 80% ampacity of the circuit, there is no limit for outlet number. Since LED consumes very little power, you can install as many as you want.
That's because the light was being installed on the first floor of a home with living space above it. There normally isn't any insulation between floors in a residential house.
Good video. Thanks. Maybe you have thoughts on my predicament. I have VERY high ceilings (20ft), with recessed canister lights that are installed in the attic. It's so high that I cannot get to the fixture from inside my living room. I can only get to it from the attic. A bulb exploded when I was trying to change it, and so i had to go up to the attic to remove the canister, remove the leftover bulb. When I pulled out the canister into the attic, the visible plastic cone that inserts into the canister from the living room side of the ceiling, fell off (and down to the floor). The plastic cone does NOT fit through the hole in the ceiling, since it has a ridge to visually cover the hole from the living room side. I have successfully reassembled the canister from the attic side, but I cannot maneuver my hands to latch on the bulb holder the cone. I guess that is meant to be done from the living room side. Without renting scaffolding to get to the ceiling from the living room side, I cannot figure out another way to do this. I was thinking maybe i could fully disconnect the fixture in the attic, assemble it ground level in the living room, and then pull it up through the ceiling with a string?? not sure the fixture would fit through the hole, however?? Thoughts?
I got a question, im up grading my lights from regular light bulb from 65w to LED 700 lumens. I have the receded cans and when i go ahead and add the new ones, the LED lights stay on. And i switched one to the old one and it turns off. Any idea on this issue.
Technically yes you can overload it, but if you are only adding one or two and you have not done any additions before, I really doubt that you are going to overload the circuit. Especially if you have changed your bulbs to energy efficient ones. I really would not worry about adding one bulb. If you want to do the math, you can. You just need to see how many amps your bulbs are drawing on that line and then match it to the breaker that limits that line. A regular 60W light bulb draws about .6amps and a regular breaker can handle a 15 amp load. So thats about 25 60w incandescent bulbs you can run on a 15amp breaker. But I would not Max out a line.
@@AdamDIY Along this line of questioning, would you just keep running more Romex from one can to the next off of that first source? (First time doing this.) Thank you!
Hi... In 1 of my rooms in my basement, I have a fluorescent light fixture In the ceiling tile and I would like to replace it with 4-6 recessed lights. Is it possible being that I only have 1 light in the room? Thanks
Im looking to add about 8 cans down the length of my upstairs, only question i have was the only light up there was an old fluorescent light with the white and black, no ground. So can i just bypass the grounds on the new cans?
Sounds like you are on an older home that was wired before ground wires right? If I remember correctly, it's ok as far as code goes, for you to do that. Any home that was built with ground wires needs to use them. It will still work.
yeah our house was built in 1950 but the upstairs wasnt finished till the 90's, i think it was some "Joe Carpenter" that lived here and didnt get a permit and just went and got everything and threw it together. The building inspector didnt say anything when we bought it bout the upstairs, anyway thats what i was thinking bout the grounds. thanks
I am using halo 5 inch retrofit kit on a 5/8 sheetrock and for the life of me, I could NOT get the locks to latch. I have used the halo 6inch in the past for a 1/2 sheetrock and don't recall having such a problem....Please help.
Hey I need to install recess lights in my bedroom what i have in my bedroom now is a light switch that runs to an outlet that i plug a lamp into the other 3 outlets stays on all the time and I have a fan in the ceiling I would like to put 3 recess lights in. how would i wire that?
+s Tim You would run a new wire in the attic ceiling (hopefully you have access) down the top of the wall to the wall switch box. It's a little difficult. I do it without cutting holes in the drywall but most people cut holes. You would just leave the outlet as is and tap into the wires at the light switch. Does that make sense?
+AdamDIY ok to me it sounds like your saying to run a wire to the light switch that turns on the outlet. and use that wire and run to a recess light and take another wire and run to the 2nd light and so on and that one light switch will control all 3 lights I hope I made sense lolololol!
One wire running from the wall switch to the first can light you want to install. The next wire you run will be from light 1 to light 2. Then from 2 to 3. It's all run in one long chain.
So if I want to install 6 high hats from one fixture, I wire the second to the first then the third to the second and so on? Basically each additional light gets wired from the previous one?
I did not see this asked anywhere but how were you able to see the hole when you were feeding the wires through it? A remote camera or something like that?
I would find out exactly what everything on that circuit is first and then do a simple load calculation to see how many watts are already being used before adding 5 lights. You don't want to overload the circuit breaker.
I spy with my little eye a code violation. 334.30. He did not secure the NM-B within 12" of the junction box. [edit] After much research it seems this would normally be a code violation but since the wire was "fished" through the ceiling of "old work" securing would be deemed "impractical" and not required by code. I learned something today and I hope others can learn as well.
