How to Install Track Lighting With Ease

In this video, master electrician Allen Gallant shows how to install a new ceiling-mounted lighting system. But first, let’s tackle some common DIY questions.

Is tracking lighting easy to install?

Installation can go smoothly if you have a plan in place. Make sure you know where you’d like to install your lighting and how bright you want your lights to be. After removing your original light fixtures, make sure you keep track of the colored wires and their respective screws they were attached to.

How much does it cost to install track lighting?

Expect to spend between $200 to $300 dollars.

How to Install Track Lighting

1. Shut off electricity to the circuit at the main electrical panel.
2. Remove the wall switch that controls the existing light fixture.
3. Drill a ½-inch-diameter hole into the wall close to the ceiling. Position the hole at the starting point of the track-lighting system.
4. Push a long fish tape into the switch box and up the wall.
5. At the ceiling, hook the end of the long fish tape with short fish tape. Pull the long tape into the room.
6. Attach an electrical cable to the long fish tape and pull the cable through the hole, down the wall and out the switch box.
7. Feed electrical cable into the end of the first length of track.
8. Screw the track to the ceiling, using plastic anchors or by screwing directly into a ceiling joist.
9. Connect a flexible coupling to the end of the first track and bend it 90 degrees.
10. Cut next track to length with a reciprocating saw, if necessary. Repeat to install the remaining tracks.
11. Connect electrical cable to the end of the first track. Fasten black wire under dark-colored screw, white wire under light-colored screw, and bare copper wire under green grounding screw.
12. Install a new wall switch to the electrical cable in the wall box.
13. Snap the track-light fixtures into the tracks.
14. Turn on the electricity, flip on the wall switch, and adjust the track-light fixtures to aim light where needed.

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