Installing wall lights

[MrsSilenceDogood]

Hi,

A friend of mine who is an electrician started installing some wall lights for me. He chased the plastered wall, added wires in conduit, and the top is finished with a round junction box. He cut a hole in the front of the junction box so the wires can come out of the front. I want to finish the job but was bothered by the idea of simply plastering over the circular junction box and right up to the wires that stick out of the junction box. Looks a bit messy for my liking and makes accessing the wires again difficult. Is there a solution to this?

The lights themselves are also just hanging from a heavy-duty picture hook, which does not seem particularly sturdy. Is there a better way to attach them to the wall?

Please see attached photos.

Thanks for the help,
Ms Dogood

 

[endecotp]

bothered by the idea of simply plastering over the circular junction box

With most lights, that would be hidden by the fitting. Yours are very narrow. Plastering over it is OK. You don’t need to access the wires, and if you ever did you could just chip away that bit of plaster.

The lights themselves are also just hanging from a heavy-duty picture hook, which does not seem particularly sturdy. Is there a better way to attach them to the wall?

It is at least screwed into the wall, rather than just pinned. Are there no screw holes or similar in the light fitting?

Fundamentally, you have an old fitting - where did it come from? - and you will probably not get modern levels of sturdiness. Is it mounted high enough to be out of reach and considered “inaccessible”?

 

[MrsSilenceDogood]

Thanks, it seemed a bit botched using a circular junction box and cutting a hole in the front. It does work though.

It's an antique fitting that I bought on Etsy.

Does not have any screw holes, and it is is not inaccesible (it is about 3/4 of the way up the wall). However, I hope most people have enough common sense not to tug at the fitting.

 

[Mottie]

I can’t see how those lights could be fitted correctly and securely in the first place.

 

[MrsSilenceDogood]

What do you mean?

 

[chivers67]

I would just plaster over the conduit & junction box and leave the "slit" so the wires are still accessible and it's hidden by the wall light. Looks a bit of a bodge but a good bodge & the fitting is earthed.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

The lights themselves are also just hanging from a heavy-duty picture hook, which does not seem particularly sturdy. Is there a better way to attach them to the wall?

Most wall-lights are fitted, with just the twin and earth cable, emerging out of the plaster, and the connectors struggling to be hidden behind the fitting - that is very much better than that. My only criticism would be, the support bracket - I would have folded a wider bit of steel, to make a better bracket, so the fitting would be tight back, against the wall. The present hook, looks as if it will hang the fitting, showing an ugly space/gap, looking from the side.

 

[morqthana]

Wouldn't those narrow boxes for architrave switches have been easier to conceal?

 

[Mottie]

I can’t see how those lights could be fitted correctly and securely in the first place.

What do you mean?

I've gone through three different sets of wall lights in our house in the time we have been here. I didn’t fit the initial wiring but as far as I can recall, there are round metal boxes in my wall and whatever lights I’ve bought included a bracket that fits between that box and the lamp. The electrical connection is just a connector block that connects the light to the wiring and that fits side the box. Here’s what they look like fitted.

I've never seen wall lights that just rely on hanging on hooks. Always had some method of screwing them on the wall.

 

[foxhole]

Agree with Harry just need a stronger bracket than the flimsy picture hanger .

 

[chivers67]

The lights don't look heavy though and the hook is secured well to the wall.

 

[pete01]

I don't like it it looks rubbish, you shouldn't be able to access live wires so easily.

 

[sparkwright]

Lots of old wall lights were simply 'hooked' onto a nail or screw.

 

[Scally-Ho]

Its difficult to judge sizes from the photos, but possibly an architrave box would have been neater and fit beneath the footprint of the wall lights.
Wall lights always have been somewhat problematic because the designs vary widely.

 

[sparkwright]

Its difficult to judge sizes from the photos, but possibly an architrave box would have been neater and fit beneath the footprint of the wall lights.
Wall lights always have been somewhat problematic because the designs vary widely.

I think an architrave box may be borderline too wide - besides, knockout in the top or bottom of an architrave box is less than 20mm, so difficult to connect to that 20mm conduit.

I hated it at first, but perhaps the existing set-up IS best, once the box lid is filled over.
Personally, I would have cut a slot in the box lid, and still kept the lid in one piece.