Nice people thread part 5 - nicely does it

lostinrates

chewmylegoff wrote: »

flourescent strip light for me - don't care if it looks awful, at least you can see!

Oh, they give me headaches. We have them ion the feed room and the chicken house ATM.

I am going to need lighting in some cupboards too...I'm having nifty work stations in cupboards which will need lighting.

LydiaJ

chewmylegoff wrote: »

most of our current flat is lit by those horrible little spotlights that developers these days seem to go weak at the knees for. nowadays when they blow up (one goes about every 15 minutes, it seems), i just don't bother to replace them. it's pretty MSE as our entire flat is now basically lit by the TV. if we need to read something we can open the fridge.

The previous owners of my house put in lots of fancy light fittings. The kitchen has 4 spotlights with big screw fittings (but one fitting doesn't work and another has a bulb stuck in it that won't unscrew) and 4 halogens with little push-in fittings (but the attachments for some of the little glass shade things are broken), and 3 mini strip-lights under the upper level units. The playroom has 8 wall lights, all big bayonet fittings. The grown-ups' living room (which I might actually be able to eject the kids from once the new builder puts the aerial cable into the playroom) has 2x3 ceiling lights (but 1 of the triple fittings doesn't work) and two wall lights, all with small screw fittings.

So many different kinds of bulbs to get - and with so many lights in each room, I didn't bother to replace them either. Just recently I realised I had 1/8 bulbs working in the playroom, 1/8 in the kitchen, and 2/8 in the living room, and realised something had got to be done. Cost me over fifty quid - not impressed.

I'm probably going to have to replace the halogen fitting in the kitchen. I am wondering about something with LEDs, in the hope they might not blow so often. I know they're quite bright and possibly harsh, but that doesn't matter in a kitchen. Does anyone know anything about them, or have any comments?

Also, does anybody know anything about aerating shower heads, please?

PasturesNew

The trouble I have is trying to work out how a light fitment comes apart, without breaking it. e.g. if you're supposed to unscrew it, but are trying to lever the edge with a crowbar, then it'd snap ... yet you've no idea it was a screw up one. And you can't get tough wtih a screw up one in case it's actually a lever one. They're a pain in the butt....

I've still not changed the bulb here.... might just buy a replacement bulb and leave it out when I go.

PasturesNew

Cornwall with Caroline Quentin on ITV1 at 8pm - gonna watch it as I heard the radio presenter inviting calls from listeners as apparently she's portrayed the county as elitist. So gotta see what it's all about - hadn't heard of it until the radio .... but never heard the phone in.

http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/discussions/Cornwall-Caroline-Quentin-began-ITV-night-series/discussion-14309987-detail/discussion.html

elona

Pastures

Some bulbs can't be screwed in or unscrewed without a plastic "thingummy" as you can't reach the fitting with your hands. No clue what the proper name is but you could ask at an ironmongers.

PasturesNew

elona wrote: »

Pastures

Some bulbs can't be screwed in or unscrewed without a plastic "thingummy" as you can't reach the fitting with your hands. No clue what the proper name is but you could ask at an ironmongers.

I kind of meant the actual light fitting ... the cover, the lampshade.... once I get in there the bulb is another challenge! Never heard of a plastic thingummy though - only ever encountered regular lightbulbs, except I've never got that size/type, which is annoying as then I have to remember to find one of the right size/fitting type when I am next out.

chewmylegoff

LydiaJ wrote: »

The previous owners of my house put in lots of fancy light fittings. The kitchen has 4 spotlights with big screw fittings (but one fitting doesn't work and another has a bulb stuck in it that won't unscrew) and 4 halogens with little push-in fittings (but the attachments for some of the little glass shade things are broken), and 3 mini strip-lights under the upper level units. The playroom has 8 wall lights, all big bayonet fittings. The grown-ups' living room (which I might actually be able to eject the kids from once the new builder puts the aerial cable into the playroom) has 2x3 ceiling lights (but 1 of the triple fittings doesn't work) and two wall lights, all with small screw fittings.

So many different kinds of bulbs to get - and with so many lights in each room, I didn't bother to replace them either. Just recently I realised I had 1/8 bulbs working in the playroom, 1/8 in the kitchen, and 2/8 in the living room, and realised something had got to be done. Cost me over fifty quid - not impressed.

I'm probably going to have to replace the halogen fitting in the kitchen. I am wondering about something with LEDs, in the hope they might not blow so often. I know they're quite bright and possibly harsh, but that doesn't matter in a kitchen. Does anyone know anything about them, or have any comments?

Also, does anybody know anything about aerating shower heads, please?

my parents have about 20 LED spotlights in their kitchen. i find the lighting weird, with a sort of eerie quality which makes it feel more a morgue than a kitchen. not that i spend a lot of time in morgues, but i have seen more than my fair share of episodes of CSI. my dad did take half of them out at one point and put halogen* ones in so it was half and half, but that made it even stranger.


* = i don't know how many of them blew up.

PasturesNew

Cornwall thing.... just a cheap advert. No real interest/content/coherence - and the programme doesn't take you on a journey, it leaps about. Must have been written by a media studies student whose dad's important at ITV.

neverdespairgirl

lostinrates wrote: »

I do that too. And the....if I go outside without putting my coat on it will be warmer when I come in.


Speaking of warmth, I'm not, lol.

It's freezing here, too. Isaac woke up twice last night, cold, so tonight we're adding a sleeping bag for comfort. OH and I managed to keep each other warm, though

silvercar wrote: »

It may depend in the cause. If NDG's builders stuck a nail through the pipe the other leaseholders aren't going to want to contribute to the cost.

Doesn't look like the builders' fault. A full gas check was run after the kitchen was installed, some time after the floors, and the system was tight, then.

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Am I right in thinking you are in leased rather than freehold property?

Both were fixed in the middle of the night by re-routing the supply pipe, rather than digging out the old one (one under a suspended ground floor and another replaced to run along the wall in the attached garage.rather than in the ground).

We are leasehold, yes. So we're getting the managing agents to send over a copy of hte policy for the buildings insurance, and we'll check that carefully.

It looks as if a new pipe is going to be much cheaper and easier than finding the leak in the old one.

PasturesNew

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

It looks as if a new pipe is going to be much cheaper and easier than finding the leak in the old one.

If it's "the" pipe and not "your" pipe, if you see what I mean .... might be some chance that the neighbour underneath's happy to have his ceiling down to get at it. You never know, he might be sitting down there every night looking up at the old artex and thinking "one day I'll have saved enough money to get rid of that...."