Online Lighting Guide to Bathroom Lighting
Bathroom lighting has special needs when compared to other areas of the house,
the lighting needs to be bright and vibrant to give you good visibility. This
can be achieved with a variety of techniques. The most ideal scheme would be
flexible enough to ensure a bright and crisp light for the early morning for
personal grooming and makeup application to a softer more romantic lighting
scheme for relaxation in the evening. This can be achieved by installing
different layers of lighting. Modern technology now allows for the use of many
different types of lighting in the bathroom including wall lights, floor
lights and even dimmer switches.
When installing Bathroom Lighting it is always best to seek advice from a
qualified electrician. Bathrooms are subject to strict wiring regulation and
this must always be taken into consideration when choosing your light fittings
to ensure that they are suitable for the area of the Bathroom that they will
operate in.
We trust that the following information will help to answer most of your
bathroom lighting questions. You will find links above to our carefully
selected bathroom lighting ranges. Please feel free to contact our fully
trained staff at any time if you do require further assistance in selecting
your Bathroom Lighting.
Our Bathroom Lighting Range Consists of
- Bathroom wall lights
- Bathroom Ceiling Light
- Bathroom Spotlights
- Above Mirror Light
- Illuminated Mirrors and Cabinets
- Shower Lights
Wall Lights can be used in the Bathroom to good effect, they can
be mounted
either side of a mirror to give face illumination or used in a variety of
other ways to create mood lighting effects. Our extensive range has been
selected to give you wide selection of Wall Lights to choose. From Traditional
to Modern.
Ceiling Lights again come in a wide choice and bearing in
mind our previous
comments, Bright Halogen Downlights in either low voltage or mains version
will give a good overall light as will flush florescent ceiling lights many of
which have the advantage of being low energy.
Spotlights
Spotlights can be best used to introduce a level of
background
lighting or to highlight a specific part of the Bathroom, you may want to
spotlight your new bright chrome designer taps or a piece of fine artwork,
remembering both ceiling lights and spotlights can be controlled by the use of
a Bathroom Dimmer Switch.
Mirrors should have special
attention and both above and side
mirror lights with diffused glass will give an excellent general
illumination for personal grooming and makeup application. As an
alternative you may wish to consider one or two mains or low voltage
halogen Downlights from the ceiling directly above your mirror.
Our large illuminated Bathroom Mirror and Cabinet range will have you spoilt
for choice .These Latest generation products incorporate lights into the
mirrors themselves, some being back lit to create stunning effects. Others in
the range other the facility and convenience of a built in shaver socket, many
are movement activated. Their modern classic design will we are sure get your
creative side fired up.
Light fittings designed for within the shower area offer a new dimension to
your daily showers, most fittings are of the downlight version coming in a
choice of colour finishes as well as crisp cut glass versions giving an extra
touch of luxury. All our shower lights are manufactured for use in Zone 1 and
must be carefully fitted according to the instructions.
All information given regarding Bathroom Lighting is a guide to help you
understand what fittings can be placed where. This is not an installation
guide and professional advice should be sought from a fully qualified
electrician before any installation work is commenced.
Bathroom Zones Explained
It is important to understand the rating by which bathroom and some outdoor
lights are classified. IP rating stands for ‘Ingress Protection' and is always
followed by two characters. The first of these two numbers refer to level of
protection from foreign bodies entering the fitting. The second of the two
numbers is the protection against water ingress, the higher the numbers the
higher the protection. It is important that you choose fittings with the
correct rating according to where they are to be installed within the
bathroom.
- Zone O
- The interior of bathtub or shower tray – IPX7 and low voltage supply
(max 12 Volt).
- Zone 1
- The Perimeter of bathtub or shower tray up to a height of 2.25 meter
above the floor- IPX4 Use IPX5 where water jets are used for cleaning
purposes. If the fitting is 240v a 30ma residual current device (RCD) must
also be used to protect the circuit in this zone.
- Zone 2
- The Perimeter 0.6 meter wide around Zone 1 and 0.75 meter above Zone
1 – IPX4. Use IPX5 where water jets are used for cleaning purposes.
- Zone 3
- The Perimeter 2.4 meter wide around zone 2 and 0.75 meter above Zone
2 - Use IPX5 where water jets are used for cleaning purposes. Otherwise no
specified IP rating required although lights should be suitable for their
location and provide adequate protection against electric shock.
The space under the bath tub is Zone 1 if accessible without the use of a tool
or outside the Zones if accessible only with the use of a tool.