If you take out 1 incandescent bulb with is rated at 60W then you can use LED bulbs with are 15W, 10W or 9W. These will help make sure you are not overloading the system.
Very informative. Great camera work. Recommend you talk a little faster. Your slow talking is dreary. Recommend you watch This Old House for a guy who talks at a good pace, and is therefore that much more engaging.
![OsamaSon - ik what you did last summer [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/4DIQDnu3mr4/mqdefault.jpg)
Not only was this very informative, but the camera angles and clear shots in such a teensy space are excellent!! Thanks!!
Agreed! Thought the same thing.
I have watched a number of youtube videos on installing recessed can lights in an existing home, we are remodeling our kitchen; this is the best video I have watched so far.
glad to hear it helped!
Honestly great video without all the fluff. I like the straight forwardness. Keep making these awesome videos. Helped me a ton. Thank you!
I agree with most of the comments. Phenomenal video. Seen a lot of hack jobs, rush jobs, and jobs where they don't explain HOW they decided to commit and pop the hole. Your coat hanger trick, the radius of the hole you're making, GOLD.
I will use that coat hanger trick for years to come. Now if only I can figure out how to do the same with plaster and lathe. Ugh.
Thank you. This helped me to understand why the can wasn't anchored properly and how to replace the baffle.
I like the hanger-spin trick! Never thought of that. Thanks!
Cool! I wanted to add a light but wasn’t sure how to access the existing light circuit/box. This is the first video I saw that shows the process.Thanks
I planned to add few more lights in my living room but wasn't sure how I can thrill holes thru the 2x10 and run the wires thru it until I found your video. Thanks a lot for posting.
Excellent tutorial. Love the camera view inside the ceiling bay. Thanks!
Great video! Easy to follow, appropriate instructions and great quality and camera angles. Thanks for sharing.
Hey Adam - thanks for the video, I am doing almost exactly what you showed and it was a great help to me.I hate those florescent bulbs as well and I am probably going to use LED or just go old fashioned incandescent.
thanks much for creating this video. Finally I was able to change the bulb.
can't believe he fished that wire thru that little hole. Great job.
Stanley Miles The screws are attached to the lip of the metal holder on the light mount. Not the wood framing of the house.
Thanks for showing the video ,I learned something.
Thanks for sharing the video we just have our own house and i was planning how to install those recessed light now i know thanks to you and many others here in YOU TUBE thanks......
Yes you are right, I was worried about overloading the breaker. Not sure if the wattage of the lights. It's the same hook up as you performed on the video. I will be attacking this project tomorrow and watching this video about 100 time, lol
The bulbs should have writing on them telling you the wattage. LED recessed lights use about 20 watts if I remember correctly. Compact fluorescents in a flood light shape use 14 watts or so. 20watts x 6 = 120watts and 14 watts x 6 = 84watts. If your breaker trips from overload on that, I would be shocked. It's really nothing. Even regular bulbs are not a big deal, but I cant say for sure because I have no idea what kind of work has been done on your home. It's possible someone maxed out the line, but I doubt it.
Great video and you made it look so easy. It would nice if you have a follow on video to show how to install an additional power switch.
+Hanh Hoang Good idea.
Really nice video. Thanks for taking the time to get all those great camera angles. Feel 100% about taking on this project now.
ADAM - you ROCK!------------this video is EXACTLY what I was looking for - thanks for taking the time to post this video - Rick
Wow , you made it look so easy. I have zero skills and I want to put a ceiling light inside our closet. Do you happen to have a video on this?
Yes the ceiling tiles are removable. The recess lights will be attached to the ceiling frame as well. Looking at your video it Doesn't look hard to do. I was just worried about adding more lights being that I only have 1 light fixture in the room
You sound like you are worried about overloading your breaker. I would not worry, but you can add the wattage of the bulbs on the line and see if it is too much. Do you know the wattage of the one you are removing? and also the wattage of the ones that will replace it? If you are putting in LED's you really wont need to worry.
Anthony Williams jfmjrjrrkdj
Vanessa Thompson z
Excellent video. Miles better than others.
Very good job , the video help me very much to learn , Thanks
thank god for led now, so much easier
Great video, lighting, editing and camera angles. Thanks for taking the time to do it. You give me hope that I can do this too. :)
Great stuff, clear and concise! Thanks
awesome video tutorial. Thanks for taking the effort to share.
Doing this way creates a parallel circuit, right?
When you attached the wire initially inside the first light with the plastic box,, was that plastic box attached to the recessed light? I’m looking to add 1 additional light in my kitchen, and I’m just thinking I need to run a wire from one light to my new one,, correct?
You made that look super easy!!
Awesome job and great DIY video' one of the best I've seen..
Good job my friend, well done!
nice video. thanks for taking the time to make it. It was very informative.
