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Field Manual

Linear Lighting Standards

What it takes to install a linear LED run that looks like architecture and not like a strip light stuck in a cove. Channel selection, substrate prep, driver placement, splice protocol, and the reveal details we use to hide the source.

What This Standard Covers

  • Aluminum channel selection by application (cove, toe-kick, stair, ceiling reveal)
  • Substrate flatness and surface-prep tolerances
  • Driver location standards and access requirements
  • Splice and butt-joint rules to eliminate visible dark spots
  • Diffuser selection and how to match adjacent runs
  • Color temperature and binning requirements for consistency across rooms

Who It Is For

  • Lighting designers specifying linear LED in millwork or architecture
  • Millworkers and trim carpenters routing channels into substrate
  • Electricians pulling driver feeds and 0-10V or DALI control wiring
  • GCs coordinating the lighting source with the architectural reveal

When To Use It

  • During architectural reveal design (before the millwork is built)
  • When specifying a linear product and its driver, dimmer, and control
  • Before the millwork install, to verify channel routing
  • During commissioning, when adjacent runs need to match

Read or Download the PDF

The full standard, including diagrams, tolerance tables, and pass/fail photographic references, is in the embedded PDF below. You can read it inline or download it for your jobsite folder.

Your browser does not display embedded PDFs. Download Linear Lighting Standards (PDF).

Field Notes

Linear lighting is the most over-promised, under-delivered product category in residential lighting. The marketing photos show a perfect, even ribbon of light. The reality on most jobs is dark spots at the corners, visible drivers, and binning mismatch between adjacent runs. It does not have to be that way.

We wrote this standard so that architects and designers can specify linear lighting knowing what the install requires. Get the substrate flat, get the driver located right, get the binning matched, and the result is the architectural light source the renderings promised.

Browse the Full Standards Library

Eighteen authored field manuals, one-pagers, and pre-wall standards. Free for trades, architects, and dealers across NJ, NY, and CT.

View All 18 PDFs