And then there was light!!!

The start of the lighting of the house. 

Here we just put up parts of the ceiling to take the lighting (LED's for the corridors) because there may be more plumbing and the VMC ducting to go in so we didn’t want to do the whole ceiling in one go.
The LED fittings are easy to take out and will be removed when we have the ceilings skimmed. 

Here is the stud work for the ceilings going in 





And then with the plaster board on. Although this looks on the squint because of the offset ceiling board they are in a straight line. 
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Bad photo here but this is in the corridor portal shining light down on all the features built into the stonework and is set into a piece of elm that forms the ceiling of the portal. You can see it in the photo above looking form the upstairs bog along the corridor 



And here is another poor photo of a “bit” of ceiling put up on the landing at the top of the stairs purely to take the electrics as we are trying to get consuel and permanent supply before xmas (I can but dream ha ha)

 

All the corridor lights are on two way switching so you can start from the bottom of the stairs and turn off the last lounge light and turn on the stairs and half the landing lights. 
The you can turn on the rest of the corridor lights and turn of the stairs and carry on through the house like that until you reach the top of the mezzanine sleeping deck if you happen to be the last one to bed.

You can come out of any bedroom or the bathroom or toilet and have light (all LED's) to light your way to any part of the house you like, turning off those no longer required as you go. However being LEDs you can leave them on and they wont make much difference to the electricity bill. 

Here is the “what will be” attic space in the master bedroom getting its plaster board and light fittings 



Here are the wall lights in the office space. 






Here is the bathroom showing the first fix 





First fix over the bath

 

Then first the central light (IP44) 



Here you can see the three LEDs that are “in the shower” ceiling they are IP65 



These two are above the bath and are also IP65

 




Electrics going in the lounge.
Here you can see the chestnut fllor of the bedrrom above. We have used 120mm acoustic / thermal insulation with some of the wires under that and then countered with 65 x 40mm chevron to put the plaster board onto and give us enough depth to run the lighting circuits and fit the LEDs themselves. 



We have installed 11 LEDs in the middle section of the lounge (4m x 4m) on two circuits so we can either have half or all the lights on. 

This is the wiring going in 







We have already found that when all on it gives a daylight to that part of the room and is proving most useful during dark days. It is a north west facing room and even with the big 4 meter window it will still be dark on some daytime occasions.

At night we have two large lights that hang from the high ceilings either side of the central part and they give a lovely soft relaxing light which will be augmented by lamps if needed

It has to be said they are bit bright for nighttime use this is what they look like in the plasterboard with the beams having been given their first two coats of Tung Oil after being up for 4 years. 



The price per unit (including the bulbs) for the LEDs comes in at about 25 euros depending on the type and quality of finish. You can buy the cheaper Chinese import stuff but as far as I can work out speaking to people who have installed LEDs recently you get what you pay for. Buy cheap and you will be replacing them before you k now it.

So far we have 27 installed with another 20 going in the kitchen and another 4 or five dotted about and we are very happy with the light they provide and the piddling amount of electric they use..
The bulbs for the outside lights will also be LED. The technology and quality of light produced by LEDs now seems to have taken a great leap forward in the last 5 years or so and although the initial installation cost maybe quite high compared to the normal bulb type lights, I am happy to invest now while I can afford it because due to a massive drop in income on retirement and I want to keep “running” costs as low as possible then.


The design and placement of the lighting is as important as the design and placement of doors, windows and walls when it comes to the overall feeling of the house and the ability for it to function during the day and night. Lights are not only for the nighttime especially in old properties where some original rooms have small windows or northerly aspects. 
We thought it prudent to understand that the house would be different in artificial light and we needed to plan carefully for that to keep the overall feeling one of comfort, warmth and ease of transit around the house. 

Cheers
Bentley