Whether your property is large or small, traditional or modern, good lighting design can help transform the mood in each room at the flick of a switch.
NICEIC offers practical advice that will help you effectively plan your lighting and brighten up your home.
Rules for carrying out electrical work in the home were tightened in 2005 to prevent the number of accidents caused by faulty DIY. If you are installing new electric circuits, you must comply with Part P of the Building Regulations. The easiest way to do this is to have your lighting professionally and safely installed by a government registered electrician such as one registered with NICEIC.
Plan of action Take time to consider each room in your home and work out what activities you will require lighting for, what type of lighting you require and where the light should be directed. Our Room by Room Guide below should give you some ideas.
Light levels
One way to determine the correct light levels for each room is to calculate its size in square metres and multiply this by 25 for incandescent (normal) lamps and 15 for halogen lamps. This will give you the total watts required to light the room. When using energy efficient light bulbs a much lower wattage bulb can be used. For example, a 20W (OSRAM) energy saver will provide you with roughly the same amount of light as a 100W normal light bulb.
Circuits and systems
Once you have worked this out, go through your lighting requirements with your electrician who can draw up an electrical lighting plan, which will include all the circuits and systems needed to power your lights. Installing different lights on separate circuits will give you flexibility in how you are able to light your room for various activities. Room by room guide
The lighting for each room in the house will depend on its function, but this guide will help you decide which light sources are best.
To read the full factsheet please download the PDF.
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