Installing spotlights in living room with joists

ashe

Hello, 

curious about how or even if this is possible. 

We currently have 2 light points in our living room and would rather have a few spotlights instead 

I've done a crude drawing here of which way the joists run. Are we basically limited to positions in line with the joists or is there some technique to non-destructively add them to other positions? We have laminate flooring upstairs so not easy to access from above. 

tacpot12

You are limited to fitting the downlighters between the joists, but you have the flexibility to put them any where between the joists. 

You will need fire rated downlighters or fire hoods, even if you are installed LED downlighters, which you shoudl to save energy. (Fire rated downlighters will be easier to install).

You will probably need to route cables through the joists and this could be tricky unless you have a right angled drill or drill attachment. You need to know where it is safe to drill through the joist, and also how to isolate the existing lighting circuit. It's quite likely that you will have to cut holes in your ceiling to get the drill into the ceiling, although you might be able to drill via the holes for the downlighters in some cases.

grumbler

tacpot12 said:

You will probably need to route cables through the joists and this could be tricky unless you have a right angled drill or drill attachment. You need to know where it is safe to drill through the joist, and also how to isolate the existing lighting circuit. It's quite likely that you will have to cut holes in your ceiling to get the drill into the ceiling, although you might be able to drill via the holes for the downlighters in some cases.

I think it's more common to make small notches at the bottom of joist then making holes in the plasterboard for drilling through the joists.

35har1old

ashe said:

Hello, 

curious about how or even if this is possible. 

We currently have 2 light points in our living room and would rather have a few spotlights instead 

I've done a crude drawing here of which way the joists run. Are we basically limited to positions in line with the joists or is there some technique to non-destructively add them to other positions? We have laminate flooring upstairs so not easy to access from above. 

If this is a 2 storied house the correct way of installing electrical cables is to lift section of flooring above to enable drilling of joist at least 80mm from top of joist to avoid accidentally hitting the new cables when reinstating the flooring.This will let you go at right angles to the joist and you are then free to place spotlights anywhere in room by fishing cables from the spotlight holes back to the current position of light fitting.This avoids making holes in you finished ceiling. Even well patch holes tend to be seen unless you are into papering the ceiling 
Sorry I missed the bit about laminate flooring
The first thing the current ceiling fitting is secured to a batten so to gaining excess to make a connection is going to require a hole. Which will require  repairing If the plasterboard can't be secured by nails if will require to be stuck to either side of the hole creating a aera 12mm deep to be Patched Once the stuck area has set.You could end up with a lot of patches of this nature to place downlights anywhere else other than in line with the current fitting

ashe

35har1old said:

ashe said:

Hello, 

curious about how or even if this is possible. 

We currently have 2 light points in our living room and would rather have a few spotlights instead 

I've done a crude drawing here of which way the joists run. Are we basically limited to positions in line with the joists or is there some technique to non-destructively add them to other positions? We have laminate flooring upstairs so not easy to access from above. 

If this is a 2 storied house the correct way of installing electrical cables is to lift section of flooring above to enable drilling of joist at least 80mm from top of joist to avoid accidentally hitting the new cables when reinstating the flooring.This will let you go at right angles to the joist and you are then free to place spotlights anywhere in room by fishing cables from the spotlight holes back to the current position of light fitting.This avoids making holes in you finished ceiling. Even well patch holes tend to be seen unless you are into papering the ceiling 
Sorry I missed the bit about laminate flooring
The first thing the current ceiling fitting is secured to a batten so to gaining excess to make a connection is going to require a hole. Which will require  repairing If the plasterboard can't be secured by nails if will require to be stuck to either side of the hole creating a aera 12mm deep to be Patched Once the stuck area has set.You could end up with a lot of patches of this nature to place downlights anywhere else other than in line with the current fitting

I don't think the holes will be a problem; we had downlights installed in our bedroom and I did the remedial work not the ceiling myself and I am pretty happy with how it panned out 

35har1old

ashe said:

35har1old said:

ashe said:

Hello, 

curious about how or even if this is possible. 

We currently have 2 light points in our living room and would rather have a few spotlights instead 

I've done a crude drawing here of which way the joists run. Are we basically limited to positions in line with the joists or is there some technique to non-destructively add them to other positions? We have laminate flooring upstairs so not easy to access from above. 

