Lighting Maintenance & Installation in Seattle
Lighting design and lighting installation are two different skills, and we are explicit about which one we sell: clean, code-compliant installation of the layout you (or your designer) specify, with the electrical engineering and dimmer compatibility solved before the first hole is cut. Konsker Electric has trimmed out tens of thousands of recessed cans across Seattle, from 1920s craftsman ceilings in Wallingford to new vaulted great rooms in Sammamish, and we know which housings, drivers, and dimmers actually work together over a 10-year service life.
Get A Free Quote(206) 260-1981Recessed Can Layout and Installation
A correct recessed layout starts with the room's task surfaces, not the ceiling grid. Standard practice is 4-inch cans on a 4-foot grid for general kitchen lighting, with a tighter 30-inch spacing over countertops and the island. We use IC-rated airtight housings (Halo H995, Lithonia LDN, or equivalent) in any ceiling that has insulation above it — this is required by NEC 410.116 and by WSEC for the air-barrier seal. Every can is wired with stranded #14 or #12 fixture whip and grounded to the housing. New construction and remodel both use the same housings; the difference is the bracket style, not the electrical termination.
Dimmer Compatibility With LED Fixtures
About 30% of LED lighting complaints we get are not the fixture — they are an incompatible dimmer. Lutron Caseta, Lutron Diva LED+, and Leviton Decora SureSlide are the three dimmers we install most often because each has a published compatibility list with Halo, WAC, and Cree LED housings. Older incandescent dimmers run LEDs in a narrow flickering range and shorten driver life. On a kitchen remodel we will spec the dimmer, the housing, and the LED module together — and we will not warranty a dimmer-fixture combination that the manufacturer has not tested.
Outdoor and Security Lighting in the Seattle Climate
Seattle's wet climate is hard on outdoor fixtures. We use only fixtures rated 'wet location' (not 'damp') under NEC 410.10 for any installation exposed to direct rain — eaves, soffits with airflow, and any wall mount under 6 feet. Driver electronics are rated to -30°C minimum so they start cleanly during the rare deep cold snap. Photocell-and-motion combos (Heath/Zenith DualBrite or RAB Stealth) are wired with weatherproof in-use covers (NEC 406.9(B)(1)) and a dedicated drip loop. Landscape lighting on a low-voltage transformer requires a GFCI-protected line-voltage receptacle within 6 feet — a code point routinely missed by landscapers.
Commercial Fixture Replacement and Circuit Balancing
On commercial tenant improvement work we replace 2x4 fluorescent troffers with LED panels at roughly 40 watts each — a typical 4,000 square foot office goes from a 14-amp lighting load to under 5 amps, which often frees enough panel capacity to add HVAC or a small EV charger without a service upgrade. Three-phase 277V branches are rebalanced phase-to-phase after the swap so no leg runs more than 10% above the average. Emergency egress fixtures (battery-backed) are tested and tagged annually under NFPA 101 — we provide the documentation a fire marshal asks for.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many recessed lights do I need in my kitchen?
A working rule for Seattle kitchens is one 4-inch LED can per 16 to 20 square feet of floor area for general lighting, plus dedicated task lighting over the sink, range, and any countertop more than 24 inches from a general can. A 200 square foot kitchen typically lands at 10–12 cans on the ceiling grid, with under-cabinet LED tape handling the actual prep surface. We size the layout off your floor plan before quoting and will tell you if a designer is worth bringing in for a complex vaulted or pitched ceiling.
My LEDs flicker when I dim them — what's wrong?
Almost always a dimmer-driver mismatch. Older Lutron Skylark and Leviton dimmers were designed for incandescent loads (resistive) and do not handle the leading-edge waveform that low-wattage LED drivers expect. The fix is replacing the dimmer with an LED-rated unit — Lutron Diva LED+ and Caseta are the most reliable across brands. We also check that the total connected load is above the dimmer's minimum (often 10 watts) — an under-loaded LED dimmer flickers even when matched correctly.
Can I install outdoor lighting myself if I just plug it in?
Plug-in low-voltage landscape lighting is fine for the homeowner. Anything hardwired — eave-mounted security lights, soffit cans, post lanterns, motion-sensor floods — requires a permit from Seattle DCI or King County DLS and a licensed electrician. The receptacle the low-voltage transformer plugs into must itself be GFCI-protected, weather-rated, and installed in a weatherproof in-use cover. We pull the permit and do the line-voltage work; if you are using a landscape designer for the low-voltage layout, we coordinate timing.
Do I need a permit to add recessed lights to an existing room?
Yes. Adding new fixtures to an existing circuit, or extending a circuit to feed new cans, requires an electrical permit from Seattle DCI (within city limits) or Washington State L&I (most of the rest of King County). The permit covers the rough-in inspection (cans installed, wired, but not trimmed) and the final inspection. The permit fee for a typical 6-to-12 can install is $80–$150 and is included in our flat-rate quote. Skipping the permit creates a paper-trail problem at resale.
How long do LED fixtures actually last?
Quality LED housings from Halo, WAC, Cree, and Lithonia carry rated lives of 50,000 hours at L70 (the point at which output has dropped to 70% of new). At 4 hours per day that is 34 years of service from the LED chip itself — but the driver electronics typically fail first, usually at 8 to 15 years. Drivers in IC-rated airtight housings run hotter than designers like to admit, which is why we install only fixtures with replaceable driver modules. Cheap big-box LED cans are sealed units and have to be replaced wholesale when the driver fails.
Quote Lighting Installation
Contact Konsker Electric today.
Get A QuoteCall (206) 260-1981