I want to add coving and and some downlighters to a corridor. However, to do this I need to pad out the coving to make enough space for the lights. Would such a scheme meet building regs/safety? Could potentially use fire rated wood, or use intumescent paint/primer.
Coving lighting – regs compliant?
- Thread starter typonaut
- Start date
How do you get over the problem of the downlighter not fitting tight to he curved coving?
You will see the barrel of the downlighter, and possibly the spring clips.
You will see the barrel of the downlighter, and possibly the spring clips.
I have not yet got an example fitting in hand, but I think the spacing will be minimal, and you definitely won’t see the spring retainers. If, after testing it, there is too much space behind parts of the bezel, then I could recess the bezel a little – ie have the 45mm cutout, with a concentric 64mm recess at the high points.
Use strips of plasterboard to pack out the coving.
Can’t comment on the light question.
Can’t comment on the light question.
It's a dead end. MR11 sized GU10 LED lamps are certainly not common, overheating is highly likely due to the lack of space behind, circular light fittings won't fit properly into a curved coving, and then there is the problem of how exactly you intend to secure the cables behind the coving and the coving to those pieces of timber in a way that won't immediately collapse if there is a fire.
There are already plenty of LED light coving systems available. Use one of those.
There are already plenty of LED light coving systems available. Use one of those.
Did think of that, but seems quite a lot of work to get a decent finish on the plasterboard edging.
There are plenty of GU10 LED lamps, you can even get fixed coloured or colour changing ones if you so choose.
It seems that the usual way of fixing coving is glue, but I thought I’d ”belt and braces” it with glue and screws.
Here are sme GU10 LEDs https://www.toolstation.com/search?q=gu10+led
I was thinking of using the Integral 2w lamps, they seem to be the lowest power you can get, and 300 lumens. So, I think unlikely to cause heat issues. But, obviously some muppet could stick a much higher rated bulb in there later, or even find themselves an old 50w GU10 to stick in there!
I had a quick look at LED coving systems, they all seem to be about strips of LEDs, at the ceiling height, or in uplighters - I don't really have the height for either, so need (multiple, low powered) downlighters.
How bright does it have to be?
Would deck lights be better?
Mind you, they are prone to going wrong.
Would deck lights be better?
Mind you, they are prone to going wrong.
Yes - the vast majority of which are 50mm diameter.
You drawing shows a 45mm diameter, which is clearly unsuitable for those.
Perhaps we are confusing each other. There are plenty of lighting units that take GU4/GU10 light bulbs, and there are plenty of choices of GU10 (I haven’t bothered looking at GU4) light bulbs at various lumen outputs, colours and colour changing. If you look here you’ll see that Integral have 45mm cutout units, as well as a 43mm cutout unit with a 55mm bezel:
Integral LED Evofire
integral-led.com
If your point is to tell me that I cannot do this because it would fall foul of regs, then tell me what I need to change. If you’re telling me that I cannot buy lighting units and light bulbs in the sizes I have indicated, then I think it is obvious that you are wrong.
I think they are under powered, I am looking at GU10 light bulbs that are in the 300 lumens range - the deck lights I am seeing are more like 50 lumens.
They exist, but choice of lamp for those is extremely limited. Those fixtures require 35mm diameter lamps.
The vast majority of lamps with GU10 connectors are 50mm diameter.
All of which are 50mm diameter, and will not physically fit into fixtures designed for 35mm lamps.
Google says:
Actually, well spotted – I had not noticed that all of those were 50mm diameter lightbulbs.
However, as others have pointed out, there are plenty of suppliers listing GU10 35mm lightbullbs. The distinction seems to be that they are calling these “MR11 GU10” or “Mini GU10”. Perhaps this is something relatively new to the UK, that will become more mainstream (like Edison screw was 30 years ago).
Either way, Integral sell the lamps, and the lightbulbs. I don’t really see that as being any different to buying an integrated lamp, where you might have to replace the whole thing (rather than just the bulb) some time down the line. My main issue is size restriction, and these smaller lamps are better suited.