What’s the maximum load that I can use? For example in my kitchen I have four recessed lights like this, I would like to add a chandelier using a similar method to what you did, would I be able to do that or will that be too much load on the breaker and be against code?
Looking @ 0:48 in your video, 3 screws then lift the old housing up. Curious what those screws are attached to, is it the dimensional lumbar visible in other parts of the video? If so, is that considered firesafe?
you did a good job sir
Great Video, where did you purchase the plastic junction box with connectors from?..
Excellent video! Thank you!
You only needed one light , I thought you were adding another, since drilled thru the wood , I guess I’ll watch it agin I must miss something, I want to add two lights from the one over the sink , don’t you link them together by wiring light to light ?
Hi, i want to do this in my bathroom by tapping into the exhaust fan (light will come on when fan is on). my questions are. 1. I notice is has 12w wire. should I use the same or can I use 14w? 2. the light will be about 24" away from the shower area. is there a fixture intended for bathrooms because there is moisture there all the time? Thanks in advance
damn nice camera and shooting.
Show more of does on a bigger project
How many LED cans can I add to a circuit? I just bought a house and it has one or two recessed cans in each room but I want to add about 4-6 total in each of those rooms, all LED complete drop ins
Code permits 12 outlets per circuit. But, it also permits if the total load is within 80% ampacity of the circuit, there is no limit for outlet number. Since LED consumes very little power, you can install as many as you want.
I was surprised to see no insulation in the space with the light housing
That's because the light was being installed on the first floor of a home with living space above it. There normally isn't any insulation between floors in a residential house.
Good video. Thanks. Maybe you have thoughts on my predicament. I have VERY high ceilings (20ft), with recessed canister lights that are installed in the attic. It's so high that I cannot get to the fixture from inside my living room. I can only get to it from the attic. A bulb exploded when I was trying to change it, and so i had to go up to the attic to remove the canister, remove the leftover bulb. When I pulled out the canister into the attic, the visible plastic cone that inserts into the canister from the living room side of the ceiling, fell off (and down to the floor). The plastic cone does NOT fit through the hole in the ceiling, since it has a ridge to visually cover the hole from the living room side. I have successfully reassembled the canister from the attic side, but I cannot maneuver my hands to latch on the bulb holder the cone. I guess that is meant to be done from the living room side. Without renting scaffolding to get to the ceiling from the living room side, I cannot figure out another way to do this. I was thinking maybe i could fully disconnect the fixture in the attic, assemble it ground level in the living room, and then pull it up through the ceiling with a string?? not sure the fixture would fit through the hole, however?? Thoughts?
Menards and some other places rent very tall step ladders.
I thought junction boxes were not allowed in the walls
I got a question, im up grading my lights from regular light bulb from 65w to LED 700 lumens. I have the receded cans and when i go ahead and add the new ones, the LED lights stay on. And i switched one to the old one and it turns off.
Any idea on this issue.
How did you climb through that little hole
How could you see what you were doing when you fed the wire through the hole you drilled in the cross beam?
The videocamera I was using to film this video had a flip viewer that I could see. But you can just use a mirror.
My concern is how to connect all 5 cannisters with wkring
Looks so easy
Quick question though, can you just add an extra light like that anywhere? (Like is there a max load they can't pass?)
Technically yes you can overload it, but if you are only adding one or two and you have not done any additions before, I really doubt that you are going to overload the circuit. Especially if you have changed your bulbs to energy efficient ones. I really would not worry about adding one bulb. If you want to do the math, you can. You just need to see how many amps your bulbs are drawing on that line and then match it to the breaker that limits that line. A regular 60W light bulb draws about .6amps and a regular breaker can handle a 15 amp load. So thats about 25 60w incandescent bulbs you can run on a 15amp breaker. But I would not Max out a line.
@@AdamDIY Along this line of questioning, would you just keep running more Romex from one can to the next off of that first source? (First time doing this.) Thank you!
I'm looking to put some recessed lighting in my new home. Do I need to have someone inspect it or get a permit to do it myself?? Thanks!
do you know how I can remove the can from the hole?
you can unplug from those wire connectors?
Thanks, Very helpful.
nice man. question, if i already have some canned lights but i just want to add a couple more can i just tap into the existing lights?
Yes
4:50 COME ON! YOU CAN DO IT!! Thread that needle!!!
Hi... In 1 of my rooms in my basement, I have a fluorescent light fixture In the ceiling tile and I would like to replace it with 4-6 recessed lights. Is it possible being that I only have 1 light in the room? Thanks
Yes. I have never worked on a room with ceiling tiles but I have seen homes with them in. Are yours removable?
Your Video is on point...
Thanks
Great video thanks for sharing!
great video man.
Thanks
Im looking to add about 8 cans down the length of my upstairs, only question i have was the only light up there was an old fluorescent light with the white and black, no ground. So can i just bypass the grounds on the new cans?