If this is a 2 storied house the correct way of installing electrical cables is to lift section of flooring above to enable drilling of joist at least 80mm from top of joist to avoid accidentally hitting the new cables when reinstating the flooring.This will let you go at right angles to the joist and you are then free to place spotlights anywhere in room by fishing cables from the spotlight holes back to the current position of light fitting.This avoids making holes in you finished ceiling. Even well patch holes tend to be seen unless you are into papering the ceiling 
Sorry I missed the bit about laminate flooring
The first thing the current ceiling fitting is secured to a batten so to gaining excess to make a connection is going to require a hole. Which will require  repairing If the plasterboard can't be secured by nails if will require to be stuck to either side of the hole creating a aera 12mm deep to be Patched Once the stuck area has set.You could end up with a lot of patches of this nature to place downlights anywhere else other than in line with the current fitting

I don't think the holes will be a problem; we had downlights installed in our bedroom and I did the remedial work not the ceiling myself and I am pretty happy with how it panned out 

Where you able to do the work from above in you case?

FFHillbilly

It's possible yes but don't expect a fixed price, jobs like that can be really simple or an absolute nightmare if you find pipes/joists/ducts where you want to fit lights.

ashe

35har1old said:

ashe said:

35har1old said:

ashe said:

Hello, 

curious about how or even if this is possible. 

We currently have 2 light points in our living room and would rather have a few spotlights instead 

I've done a crude drawing here of which way the joists run. Are we basically limited to positions in line with the joists or is there some technique to non-destructively add them to other positions? We have laminate flooring upstairs so not easy to access from above. 

If this is a 2 storied house the correct way of installing electrical cables is to lift section of flooring above to enable drilling of joist at least 80mm from top of joist to avoid accidentally hitting the new cables when reinstating the flooring.This will let you go at right angles to the joist and you are then free to place spotlights anywhere in room by fishing cables from the spotlight holes back to the current position of light fitting.This avoids making holes in you finished ceiling. Even well patch holes tend to be seen unless you are into papering the ceiling 
Sorry I missed the bit about laminate flooring
The first thing the current ceiling fitting is secured to a batten so to gaining excess to make a connection is going to require a hole. Which will require  repairing If the plasterboard can't be secured by nails if will require to be stuck to either side of the hole creating a aera 12mm deep to be Patched Once the stuck area has set.You could end up with a lot of patches of this nature to place downlights anywhere else other than in line with the current fitting

I don't think the holes will be a problem; we had downlights installed in our bedroom and I did the remedial work not the ceiling myself and I am pretty happy with how it panned out 

Were you able to do the work from above in you case?

That was in the loft so yes, but I mean holes in the ceiling I'm confident I can sort that those out if they're needed 

i don't think taking up laminate and relaying is an option to get access from above so looking at ways to sort it with access from below 

dil1976

grumbler said:

tacpot12 said:

You will probably need to route cables through the joists and this could be tricky unless you have a right angled drill or drill attachment. You need to know where it is safe to drill through the joist, and also how to isolate the existing lighting circuit. It's quite likely that you will have to cut holes in your ceiling to get the drill into the ceiling, although you might be able to drill via the holes for the downlighters in some cases.

I think it's more common to make small notches at the bottom of joist then making holes in the plasterboard for drilling through the joists.

You shouldnt make notches in the bottom of joists just the top to help keep the strength.

https://www.eden.gov.uk/planning-and-building/building-control/building-control-guidance-notes/notches-and-holes/

dil1976

tacpot12 said:

You are limited to fitting the downlighters between the joists, but you have the flexibility to put them any where between the joists. 

You will need fire rated downlighters or fire hoods, even if you are installed LED downlighters, which you shoudl to save energy. (Fire rated downlighters will be easier to install).

You will probably need to route cables through the joists and this could be tricky unless you have a right angled drill or drill attachment. You need to know where it is safe to drill through the joist, and also how to isolate the existing lighting circuit. It's quite likely that you will have to cut holes in your ceiling to get the drill into the ceiling, although you might be able to drill via the holes for the downlighters in some cases.

Incorrect fire rated fittings would only be required if there was different fire compartment above (eg different flat, HMO etc)

grumbler

dil1976 said:

grumbler said:

tacpot12 said:

You will probably need to route cables through the joists and this could be tricky unless you have a right angled drill or drill attachment. You need to know where it is safe to drill through the joist, and also how to isolate the existing lighting circuit. It's quite likely that you will have to cut holes in your ceiling to get the drill into the ceiling, although you might be able to drill via the holes for the downlighters in some cases.

I think it's more common to make small notches at the bottom of joist then making holes in the plasterboard for drilling through the joists.

You shouldnt make notches in the bottom of joists just the top to help keep the strength.

https://www.eden.gov.uk/planning-and-building/building-control/building-control-guidance-notes/notches-and-holes/

I know. We are talking about very small ones here - for lighting cables.

We should never drive faster than 70 either. Do we?