Easiest wat to install wall lights in this situation?

Mr Sparkle · 28 Feb 2020

Currently i have one light in my landing and i would like two as the area need more light (one on either side of that wall)

However i was wondering on the easiest method in order to do this

The wall where the light is currently fixed is masonry. However the wall to the left is plasterboard

The wall is 3.5m high so if i can avoid vertical wall chases that would ve ideal.

SUNRAY · 28 Feb 2020

What is the current arrangement?
Does the cable come from the top or the bottom? Can you get to where it comes from?
There is a [very] small chance the cable can drop inside the hollow wall with fairly minor disturbance to the plasterboard.

Taylortwocities · 28 Feb 2020

And...how many cables come to the existing wall light? ie, is the feed in at the light, at the switch, or in a junction box up in the loft?

Mr Sparkle · 28 Feb 2020

The cables come from the ceiling

Two cables come into the existing wall light

The feed in appears to come from another light in the loft

Taylortwocities · 28 Feb 2020

You can do this one of two ways

run an additional cable from the existing light to the new one. This can go horizontally or vertically. As it’s a stud wall, that’s not too bad.

you can run the additional cable from the existing light, but that might make the wiring behind the light a bit busy.
or you could put a junction box in the loft and drop a new cable down to the new light.

PS. Did u take note of where the wires went on the old light?
Hope you have the power turned off, those wires are LIVE!!

SUNRAY · 28 Feb 2020

Mr Sparkle said:
The cables come from the ceiling

Two cables come into the existing wall light

The feed in appears to come from another light in the loft

So is it save to assume one is the live feed and the other is the switch cable?

From the loft, can you get directly over the stud wall to the point you can locate it exactly? [Hopefully the wall plate is visible from the loft but may not if the wall was a later addition]
If you can, my next move would be to drill a hole down [say 20mm] in the centre above where the extra light will be then poke something to see if there is a way through. I'd use cabling rods or a measuring tape.

If that works, I'd suggest using a junction box in the loft and reduce those 2 existing cables to one. EDIT: I now see Taylor has already suggested the JB.

Mr Sparkle · 28 Feb 2020

Taylortwocities said:
You can do this one of two ways

run an additional cable from the existing light to the new one. This can go horizontally or vertically. As it’s a stud wall, that’s not too bad.

you can run the additional cable from the existing light, but that might make the wiring behind the light a bit busy.
or you could put a junction box in the loft and drop a new cable down to the new light.

The light is currently fixed to a masonry wall. However the wall on the left hand side is plasterboard

I am leaning towards the junction box and dropping two separate wires down to the two lights

Taylortwocities said:
PS. Did u take note of where the wires went on the old light?
Hope you have the power turned off, those wires are LIVE!!

Yes, I took a pic of the wiring and I turned off the consumer unit

Taylortwocities · 28 Feb 2020

If you have a JB in the loft, you will only need one cable to each light.

Mr Sparkle · 29 Feb 2020

Thanks for the help guys

SUNRAY · 21 Mar 2020

Mr Sparkle said:
Thanks for the help guys

How did this go??

Mr Sparkle · 22 Mar 2020

@SUNRAY

Unfortunately I haven't cracked on with this as I have been working on my kitchen refurb (i.e. Chasing walls, adding additional sockets, pipework, filling and painting)

I was tempted to take the easy way out and just stick a twin light on the wall (where the existing wires are)

However, I will stick to the original plan and place two individual lights on left/right side of the wall

Once done, i will update the thread

Thanks for your comments/help throughout the thread

SUNRAY · 22 Mar 2020

Mr Sparkle said:
@SUNRAY

Unfortunately I haven't cracked on with this as I have been working on my kitchen refurb (i.e. Chasing walls, adding additional sockets, pipework, filling and painting)

I was tempted to take the easy way out and just stick a twin light on the wall (where the existing wires are)

However, I will stick to the original plan and place two individual lights on left/right side of the wall

Once done, i will update the thread

Thanks for your comments/help throughout the thread

You're welcome.
Good luck with the kitchen.

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Easiest wat to install wall lights in this situation?

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