I am in the process of finishing my basement for a game room and am considering painting the floor joists and everything that is up there for an industrial look and also because I only have 6'8" of height to the bottom of the joist. I am starting to think about what I would want for lighting. Any suggestions? I was thinking 6" can lights. If so how far do you space them?
My general rule of thumb is every 4 ft. to 5 ft. apart and 4 ft. off of the perimeter...and put them on a dimmer for better control...LED is the way to go now...its worth the extra cost and you will need a LED compatible dimmer.
For an industrial look you can also go with 4' LED tube light fixtures (LED's will replace the fluorescent bulbs). For direct lighting like over a pool table or card table you can install cans. Run 2 switches, one for the 4'ers and one for the cans. Like Ed said, you'll need a compliant dimmer for LED's or they will flicker when dimmed.
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I would also divide up into a couple "zones" depending on the size. My basement is roughly 30x30 and I used two zones with recessed LEDs. Would be better with three zones.
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And truthfully, LED is hardly any extra cost anymore. Quality LED products are available now that compare very closely in cost to their fluorescent and incandescent counterparts.Originally Posted by edw
Spacing depends on the layout of the room. I just finished a 2nd floor addition on a home and they wanted 6 can lights in the living room..I came in 2' off each wall, placing 3 in a line down both sides of the room 6' apart. The donstairs remodel we added 22 can lights total. One room which was 16' x 18' we placed them 2' off of each corner and had a ceiling fan/light in the center so that was 12' apart roughly. It al d ends on the layout to how to space them.
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