Replacing recessed lights mid-remodel seems like the easy part — until it isn't. A few things are worth checking before you pull anything out of the ceiling.
Recessed lights are usually the last thing people think about during a remodel. You're busy making decisions about tile and cabinet pulls and paint colors, and then someone says, "oh, we should probably swap those out too" — and suddenly it's on the list.
The thing is, it's not a hard job. But it does have a few landmines that are easy to step on if you go in blind. Here's what's actually worth knowing before you start.
First, find out if your housing is IC-rated. IC stands for insulation contact. If there's insulation sitting right up against your existing fixture and it's not rated for that, you've got a problem — not just a code problem, a fire hazard problem. Check before you do anything else. This one's not optional.
Remodel housings exist for a reason — use them. There are two types of recessed housings: new construction (installed from above before drywall) and remodel, sometimes called retrofit or old-work (installed from below, through the ceiling). Unless you've got easy attic access and want to make more work for yourself, you want a remodel housing. Most people don't realize there's even a difference until they're already at the supply house. ELCO's remodel housings, for instance, are built specifically for this — they clip into place from below without needing attic access, which makes the whole process noticeably less painful.
Measure the hole, not the trim. A "6-inch fixture" isn't always a 6-inch hole, and trim rings sit differently across brands. Measure the actual cutout in your ceiling before you order anything. It takes 30 seconds and saves you a gap around the edge of your new light that you'll have to explain to every guest who visits.
Sort out your dimmer before you commit to LEDs. If you're going from incandescent or halogen to LED — and you probably are — your old dimmer likely wasn't built for it. Mismatched dimmers are almost always why new LED lights flicker or refuse to dim all the way down. It's a simple fix, but only if you catch it before the lights are already in the ceiling. Most LED-ready fixtures — including a lot of ELCO's downlight line — will spec out compatible dimmers right in the product documentation, which takes the guesswork out of it.
Color temperature matters more than people expect. This is the one that surprises people most. LEDs don't just come in "bright" and "brighter" — they come in a whole spectrum from warm amber tones to that cold, slightly-hospital-feeling white. For most living spaces, somewhere between 2700K and 3000K feels right. Go too cool and your freshly remodeled room can feel off in a way you can't quite put your finger on. If you want the flexibility to adjust down the line, some fixtures let you dial in the color temperature at installation — worth asking about when you're speccing things out.
None of this is complicated. It's just the kind of stuff that's easier to know going in than to figure out halfway through the job.