Spotlights on a concrete ceiling: surface-mounted spotlights, tracks and what works without recess depth

On a concrete ceiling, surface-mounted spotlights and tracks work, and recessed spotlights almost never do. A recessed spotlight needs a hole and space behind it, plus a cable that reaches each spotlight. In a concrete slab you have neither. What you usually do have is one lighting point, somewhere in the middle of the room, and from that one point you can feed a surprising number of spotlights.

So the question is not which spotlight you choose, but how you get the light from that one point to the places where you need it. There are four ways to do that, each with a different kind of drilling.

Why recessed spotlights rarely work in a concrete ceiling

An ordinary GU10 LED bulb is about 5 to 6 cm long. Add the housing and a little space for the lamp holder and the cable, and with a classic recessed spotlight you soon need 6 to 8 cm behind the ceiling surface. In a plasterboard ceiling with a void that is no problem. In a concrete slab you have to cut a hole of that depth for every spotlight, and get a cable into that hole. That is not a quick job, and in an apartment you are often not even allowed to do it without the agreement of the co-owners.

If you still want flush recessed spotlights, have a suspended ceiling fitted: a metal grid with plasterboard a few centimetres below the concrete. That costs ceiling height, and in a 2.50 m room you feel every centimetre. For that, also read lighting for a low ceiling.

A spotlight plate on the lighting point: the simplest solution

A ceiling light with two, three or four adjustable spotlights on a bar or plate hangs directly on the existing lighting point. You need no new wiring, only the fixing of the light itself. Because each spotlight can be aimed separately, one light fitting lets you light the table, a cabinet and a section of wall.

Mind the length of the bar. A 40 cm spotlight bar with three spotlights spreads the light over a 40 cm stretch of ceiling; the beams spread further apart the more you tilt them, but the light source stays in one place. For a room of 4 by 5 metres that is enough for a seating area or dining table, not for even light across the whole room.

A track: light over several metres from one connection

You screw a surface-mounted track to the ceiling and connect it to the lighting point. Then you click spotlights into the track and slide them where you want them. Licht.de explicitly names track systems as a solution for rooms with only one ceiling connection. The advantage over a spotlight plate: the light sources are spread over the whole length, so you can light a long kitchen or a hallway evenly.

A track does need fixing points along its whole length, so you drill several holes in the concrete. Choose the route so that the track follows a straight line that relates to the room: parallel to the kitchen worktop, or at a fixed distance from a wall. How to put a track together, which phase you need and how many spotlights it can take is explained in track lighting explained.

Individual surface-mounted spotlights: how does the cable get there?

If you want spotlights in fixed positions that are not in one line, each spotlight needs its own supply. On concrete that cable runs visibly, in surface conduit or cable trunking. Trunking a centimetre or two wide, painted the colour of the ceiling, is less noticeable than you think, especially if it follows a straight line along a beam or a wall.

This is work on the fixed installation. In Belgium the rules of the AREI apply, in the Netherlands those of NEN 1010; leave the laying of new wiring to an electrician. What you can choose yourself is the route: the fewer bends and crossings, the calmer the ceiling looks.

Which surface-mounted spotlight causes the least glare?

A surface-mounted spotlight hangs in view, and so does the light source. The deeper the bulb sits in the housing, the less you look straight into it. Licht.de calls this the shielding angle: the larger that angle, the less glare. A cylinder in which the bulb is set back a few centimetres, or a spotlight with a black inside or a louvre, therefore gives calmer light than a spotlight where the glass of the bulb is flush with the rim.

Three other choices make a big difference:

• Aim spotlights at something: a wall, a cabinet, a table. A spotlight that shines straight down into an empty room gives pools of light on the floor and little light where you sit.
• Choose the beam angle to suit the task: a narrow beam of 24 to 36 degrees for an accent, a wide one of 60 degrees or more for general light.
• Take dimmable bulbs, or spotlights with integrated LED and their own dimming function. More on that in dimming LEDs.

Colour and shape: when does a surface-mounted spotlight blend in?

A white spotlight on a white-painted ceiling stands out least. A black or brass-coloured spotlight on raw concrete becomes a deliberate element instead, and that works best if you use few of them and line them up neatly. If you leave the ceiling as raw concrete, you often choose black, and then a black track or black trunking helps everything read as one whole. Whatever you choose, stick to one finish per room; three kinds of spotlights side by side look accidental.