Five 6-Inch Cans Retrofit to LED and New Vanity Lights in Vancouver, WA

We spent about an hour at this Vancouver home. We put LED retrofit trims in five 6-inch kitchen cans, replaced the 4-inch can over the shower, and swapped the two vanity lights over the double vanity.

Retrofitting the cans instead of replacing them

Older 6-inch cans don’t have to come out of the ceiling to get LED light. An LED retrofit trim screws into the existing socket and sits up in the can:

• No cutting or patching the ceiling, because the can stays put
• Less heat, and no more changing bulbs every year or two
• Even light from a flat lens instead of a bulb hanging down in the can

The shower is the exception. A light over a shower has to be rated for wet or damp locations, so we replaced that 4-inch can completely instead of putting a trim in it. Our LED lighting retrofit page covers when a trim works and when the can has to go.

Swapping the vanity lights

The bathroom had two three-light vanity fixtures with seeded glass shades and bare bulbs. We swapped them for crystal fixtures on the same boxes, centered over each round mirror and level with each other so the two match.

A vanity swap only gets bigger when the new fixture’s mounting plate doesn’t line up with the old box, or the new fixture is smaller than the old paint line.

Put the small stuff on one list

A few cans, a fixture or two, and that light that’s been bugging you for a year. Doing them all in one service call is the cheapest way to get them done. Our lighting installation in Vancouver page has more examples, or call 360-828-7143 and send us your lighting punch list.