Sounds like you are on an older home that was wired before ground wires right? If I remember correctly, it's ok as far as code goes, for you to do that. Any home that was built with ground wires needs to use them. It will still work.
yeah our house was built in 1950 but the upstairs wasnt finished till the 90's, i think it was some "Joe Carpenter" that lived here and didnt get a permit and just went and got everything and threw it together. The building inspector didnt say anything when we bought it bout the upstairs, anyway thats what i was thinking bout the grounds. thanks
I am using halo 5 inch retrofit kit on a 5/8 sheetrock and for the life of me, I could NOT get the locks to latch. I have used the halo 6inch in the past for a 1/2 sheetrock and don't recall having such a problem....Please help.
+alex wu I use a hammer and a screwdriver to tap tap tap the clips in place. Are you doing it by hand?
Hey I need to install recess lights in my bedroom what i have in my bedroom now is a light switch that runs to an outlet that i plug a lamp into the other 3 outlets stays on all the time and I have a fan in the ceiling I would like to put 3 recess lights in. how would i wire that?
+s Tim You would run a new wire in the attic ceiling (hopefully you have access) down the top of the wall to the wall switch box. It's a little difficult. I do it without cutting holes in the drywall but most people cut holes. You would just leave the outlet as is and tap into the wires at the light switch. Does that make sense?
+AdamDIY
ok to me it sounds like your saying to run a wire to the light switch that turns on the outlet. and use that wire and run to a recess light and take another wire and run to the 2nd light and so on and that one light switch will control all 3 lights I hope I made sense lolololol!
One wire running from the wall switch to the first can light you want to install. The next wire you run will be from light 1 to light 2. Then from 2 to 3. It's all run in one long chain.
Thanks for sharing; just curious what camera you used to film this; was it mounted on you ladder at times? Good job!
Michael J Charles And
Great job! and nice video!
Lakario Davis kkk
So if I want to install 6 high hats from one fixture, I wire the second to the first then the third to the second and so on? Basically each additional light gets wired from the previous one?
Basically yes
I did not see this asked anywhere but how were you able to see the hole when you were feeding the wires through it? A remote camera or something like that?
+Peter Brown Good question! My video camera has a flip screen that I was looking at as I fed the wire.
Thanks Adam
How do you fill in the other one
Those connectors, did you buy them yourself or were they installed there already? are they code? I want those!!!!
***** Just got some off Amazon lol thanks
Good video but you had exposed copper on the hot. Should of cleaned that up
If I wanted to add 5 more to one existing one in my living room can I just keep repeating this and piggy back one of another
Technically there it a max amount of bulbs you can load onto one breaker but I doubt 5 will matter. So yes you can just daisy chain them together.
I would find out exactly what everything on that circuit is first and then do a simple load calculation to see how many watts are already being used before adding 5 lights. You don't want to overload the circuit breaker.
Anyone knows How to make a dock to hold heavy ceiling light ?
I'm looking for the exact trim and baffle you used from Home Depot. What is the make and model please?
Commercial Electric 6" White Airtight Recessed Baffle Trim - $7.87 / each. Store SKU # 630329 Model # HBR635WH. You can buy a box of 6 for $41.87
AdamDIY
Thank much!
I spy with my little eye a code violation. 334.30. He did not secure the NM-B within 12" of the junction box. [edit] After much research it seems this would normally be a code violation but since the wire was "fished" through the ceiling of "old work" securing would be deemed "impractical" and not required by code. I learned something today and I hope others can learn as well.
Should I be a professional to install these wires or just have common sense? N cut off breakers?
Turning off the breaker is always the safest way to go
how much for a professional to install let's say 12 recessed lights? in long island ny
approximately?
I don't know about your specific neighborhood but I have seen it priced from $60 to $100 each light. $100 is common I think.
How many lights can I install using an existing light? like chaining together?
Shay Paige depends on the number of lights, the wattage of each bulb & the amps already being pulled on that circuit
With today's super low wattage LED bulbs, most likely as many lights as you have in mind and then some
If you take out 1 incandescent bulb with is rated at 60W then you can use LED bulbs with are 15W, 10W or 9W. These will help make sure you are not overloading the system.
He only added one light ,
you cant drill thru an engineered beam...structural issue
Very informative. Great camera work. Recommend you talk a little faster. Your slow talking is dreary. Recommend you watch This Old House for a guy who talks at a good pace, and is therefore that much more engaging.
20 people put a thumbs down on this video, why?
Because Haters
David Caropreso
Yeah, but there's really nothing here to hate, just miserable people.
They probably thought it meant. “Dis I Like”
sound is bad .., talking while working means tool noises obscure voice
Heyy
Ca
My recessed lights looks like this but now the trim went loose and a tid bit half hanging from the ceiling? Tips to fix pls. Thanks!
what type of receced light was it?
Outstanding video thanks a bunch!