Downlights and recessed spotlight installation in Seville, Spain

LED lighting installation in Seville with downlights: clean light, no fittings on show

Downlights are lights recessed into the false ceiling that leave only a thin trim visible. In British English you may hear them called recessed spotlights; in the US, recessed lights or pot lights. They give an even light, do not get in the way, do not gather dust like a pendant and let you light each area separately. They are the favourite choice in corridors, kitchens, bathrooms and living rooms in new homes in Seville, and also the best way to modernise a flat with old halogen spotlights.

We take care of the whole job: deciding where each light goes, cutting the ceiling, running the lines, connecting the drivers and leaving it all working, with dimming if you want it. If what you are looking for is hanging pendants or ceiling lights, see light fitting installation.

New builds are handed over without lights

Developments in Seville are handed over with light points in every room but no fittings, and many include false ceilings in corridors, bathrooms and the kitchen. It is the perfect scenario for downlights: the void is already there and the lines are run above it without building work. Typical orders in a new home are 30 to 50 downlights, for example 50 downlights of 85 mm spread around the whole home.

We do it in the developments of Entrenúcleos (Dos Hermanas), Palmas Altas and Isla Natura, Los Bermejales, Jardines Hacienda del Rosario and the rest of Sevilla Este, and in the new residential estates of Mairena del Aljarafe, Tomares and Bormujos. The best moment is before furnishing: the ceiling is cut with the floor clear, the dust is cleaned once and no furniture has to be moved. You can see what else is worth doing when you receive the keys in our new-build section, with pages for Entrenúcleos, Palmas Altas and Isla Natura and Mairena del Aljarafe.

What the downlight installation includes

• Layout. We mark the position of each downlight on the ceiling, respecting the spacing between them and from the walls, and you approve it before we cut.
• Cutting with a hole saw of the exact diameter for the model, so the trim covers the hole neatly.
• Lines and connections. We run the cable through the false ceiling from the light point or from a new line, with connections in connector blocks, never with tape.
• Drivers and lights. We place each LED downlight’s driver where it can be ventilated and replaced, and fix the light with its spring clips.
• Switching by zones. We split the downlights into groups with their own switch or two-way switch, so you only light the area you need.
• Dimming with a wall dimmer, presence detectors in corridors and bathrooms or smart home control.
• Testing and cleaning of every downlight and removal of the dust from cutting.

How to choose the downlights

Before buying downlights, four figures are worth checking:

1. Lumens: the amount of light. A corridor needs less than a kitchen, where you work.
2. Colour temperature in kelvin: warm light for living rooms and bedrooms, neutral for the kitchen, bathroom or study. Better to keep the same throughout a room.
3. Beam angle: wide-beam lights give general lighting; narrow-beam ones highlight a picture, a shelf or the worktop.
4. Fixed or adjustable, dimmable or not: adjustable lights let you aim the light at a wall, and if you want to lower the intensity, the light and the driver must be dimmable.

To complete the effect, downlights combine very well with LED strips in a ceiling recess, under the kitchen units or behind the headboard, and with presence detectors that switch the corridor or bathroom light on by themselves.

Downlights in plasterboard and in ceilings without a false ceiling

• Existing plasterboard false ceiling. The fastest case: we cut, connect and fit. First we use a detector to see where the profiles and other services run, so we do not drill where we should not.
• Concrete ceiling with no void. There are two options: lower the ceiling with plasterboard where it makes sense (corridor, kitchen, a recess in the living room) or use surface-mounted spotlights, which give a similar result without building work.
• Renovations. If you are renovating, it is the moment to leave the lines and boxes for the downlights ready before the ceiling is closed, coordinated with the plasterboard installer.

How we work

1. You send us the floor plan or photos of the home and tell us which rooms you want to light.
2. We propose the number of downlights and their layout, with a price per unit and the total.
3. We mark the layout on the ceiling on installation day and you check it before we cut.
4. We install and test zone by zone, with the dimming set up.
5. We hand you the invoice detailing the downlights and lines installed.

Guide prices in Seville

The price per downlight goes down on large orders and up with high-end lights, very high ceilings or a new false ceiling. Our other rates are on the prices page.

Regulations and safety

Downlights are lighting loads and their installation follows ITC-BT-44 of the Spanish Low Voltage Electrotechnical Regulation. In bathrooms the protection zones of ITC-BT-27 also apply, setting the degree of protection against water each light must have according to its distance from the shower or bath. Low-voltage LED strips follow ITC-BT-36 on safety extra-low voltage.

In practice, we look after three things: that the driver is not buried under the ceiling insulation, where it heats up and fails sooner; that the connections are in connector blocks and reachable through the downlight’s own hole; and that each group of downlights is on a circuit with its own protection, without overloading the lighting circuit.

From halogen to LED in older flats

Many flats from the 1990s and 2000s in Seville have false ceilings with halogen spotlights and their transformers, which overheat, blow often and use a lot of electricity. Replacing them with LED downlights is a simple and very welcome upgrade: the holes are reused if the diameter matches, the transformers are removed and the lighting consumption drops sharply. More on the neighbourhoods we work in, such as Los Remedios, Tomares and Bormujos.

If you want to control your downlights by scenes, from your phone or by voice, see smart home installation. All lighting solutions for homes and businesses are under lighting.