Toronto · Toronto Hydro service area
Pot light installation for Toronto houses and condos
A Toronto ceiling might be old plaster, a poured concrete slab or a basement you've just lowered. We choose the fixture and the wiring route for the ceiling first, then lay the lights out around how you use the room.
Long, narrow rooms
Lighting the open-plan semi
A typical renovation in Leslieville, Riverdale or Roncesvalles opens the main floor of a semi into one long room. The front is a living area, the middle is for dining and the kitchen runs to the back. One row of lights down the centre leaves the walls and counters in shadow.
We usually plan two rows, set in from each wall, and split the room into zones. The kitchen gets brighter task light over the counters. The living end gets softer light on its own dimmer. Each zone gets a switch by the door you actually use.
In most semis and row houses the joists run from side wall to side wall. That makes front-to-back rows easy to wire, because the cable follows each bay. We confirm the direction on site before we mark any positions.
Know your ceiling
Three ceilings, three ways to install
The material above you decides the fixture, the route and how much making good the job needs.
| Plaster and lath | Concrete slab | New drywall | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where you find it | Century semis, row houses, older detached homes | Condos downtown, in Yorkville and around Davisville | Lowered basements, gut renovations, additions |
| How we wire it | Fished between joists from the attic or the floor above | Through a bulkhead or a dropped section | Roughed in while the ceiling is open |
| Fixture we suggest | Slim canless LED | Slim LED in the bulkhead, or surface-mounted | Slim LED or housings with trims |
| Watch for | Loose plaster, old wiring in the same bays | Building rules and approved work hours | Fixture rating under insulation |
Basements
Every centimetre of headroom
Original Toronto basements were built for coal bins and furnaces, not family rooms. Many owners now underpin or lower the floor to get a usable ceiling height. After all that work, a fixture that hangs down undoes part of the gain.
Slim LED pot lights sit almost flush with the drywall, so they keep the full height you paid for. Around ducts and beams, a short bulkhead can carry a row of lights and hide the cable at the same time. If the basement will be a separate unit, we plan its lighting on the unit's own circuits from the start.
Top floors and flat roofs
Some row houses have a flat roof, or only a shallow space under it. Lights in that ceiling sit against insulation and the cold. We use fixtures rated for insulation contact and seal them so warm, damp air stays out of the roof space.
Condos and old circuits
Before the first hole is cut
In a condo, we send the scope to property management, book the elevator and keep to approved hours. In a house, we check the circuit the new lights will join. In an older Toronto home that circuit may be decades old, and adding a room of lights is a good moment to replace it. See rewiring in Toronto if your house needs more than lights.
Every job uses LED-rated dimmers matched to the fixtures, and is permitted with ESA. For fixture types, colour temperature and layouts, read our main page on pot lights and lighting.
Renovating?
Lights in the plan, not after it
Give us the drawings early and the lighting is roughed in while ceilings are open.
Get a quoteQuestions
Pot lights and lighting in Toronto: questions
My condo has a concrete ceiling. Can I still have pot lights?
Not cut into the slab itself. The usual options are recessed lights in a new or existing bulkhead, a dropped section of ceiling, or slim surface-mounted fixtures that look almost flush. We check the building's renovation rules before we quote.
Will cutting holes crack my old plaster ceiling?
Not if it's done properly. We use sharp hole saws, support the plaster around each cut, and check for joists before drilling. If a ceiling is already loose or sagging, we'll show you before any work starts.
We're underpinning the basement. When should the lights go in?
Plan them before the framing and drywall. Once the new ceiling height is set, we rough in the boxes and cable while the joists are open. Slim fixtures then go in after the drywall is painted.
Is your work guaranteed?
Every job comes with our 1-year workmanship warranty. Products carry their own manufacturer warranties on top of that, and standby generators can be covered by extended manufacturer warranties.
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