ballpark for how much recessed lighting is to have put in?

[mtemm]

we have a finished basement with the worst lighting! It is really awful. we use lamps as well as the little bit of track lighting that is there, but would someday love to do some decent recessed lighting.

any idea how much (ballpark) it would be to have someone come and put in. its a dream right now anyway, just am curious how far down the dream-list it will be. lol.

 

[wdwfan16]

I don't know of a ballpark number but try putting them on a few circuits so you can turn them on as needed.

 

[Morganpics]

In addition to several circuits I would add dimmers. We have recessed lights all through our house - love them - and most of them are on dimmers which we like. I can't really speak to the cost. Our electrician got them 6 or so to a box, then the baffle and the ring were separate. He laughs-we've broken his record for the number of can lights he has installed in one location! I seem to think they were somewhere around $18 each, but then the baffles and rings and bulbs were all additional cost. It also depends on the size of the light. Good luck! I don't think you will be disappointed at all.

 

[amid chaos]

Just be careful....our bedroom looks like an airport runway.

 

[wdwfan16]

If you use dimmers you will need to buy the special dimmer CFLs, they are very expensive.

We have recessed lights on dimmers and we are changing over to CFLs. They are costly and take a while to light up to full power. At first it was annoying but I got use to it.

 

[Green Tea]

You will have to patch the drywall after the install, so plan on a carpenter if you can't fix that yourself. The lights are not that expensive but the cost is the electrician. I had an electrician and his assistant for 2.5 days doing things around my house and it was about $1500. Since you already have the wiring in the ceiling the time won't be too bad.

 

[kbsparky]

There are many factors that can affect the installed cost of recessed lighting in a basement.

You say it is finished. What kind of ceiling do you have? Drywall? Acoustic tiles? Lay-in tiles that may be removed for access?

Are there any adjacent areas, such as a utility or laundry area that is unfinished where wires could be easily fished?

Best thing to do here is call a few licensed contractors for estimates.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Doesn't recessed lighting cost more in energy dollars to use? Keep that in mind because I think that some choices are not as energy efficient.

 

[barkley]

There are many factors that can affect the installed cost of recessed lighting in a basement.

You say it is finished. What kind of ceiling do you have? Drywall? Acoustic tiles? Lay-in tiles that may be removed for access?

Are there any adjacent areas, such as a utility or laundry area that is unfinished where wires could be easily fished?

Best thing to do here is call a few licensed contractors for estimates.

get a licensed ELECTRICIAN for the estimates you may save $$$ in the long run. we have a jerk neighbor whose legaly a licensed contractor but his customers don't realize he subs out the electrical work and pads the cost he's paying (parts and labor) by over 200% he's had some royaly ticked off customers who found this out when their neighbors had indentical work done on their homes but just called the lic. electrician's buisnesses to have them do it-at MUCH lower price tags.

find out if permits are needed-some people figure it's not an issue if you forego getting one but if something else comes up that requires a permit and an inspection and the county or city inspector comes in and sees something already done without a permit you can get major fines AND possibly have to rip everything out (a friend found this out the hard way-county says he now has to rip all the drywall out of his finished basement so they can inspect what would have been an easy inspection when a small electical job was originaly done).

 

[mtemm]

wow, thanks for all of this! it definitely gives me lots to put on my list of things when we are ready to go forward on it.