How to Install Wiring for Cove Lighting

Choose the areas in the ceiling where you would like to install the cove lighting. It is important to note where there are ceiling joists and which way they are running. You can do this very easily with the use of a stud finder. Cut off the power to the room you plan on working in at your circuit breaker box and leave a note to all residents telling them not to turn the room's circuit breaker back on until you have finished.

Bend a coat hanger to a 90 degree angle. Drill a small hole in all of the ceiling areas that you would like to install the cove lighting fixtures. Insert the bent coat hanger into each hole and swing it around in a circular motion to see if there are any obstructions blocking your desired installation areas.

Saw holes in the drywall under the ceiling joists and cut small sections of the joists to allow the new wiring to run from the existing ceiling fixture to these new destinations. Only saw enough room in the joists to run the wiring through.

Outline the cove lighting fixture with a pencil on the ceiling so that you have a template to saw. Saw around these template drawings as tightly as possible. Cutting too much excess room around your installation areas will make installation very difficult, if not impossible.

Feed your wiring from the existing ceiling power source into your new ceiling holes. Clamp 8 inches of wiring at this power source's junction box. Strip one inch of insulation from each wire and connect them by matching each color with itself (black to black, white to white and ground to ground). Secure the connection with a wire nut and by wrapping electrical tape around this connection.

Send the wiring you have sent to the first lighting fixture inside the fixture's junction box. Clamp and strip the wires as before. Connect these wires the same as before matching black to black, white to white and ground to ground. Secure these connections with wire nuts and by wrapping electrical tape around these connections. Connect the next fixture's wiring to these connections as well prior to securing these connections with wire nuts and electrical tape, if you plan on installing more than one fixture in the ceiling.

Place the wires in the current junction box you are working on and use the clips on the cove lighting fixture to secure the whole fixture unit into place in the ceiling hole you have created for it. Continue this process on each of the remaining cove lighting fixtures that you have laid out to install. Install any of the molding provided with your cove lighting kits to add a finished look to your project. Screw light bulbs into all of the newly installed fixtures.

Turn the power back on to the room where you have installed the lighting fixtures and check your work.

Measure the areas in the ceiling where you have cut out drywall under the ceiling joists. Cut drywall pieces that match these measurements. Using drywall screws to screw the new drywall into place.

Apply drywall mud around the edges of your newly screwed in drywall pieces with a putty knife. Let the drywall mud dry for 24-48 hours and then smooth it out with a hand sander.

Prime and paint the areas that you have just sanded. Let the paint and primer dry out completely for at least 24 hours.