Yikes. That sounds like a drywall job from hell!
Lighting and other California Green Code Nonsense
In January 2017 California adopted new stringent energy efficient building codes that are impossible to decipher. I expect our licensed and bonded electrician to be responsible to keep up with the changing electrical codes. But No, we had a major fail. Since I haven’t done a permitted project since late 2016 these codes were new to me. I thought I had finally memorized all the energy requirements, but now they are bordering on the absurd.
In case anyone in California wants to pull a permit, here’s a bit of the craziness:
Every light installed interior or exterior has to be high efficacy, which basically means LED or fluorescent. You cannot have something installed for screw in bulbs that could be changed out to an incandescent light bulb.
Recessed cans must be native LED. Most can housings sold have a screw socket with a LED tail inside so they can be either/or. Inspector walked in looked up and told us they all had to be taken out and replaced. This house has steep sloped cathedral ceilings and I had to special order slope ceiling cans. We had an emergency taking them all down and having to go to Home Depot and get regular LED straight cans. It was an emergency because drywallers were onsite hovering to close up the ceilings. We only had 2 hrs to get the cans swapped out. So now we have no choice but purchase LED gimbal inserts that swivel to direct light straight down, like big eyeballs up in the ceiling. Now I’m trying to return the expensive sloped cans through UPS.
Bathrooms, utility rooms, laundry and garage must have one set of LED native lights, with occupancy sensor. There can be another set of regular lighting but it has to be on another switch with occupancy sensor. This is causing us a big problem. We have wired for sconces only above the vanity in the powder room. There are no beautiful LED wall sconces at all.
Kitchens, living rooms AND bedrooms must have lighting on occupancy sensor. This is utter insanity. Imagine you are lying on the couch or in bed reading a book, reading iPad or watching TV. The lights go off every 5 minutes because there is no movement in the room. That rule is ridiculous.
And the final insanity is exterior lighting. ALL exterior lights must be high efficacy native AND be on motion sensor or photo sensitive sensor. The objective is that you do not accidentally leave lights on during the day. Lights must be on a switch, but the switch cannot turn lights on during the day.
This all sounds very noble until you try to find new beautiful lighting for your highly anticipated remodel and there is nothing gorgeous sold that meets the new requirements. Lighting manufacturers have not caught up with the CA requirements.
What a waste. It sounds like sheer insanity. I have one of these occupancy sensors in my office at work and it works like a Fitbit of sorts. Every half an hour it tells me that I have to get up and turning the light. Argh. Can’t imagine that a homeowner would not bypass all this crap after passing the inspection.
My sympathies to you both.
The occupancy switches all over would drive me nuts. We have one in a rarely used room and have to remember to wave at it every so often so we’re not left in the dark.
Would y’all consider installing the cheapest compliant fixtures for now and then replace them with something more attractive, compliant or not, later? (Don’t answer - I don’t need to know.) Likewise, could you purchase the occupancy sensors at a local store then exchange them later for whatever switches you prefer?
Our local inspector was picky about a couple of light fixtures (open multi-bulb in large closets with 11’ ceilings) because he said we could remove the LED bulbs and replace them with hotter incandescent bulbs, thus creating a potential fire hazard. I had my contractor put the old closed fixtures back until after the permit was closed, then return with my new fixtures. The inspector made a crack about knowing what I intended to do but he couldn’t fail us based on that supposition.
Maybe you’ll see something here that could help:
https://www.1800lighting.com/Title-24-Compliant/LED/mn/N-1z13febZ1z141ug/Ne-f/No-60/Ns-P_Price%7C0/userType-Consumers/Eipp-60
http://www.lampsplus.com/products/wall-lights/type_led/p_under-@@100/
I don’t understand. LEDs that you buy in Costco or wherever screw into standard or candelabra base sockets so we can all transition to LED. Who is going to change that out for an incandescent bulb after paying $10 for an LED one? Where would you even get one?
I didn’t know there were fixtures you could get that could ONLY take an LED bulb. Is that true? If so, it will take decades to transition over.
If CA were smarter, they would just add a surcharge to your electricity bill if you exceed a certain amount per person, per property. Then, it doesn’t matter if you’re using electricity for lighting, hair straighteners, pool pumps, or whatever. If they want less energy use, let people decide how they reduce it. Lawmakers have this strange fixation with light bulbs.
