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Installation
Fitting recessed spotlights in a plasterboard ceiling
The hard part of recessed spotlights isn’t the cutting — that takes no time at all. It is what you decide before you cut: how much room there is above the ceiling, where the holes go and whether the driver has somewhere to sit. This guide walks through those choices first, then the installation itself.
In this article
Measure the space above your ceiling first
This is the measurement that decides what you can buy, so start there. A suspended plasterboard ceiling usually has plenty of room above it, but a ceiling board fixed straight under concrete sometimes leaves less than four centimetres. Check it by looking up through an existing light point or a smoke alarm.
The recessed spotlights we stock are all slim-fit, so built for shallow ceilings:
| Range | Recess depth | Cut-out size | Visible size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lesto | 26 mm | Ø68–75 mm | Ø82 mm, round |
| Lyvo | 25 mm | Ø68–75 mm | Ø82 mm, round |
| Warmo | 25 mm | Ø68–75 mm | Ø82 mm, round |
| Quaro | 28 mm high | Ø75 mm | 82 × 82 mm, square |
Add the driver to that recess depth. It does not sit inside the spotlight but lies loose beside it on a short lead, and it needs room of its own plus some air around it to shed its heat. So do not plan for 26 mm — plan for around five centimetres of working space.
If you cannot manage that, a surface-mounted spotlight is a more honest choice than forcing the issue. A spotlight pushed into a hole that is too shallow will not sit flush against the ceiling — and you will be looking at that for the rest of the time.
How many spotlights, and how far apart
There is no formula that holds for every ceiling, but there is a usable rule of thumb. A Lesto gives up to 400 lumens on its 6 watt setting. For a 25 m² living room, eight spotlights puts you at around 3,200 lumens, and that is a solid base — provided a pendant or a floor lamp comes with it. Recessed spotlights on their own give flat light from above; you need something at eye level to give a room any depth.
For the layout:
- 60 to 80 cm between spotlights. Any closer and you see separate pools of light instead of an even layer.
- At least 20 cm from the wall, 30 is better. Too close to the wall gives bright arcs on the plaster. If you actually want those arcs, along a bookcase for instance, then choose 20 cm deliberately and keep that distance exactly the same everywhere.
- Work from the middle outwards. Divide the room into equal bays and put a spotlight in the centre of each. Then a half bay falls away at the edges by itself, instead of sitting off-centre in the middle of the room.
Lay the positions out on the floor with masking tape first, directly below where the holes will go. That way you will not be standing there a day later with seven holes in the ceiling, working out that the row is not parallel to the wall.
Why the box gives a range and not a size
The Lesto, Lyvo and Warmo state Ø68–75 mm, not a single figure. That is down to the spring clips: they open wide enough to grip across that whole margin. Cut at 68 mm and the spotlight sits tight, with the 82 mm rim covering it comfortably. If your ceiling already has 75 mm holes from a previous range, these spotlights will fit those too, without any patching up.
The Quaro is the exception in shape: it is square on the outside (82 × 82 mm), but the hole you cut is simply round, Ø75 mm.
Always cut to the smallest size in the range. You can always make a hole bigger; you cannot make it smaller.
If you want no visible rim at all but a spotlight that disappears flush into the ceiling, you need a plaster-in frame that gets skimmed over. We stock those in white and black under accessories. That is a decision you make before the plastering, though, not after.
Installation, step by step
Never work on a light point with the circuit live. The switch on the wall only breaks the switched conductor; the other one can still be live. Turn the circuit off at the consumer unit and check with a voltage tester on the conductors themselves. If you are in any doubt about the wiring, get an electrician in — that is cheaper than a fire.
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Circuit off, then check
Circuit off at the consumer unit. Voltage tester against the conductor itself, not against the fitting. Only once it reads nothing do you carry on.
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Mark out and check what is behind
Mark the circles. Drill a 6 mm pilot hole at each position first and feel around with a piece of stiff wire for a batten, joist or pipe in the way. A plasterboard ceiling hangs on battens at fixed centres, so if one spotlight lands wrong, the others probably will too.
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Cut at low speed
Hole saw in the drill, speed low. The pilot bit pulls the saw in, so you do not need to push. Running it fast tears the paper layer off the plasterboard, and then you get a ragged edge that peeks out from under the rim.
Have someone hold the vacuum under the hole. That saves half an hour of cleaning per room.
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Pull the cable down
Pull the lighting cable through the hole. If there is no light point at that spot, run cable from the nearest one first. Looping from spotlight to spotlight is done with a wire connector; three-way connectors are under accessories.
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Connect the driver and lay it aside
Brown to brown, blue to blue, through the connector. Then click the connector from the spotlight into the driver — that is a plug fitting, no screwdriver involved.
Lay the driver loose next to the hole, on top of the ceiling. Do not coil it up and stuff it into the hole, and do not bury it in insulation: it gets warm and needs to shed that heat. Make sure the driver stays dry as well. The IP65 rating on our spotlights applies to the front; the back and the driver are IP20.
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Set the wattage and light colour
There are two small switches on the driver. One selects the output (4W or 6W on the Lesto, 5W or 7W on the Lyvo and Warmo), the other the light colour: 2700K, 3000K or 4000K.
Set them before the spotlight goes into the ceiling. After that the only way back is to prise the spotlight out again, and you do not want to do that eight times.
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Clip in and check
Squeeze the spring clips on both sides, push the spotlight into the hole and let go. Press it home until the rim sits against the ceiling all the way round.
Circuit back on. Walk along the row and check they all give the same colour — that is the moment you find out one of them was left on 4000K.
What usually goes wrong
- The drivers end up in a heap. Six drivers pressed together above one hole trap each other’s heat. Put every driver by its own spotlight, spaced apart.
- Mismatched CCT switches. The classic: six spotlights on 3000K and one on 4000K. In an empty room you would barely notice; against a white wall it is obvious immediately. Check every driver before you clip the first one in.
- Too close to the wall. Under 20 cm you get arcs on the plaster. There is no fixing that without cutting again.
- The wattage switch overlooked. Spotlights that come out of the box on the lower setting give noticeably less light than you had counted on. That is not a fault, it is a switch.
The spotlights themselves
The Lesto (Ø68–75 mm, 26 mm deep, 4W/6W) comes in seven finishes. If you want the light to get warmer as you dim it, that is the Warmo; if you are after a square spotlight, the Quaro. Order today and it ships tomorrow, and delivery is free from € 50.