Tips on Spacing Can Lights

Can lights are a practical solution that allow lights to sit flush against ceilings that are uneven or level, providing evenly dispersed illumination across a room. This article teaches you about spacing can lights for two types of home lighting.

Understanding lighting

Household lighting falls into two categories: task and ambient. Task lighting is bright lighting for spaces where work is done throughout the home, such as laundry rooms and kitchens. Ambient lighting is useful for places where illumination is needed, but not in the same intensity as work spaces. An important fact to remember when spacing can lighting is that one light only illuminates so much darkened space.

Ambient can light spacing

Spacing for ambient can lighting is very simple and requires no calculating of any kind. For ambient lighting, space the can lights the same number of feet apart as the can itself is inches in diameter, so if the cans are 4 inches across, space each can light 4 feet apart. For lower ceilings use smaller cans and increase the can size for higher ceilings.

Task lighting

Task lighting requires basic math and an understanding of how many direct feet of light are given by an incandescent bulb. Generally, a recessed light using an incandescent bulb delivers four feet of direct light. Divide the length of the wall by the given feet of direct light and space accordingly. For instance, for a 20 foot wall, divide the 20 by the 4 feet of light; a quotient of five indicates to space five lights every 4 feet along the length of the wall.

Spacing can lights for optimal and efficient illumination requires only a few measurements and attention to the height of the ceiling.