@Silpat
Our lips are sealed:) but I am very busy trying to find the cheapest compliant bath sconces. Of course they are ugly and nothing that fits dfin’s ‘inspiration photos’. We call them our inspiration photos because, heaven forbid, we copy a pretty powder room found on Houzz
Cannot do anything about the occupancy sensor switches. I remember when the occupancy switch thing first came into code years ago. The switches available were new technology and preset to about 3 minutes. If you were sitting on the toilet the lights would always go off. You’d have to sit on the toilet frantically waving your arms. I’m guessing that is what everyone will have to do in their bedrooms or family rooms from now on
Our finished lower level, and all of our closets have fixtures that have LED lamps built into the fixture. You never “change” the bulbs. It’s a one piece unit.
That is the type of lighting required everywhere by CA code. They are not available in beautiful sconces:)
My husband says…they are available…he is a design electrical engineer…and has to spec these things in all of his new construction and renovation projects.
They just aren’t beautiful…as you say.
They aren’t like the old ones…and the selection is limited…but it is available. He says it will grow…because the reality is…regular bulb types are not going to be available.
We will have to have giant cat toy fishing pole thingys so we can sit on the toilet and wave them at the far away sensors.
I’ve heard about this trick people use with hotel thermostats. Apparently some of them will turn the heat or AC off if they sense that no one is moving about in the room. So you return to a hot room in the summer and have to wait until the AC kicks on and cools it. Unless you buy a bunch of mylar balloons and leave them in various places. The air currents should make them move around enough to keep the AC going.
Yes, there are some sconces available, but they tend to be hallway ‘ambiance’ low lighting or ugly boxes. Im sure there will be more design choices coming in the future but we can’t wait.
When the CA codes changed for exterior lighting years ago you could not find anything decent but now there are tons of nice design choices
The inspector proceeded to tell me that all kinds of flourescent lights are also allowed and I looked at him like he was from outer space. I said “Do you know one woman that wants flourescent lights in their bathroom??”
The issue with integrated LED lights… when one goes caput in a fixture, the entire fixture has to be replaced. If you have matching fixtures, and the manufacturer does not make the style anymore, you have to replace all of them. LEDs last a long time, but they too go bad. What a bunch of crap code!!!
That is crap code. What about the energy costs of manufacturing new fixtures instead of just using LED bulbs in old ones?
Someone should start a business, like staging a house, where they rent these fixtures for the house inspections and take them away later, lol.
“Pass Inspection” kit - rent it a la Rent The Runway. 
Y’all need to get my bathroom sconces with the built in night light that is light sensitive. They come on automatically when sun goes down or bathroom lights get turned off.
We did a major remodel in Northern California about 10 years ago - prior to the advent of the LED requirement. In our area however, they were already insisting that the bathrooms and kitchen have fluorescent fixtures. Our contractor had a box full of small fixtures that he installed “appropriately” until the final inspection - and then swapped them out for the incandescent fixtures we had specified. He had a similar box of ultra low flow, 0.5 gallons per minute, shower heads which were another draconian requirement. We had to pay for these items when he installed them - and then when he took them back he gave us a credit towards the cost of installing the next fixtures. I still smile when I think about the final inspection when the inspector opened the bathroom cupboard and saw the proper fixtures sitting there waiting for installation… he did a double take, looked at me, and laughed…
^ we had the same “experience” with our contractor…thank God!
The occupancy sensor thing is simply insane. I mean, I am all for efforts to be green, but that is simply nuts.
I’ve only experienced it in the bathrooms in European hostels. You’d be in the shower, and the lights would go off. You’d have to stick an arm out and wave it. And I do not take long, luxurious showers!
Unfortunately I’m not equipped with a garage full of ugly fluorescent bath sconces. The exterior lighting requirements are throwing me for a total loss. Don’t even know where to start looking for “lights that will only turn on if they know it’s dark”. We don’t want motion sensors in this location so we need to find something that meets the new code, and aren’t hideous. The issue is that they won’t be cheap…and it will be a shame to throw them away.
These requirements are for “new construction” so hopefully people aren’t throwing away perfectly good fixtures. But some inspectors take it too far and want everything changed out when you pull a permit for a kitchen remodel or something.
CB, I have a solution that will cost $10 plus whatever the electrician will charge you to install on the EXISTING lights. Buy a $10 photocell at Lowes and ask the electrician to wire it between the switch and the lights (the photocell should be installed outdoors, of course). You will still be able to turn the lights OFF in the dark but you will not be able to turn the lights ON unless it is dark outside. Mr. B retrofit 4 light circuits in this manner: garage lights in House 1, main entry light in House2, and garage and breezeway lights in House2.
Kind of like this one:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073XB9D8X/
Of all the stupid code requirements, this is a useful one. I get home after dark, and my outdoor lights are on. I don’t have to mess with any timers etc. - the sunset in December here is at 4:15 pm, and in June is around 9 pm! 