Downlight spacing

[DIY GUY]

Chocolate teapot is probably the correct term.

Chocolate Watch chocolate tea pot whatever. Your advice has been absolutely useless.

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

but I’ve not realised I need to pass 2 joists. Would you have any advice on passing joists to get to a light fitting? Thanks

With any electrical work in a domestic property where wiring is to be concealed, a reasonable knowledge of common building construction methods is a valuable asset when deciding the best course of action...

Sometimes it is chasing sections of plaster out...
Or lifting floorboards in an upstairs room to access ceiling voids..
Or cutting access holes to feed cables through other existing gaps..
Or removing larger/or whole sections of wall/ceiling that will later be replaced/plastered/painted etc..
Or get a bit lucky with some common available cable-feeding tools...

Impossible to say the best solution for your particular situation..???

(This may be where you reach the pivot point between a DIY job..
and employing someone with years of experience and competence at doing similar problems, who has already learned a lot of the common mistakes and knows how to avoid them?)

While many professionals on the forum are happy to offer free advice and guidance..

Sometimes a topic reaches the point where it is damn-near impossible to suggest the best course of action without actually being there to do a few visual, hands-on evaluations.

For the size of the room.. And if there is NO access from above..
It may be best to remove the existing ceiling..
install new wiring..
then replace ceiling..

But I dont know? just guessing?

BUT... whatever you do choose..
Down-lights must NOT be cut-into, or fitted too close to joists..

You must not reduce the integrity of the building structure..
and you must avoid potential problems due to the heat from the light fittings affecting the joists!

 

[poni]

Your advice has been as good as a chocolate watch

I think they used to sale them in the sweet shop, along with shoe laces and Spanish gold bags

you can drill through joists, but only in the correct place, and the correct size hole, depending on the size of the joist ( you will need to read up on this, to many variables to list here) , better using existing holes that have been there some time,

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

I think they used to sale them in the sweet shop, along with shoe laces and Spanish gold bags

AND.. imitation cigarettes!!
Can't believe that I grew up where the local sweet shop sold imitation cigarettes..
Bad for you as they were just loads of sugar..
And bad for you as they encouraged smoking!!!

https://www.treasureislandsweets.co...ml#:~:text=Once upon a,are pineapple flavour?

With all of this sugar content...
Is it any wonder so many of us were distracted by these dubious sweets,
reducing our concentration abilities to attain good qualifications....
for a good career like banker or solicitor or TV personality...
and just ended up as "Electricians"??????

 

[Fleeting]

AND.. imitation cigarettes!!
Can't believe that I grew up where the local sweet shop sold imitation cigarettes..
Bad for you as they were just loads of sugar..
And bad for you as they encouraged smoking!!!

https://www.treasureislandsweets.co.uk/love-hearts-tabs-pez/barratt-candy-sticks-box.html#:~:text=Once upon a,are pineapple flavour?

With all of this sugar content...
Is it any wonder so many of us were distracted by these dubious sweets,
reducing our concentration abilities to attain good qualifications....
for a good career like banker or solicitor or TV personality...
and just ended up as "Electricians"??????

I remember several cigarette sweets, one a little hard white stick with a red end. We also had coconut strands with a brown coating labelled as sweet tobacco, those were the days.

 

[Fleeting]

Chocolate Watch chocolate tea pot whatever. Your advice has been absolutely useless.

No it is teapot. To be fair I have offered good advice, get an electrician for the safety of you and your family assuming you have one.

 

[DIY GUY]

Comments removed

 

[Richard-the-Ninth]

Gentlemen, if I have to remove any more comments I will lock the thread. (Which helps no one)
Please keep it civil.

Please also note, this is the DIY part of the forum, what is easy/understandable for us is not always so for the DIY person. Please bear that in mind.

 

[sirsparkabit]

Wish I had a pound for every badly placed hole, and multiples thereof drilled through joists I've seen . Op could look on YouTube to find correct spacing and drilling of joists for cables or buy an onsite guide or other publication that exist .
TBH why don't you just put one 6 or 7 watt led downlighter with a 60 degree beam angle where your existing light is and save yourself lots of trouble .

I loved Old Smuggler sweet tobacco just before Saturday morning Pictures

 

[UNG]

Actually got a good idea what l’m doing. Not a pro but please correct me if I’m wrong.

Electrical DIY has it's dangers not least how you carry out the testing to ensure it is safe, as with all advice when it goes wrong be it a fire, severe injury or even death someone will always attempt to apportion blame so when it is suggested you get an electrician in you have to appreciate that it is considered that you are possibly getting out of your depth or it is considered that the safety of yourself or others is at risk, also an electrical is likely to have the knowledge and tooling to achieve the end result you want. It might seem harsh but it is what it is

Last time I checked this was a DlY forum is it not, where you’re supposed to get some sort of useful help. You seem to give great expert advice on here btw

Overall this is a professional electricians forum that happens to have a DIY section hence it can provide expert advice to a point

 

[Murdoch]

Maybe keeping the central ceiling light would have been a good idea ...... or now locating a plasterer who is willing to tidy up your ceiling

 

[Bruspark]

Currently renovating small cloakroom toilet and looking to do away with my old ceiling light and replace with downlights. Room measurements are 170cm by 75cm. I know there are certain measurements for different lighting looks etc. l’ve ordered a pack of 3 that have the option to be angled. Do you reckon I’d get away with fitting 2 of them in such a small space and for the lighting to look ok in the room?

See if you can safely wire them up to see if the light output is what you need and how the light 'washes' the walls near the ceiling edges
Remember that fitting locations may be determined by the ceiling contents/structure as well as your taste

 

[binky]

Maybe keeping the central ceiling light would have been a good idea ...... or now locating a plasterer who is willing to tidy up your ceiling

fair point, if the joists do not allow simple cabling between the 2 downlighter holes.

 

[MikeJhn]

The existing ceiling light will have a penetration through the plasterboard ceiling, this will have to be opened up to get a no maintenance junction box into the ceiling void and made good, once the hole has been opened it will be possible to feel around with a rod of some kind to locate the joist above, if the joists run down the room then you don't have a problem and can fit the lights in between the joist, if the joists are across the width of the room, you can locate the downlight close to a joist and possibly drill through them to run a cable, because of the narrow width of the room drilling through the joist should not cause a structural problem.