Lighting, Light Fixtures, Ceiling and Exhaust Fans - Recessed lighting in hallway

Hello everyone,
I've searched the forum and the one instance where this was asked was never answered. I have a relatively small L-shaped hallway with two light fixtures in the center of each leg of the L. I'd like to replace these with 5" recessed lighting pots. Typically, are the electrical boxes my current lights are wired to posted on a joist, or are they mounted directly to the ceiling's drywall? The hallway is about 12 feet x 5 feet on one leg and 7ft by 5 feet on the adjacent leg. Will one 5" light in each leg put out enough floor light for each leg? Thanks a lot!

Recessed lights don't spread the light as well as surface lights, so this may give your hallway more of a "tunnel" or "cave" feel. One can light probably isn't enough to illuminate 12 feet of hallway effectively. It might depend a bit on whether you usually try to read while walking down the hall.

Most ceiling fixtures are installed on round boxes nailed to the side of a joist.

Okay, the cave or tunnel effect is exactly what I'm looking for! I'll take a look up there this weekend and report back on how it turns out. Thanks...

Your existing ceiling fixtures are most likely mounted to electrical boxes nailed to the ceiling joists, but there is a slight chance your ceiling boxes are mounted in the drywall. You will have to go up in the attic or take down a fixture to find out for sure.