DIY concealed ceiling lighting: step-by-step installation instructions

Many owners of private houses and apartments use suspended and suspended ceilings as decoration for rooms. Their manufacture does not require special skills or knowledge, due to which they are easy to implement yourself. Due to the presence of free space in suspended and suspended ceilings, they easily accommodate a variety of lamps. Especially popular is the decorative illumination of the stretch fabric, for which a hidden illumination of the ceiling is done with your own hands.

What are the ways of backlighting?

Previously, such decorative lighting was made using special lamps. But today, thanks led strip

the process has become much simpler, since it does not require powerful structures for installation. In order to obtain LED or neon lighting on the ceiling surface, it is necessary to hide the backlight so that only the luminous flux is left in the visible region without the lamps themselves. In practice, hidden lighting is done in two ways:

• In the open niche of the drywall box;
• In polyurethane molding.

And in one case, and in another case, diffuse illumination is obtained when the light elements are hidden in niches. But each of the proposed options is distinguished by its advantages, disadvantages and installation features. Consider the features for each version of the hidden ceiling lighting.

Advantages and disadvantages of hidden lighting in the box

Structurally, to a standard drywall construction at the stage of manufacturing its frame, a small branch is added, in which there is hidden lighting. This niche can either be closed with a separate bar to completely hide the lamps, or remain open. The advantages of this method include:

• Greater mechanical strength, due to which they are able to carry full-sized large and Spotlights.
• Thermal stability, which is very important for a powerful open backlight from incandescent, fluorescent, etc.
• It allows you to hide not only the ceiling lighting, but also other interior elements (wiring, pipes, etc.).
• Great for interior decoration with a wide variety of shapes.

The disadvantages of backlighting in a drywall box include:

• It requires much more time and money to install the plasterboard ceiling itself and the niche in it.
• Requires skills in mounting a metal profile and working with drywall.
• Drywall can crack in the presence of moisture and temperature fluctuations in the room, which is especially typical for the bathroom and kitchen.

Advantages and disadvantages of hidden lighting in the ceiling plinth

Due to the widespread use of ceiling skirting boards to decorate the interior of the room, they are also used for the installation of hidden lighting. Unlike the way the backlight is placed in the ceiling niche made of drywall, the use of molding for these purposes has a number of advantages:

• The low cost of the material in comparison with the same sheets of drywall and a metal profile.
• Easy installation - does not require such efforts and special skills as a box.
• Installation speed - much less time is spent on installing hidden lights in the molding.
• It does not require finishing work or they come down to painting the baseboard with an aqueous emulsion.

But this method of manufacturing hidden lighting in interior design is distinguished by its shortcomings:

• Low mechanical strength - easily undergoes destruction upon impact, vibration, etc.
• Lack of bearing capacity - does not allow the installation of massive lamps.
• Exposure to thermal destruction - is fused from high temperature, which does not allow the use of powerful lighting devices.

What type of lighting to choose?

Depending on the type of light source, all devices for hidden illumination are divided into incandescent, fluorescent, neon, LED, xenon (halogen) lamps.

• Incandescent - The easiest option and the cheapest. Disadvantages include high power consumption and high temperature of the lamp itself, which can damage the ceiling. Also, they often fail when the thread burns out.
• Fluorescent - more economical than incandescent, but rather capricious in operation, so such devices are rarely used for hidden lighting.
• Neon lights great for installation around the perimeter of the room in straight lines or along a curve. This type of lighting is in the form of a cord filled with gas. Manufacturers offer about 60 shades for hidden lighting. But to turn them on, a high voltage is required, obtained from the converter unit or transformer, and the main disadvantage of neon light strips is their rather high cost.
• LED - differ in the most efficient use of power in relation to the received luminous flux. When installing LED strips, you can perform figured illumination on rounded and straight surfaces. They have a wide color gamut, and RGB tapes are able to change color when adjusting the control unit from the remote control or manually.

How to choose a streak of light?

An important parameter of the hidden backlight is the streak of light that it casts onto the ceiling. All of them are distinguished by the brightness of the glow and the width of the discarded strip.

Look at the figure, the above parameters directly depend on the installation location of the lighting device. Lighting brightness is inversely proportional to the bandwidth.

