Track Lighting can be your Friend


© Chris Arnold
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In the past, tracking lighting was new, exciting, expensive, and somewhat difficult to work with. The problem with theories and ideas, is that they often change, and not everyone realizes this truth. Tracking lighting is still somewhat new and continuing to evolve. It is exciting because of the new dimenisions it can add to your home with directed light. But it is no longer expensive or difficult to work with.

I just installed eight feet of track lighting in my home. It cost me a little over fifty dollars, and I did it all in one afternoon. I installed a dimmer switch also.

I went to Home Depot and bought two four-foot track lighting kits. The kit included all of the installation hardware, the wiring box and three lights. The dimmer switch was purchased seperately. The kits were approximately twenty-one dollars each. The dimmer switch was about five dollars. I also had to buy a track lighting connector which was another two dollars.

I went home, shut off the breaker switch and installed the dimmer switch. One note about dimmer switches, is to make sure you get the right one. If you are controlling more than one item than you will need to get a dimmer set for that purpose.

Once that was accomplished I began installing the track lighting. The biggest problem that I ran into was with the outlet box in the ceiling. The existing light had been round so it didn't matter how the support screws were oriented. With the track lighting, the support box had to be oriented a certain direction. I had to take the outlet box down, drill new holes so I could make sure I was attaching to solid wood, and then reattach it. It didn't take too much longer, I just had to get some other tools out.

The next step was to wire it up and then place the track. I was doing this close enough to a wall that I was able to have a friend "eyeball" the parallel for me to make sure my track was straight. I drilled the holes, punched the toggle-bolts through, and tightened everything up. I put in the first light, and turned everything on to make sure it worked. And it worked great. I then put in the rest of the lights and figured out how I wanted it oriented.

For the cost of one floorlamp and a little bit of work, I got a whole wall-full of light and six, 75watt bulbs. It has drastically changed the feel and texture of the room.

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