If you only want to emphasize the contour as a decorative finish, then the pole should do less. If you want to make a hidden illumination as a night lamp or even full lighting in a two-level ceiling, the strip should be as wide as possible.

Installation procedure in a drywall box

To start this operation, you will need to acquire materials (plasterboard sheets, CD and UD profiles, fasteners elements, dowels, putty and serpyanka, water-based paint and the diode tape itself), the necessary tool (puncher, screwdriver, grinder, tape measure, metal scissors, hacksaw, stationery knife, drills and nozzles for obtaining various holes). Initially, you should decide on the general appearance of the drywall construction - its shape, size, the presence of a niche for the ceiling cornice, the number of spotlights, etc.

Next, follow these steps to install a hidden backlight:

• Clean the surface of unnecessary building and finishing materials (wallpaper, putty, any structures).
• Make a markup depicting a plan for installing profiles on the walls and ceiling. To do this, be sure to use a level or tape measure to align their direction with the ceiling or floor.
• According to the ready installation scheme, use a punch for concrete or a drywall drill to drill holes for the dowels. They should be located at a distance of 30 - 40 cm from each other.
• Fasten the UD profile with wall plugs to the ceiling and walls.

It plays the role of a starting strip, so the fastening of the ceiling profile should be as tight and rigid as possible. Unsteadiness or unreachable profile must not be allowed by quick installation.

• Cut the CD profile to the required length to form the transverse and suspended frame structures.

  

You can cut the profile as a grinder, and a hacksaw or scissors for metal.

• Attach the resulting struts and crossbars to the UD profile. The fastening of the profile to the metal itself is carried out with self-tapping screws with a press washer.
• Lay the wiring on the box. For multi-level ceilings, this procedure is allowed to be performed when the upper tiers are already mounted.

  

• Sew the bottom and side of the box with sheets of drywall. For their fastening, the same self-tapping screws with a press washer or any others for metal are suitable.

  

• If the hidden backlight will consist of spotlights, and not a tape or cord, they should be mounted on the profile.
• Cover the remaining area with sheets, putty on the surface, apply a primer and paint with water-based paint.

  

• If you make a diode backlight with a ribbon, hide it in a special niche. If contour lighting is also provided for in the place of fixing the cornice, immediately install it there too.

  

• Connect the hidden backlight to a power source.

Installation procedure for hidden lighting in the baseboard

Unlike the previous version, such a hidden illumination is most popular along the perimeter of the wall under the tensile structure. Depending on the type of baseboard itself, the width of the light strip on the ceiling will also change. Also, when choosing a particular model of molding, it is worth paying attention to the sufficiency of the mounting surface, so at the top point it may not be adjacent to the ceiling.

For fastening, you can use putty, liquid nails or special glue. Next, perform the following sequence of manipulations for installing hidden backlight:

• Measure the height of the baseboard. To do this, attach it to the wall and retreat 5 to 10 cm from the ceiling, draw a line along the lower border. Please note that you do not need to use a level here, since it is important to maintain the same distance between the molding and the ceiling, otherwise you can ruin the decorative effect.
• Trim the corners on the skirting board and do a trimming of the edges.

  

• Put the required amount of glue or putty on the baseboard and glue it to the wall in a line. Make sure that the amount of adhesive is sufficient, but moderate, as its excess can distort the hidden lighting and spoil the design of the room.

  

Remove all excess from the bottom with a spatula.

• Wait until the glue or putty has completely dried.
• Set the hidden backlight to a niche. For this, only light elements can be used, since heavy ones will immediately tear off the baseboard.
• If the tape is connected through the converter element, then the converter must never be attached to the molding. Since he simply comes off under his weight.
• Seal with a sealant the gaps and holes that may have formed during the installation of hidden lighting.

  

Primer and paint.

Wiring requirements

In any of the options for mounting a hidden backlight, do not allow twisting of wires, all electrical contacts must be carried out with special clamps or soldering. Wire connections must not be hidden in walls or ducts; all points must be in junction boxes. The cross section of the supply wires must correspond to the power of the hidden lighting devices. To do this, add the power of the connected lamps or tapes and use the data in the table.

If you are connecting copper and aluminum wires, use brass sleeves for crimping or special clamps.

Visual video instructions