downlighter hoods or guards install in difficult situation

[grippa]

I have many many downlighters all over the house. They were there when we boght the house and were nearly all R63 sized.
Gradually I am replacing the halogens with led bulbs but
I have questions as to what hoods to use in different situations.
LOFT...these are low voltage MR11 halogens and just have a large 'hole' in the surrounding insulation..I will use a metal box for these and put insulation over the box.
BATHROOM..this has part of the floor over the entrance hall and part over the porch (like a Tudor building hangover). The entrance hall also is joined by a passageway (that also has downlights) and that has it own (uninsulated) roof void which connects to the bathroom floor joists. This means that cold air can get in and fall through the downlight holes above the entrance hall and 10 foot long passageway. I cannot get access through the floor in the bathroom to the entrance hall downlights.
Is there a hood that can be inserted through the downlighter hole, to not only give fire safety, but also ameliorate the cold air falling through the downlight holes?
The roof void above the passageway connects to the apex roof void above a single floor extension room but is very small and I am not sure if I can fit into it (I may get in, but getting out could be the problem!).
So I was thinking of somehow getting covers to just set down over the holes using some sort of long reach 'grabber' arm like a 'litter pickup' tool and then laying insulation over everything using the same tool. I would also try to push insulation into the bathroom floor joist spaces ( that are right at the ned of the access void of the passageway to stop the wind whistling through.
If access and 'grabber' tool do not work then again I would have to use hoods that could fit through the downlighter holes themselves.

The bathroom itself has its own roof but as the access from the main loft is so small no insulation was put in there by the builders so again the cold air plummets through the down lighters (GU10 in this case).

The amount of cold air falling through these holes at the moment is really really bad, so much so, that the passageway and the bathroom take a hell of a lot of heating!

I would be grateful for any pointers on this

I have posted a picture in my album 'house lighting'

Untitled

• grippa
• 14 Feb 2015
• 1

 

[ban-all-sheds]

You obviously need to get as much insulation into these spaces as possible, and that will be much easier if there are no lights sticking up into them - have you thought about just getting rid of them, and not having swiss cheese ceilings?

Over the holes in the bathroom ceiling you need covers which seal to the plasterboard, as you must stop warm moist air getting into the loft where it might condense and rot the timbers, so those metal things are not the right sort.

• http://www.nhbc.co.uk/NHBCPublicati...ical/StandardsExtra/filedownload,16553,en.pdf
  
  
• Pre-formed cap to seal downlights: http://www.aico.co.uk/downlights-in-loft-space-what-to-fit.html (It's NOT a firehood....)
  
  
• IET article on installing downlighters safely

 

[grippa]

Thank you for the input Sheds. And many thanks for the links

The ceiling height in the entrance hall and the passageway is very low and therefore the downlighters have to stay. Also I would not want to muck about with the ceiling.

The metal ones will be used in the main loft where insulation can then be easily laid over them...but the space above the bathroom is going to be hard/impossible to access to put in sealed covers. The bathroom itself is pretty big 11ft by 10ft and does not seem steam up. The loft space above the bathroom is well vented so there is always fresh air circulating to dry out any condensation. Obviously this air is also tumbling through the downlighter holes!
Although I cannot get into the bath loft space I have used a torch to look at the roof/floor timbers timbers and they seem to perfectly fine.
So it is a case of trying to track down the type that maybe able to be 'pushed' through the downloader holes for above and below the bathroom, and maybe the passageway.

I have also thought about the option of 'pumping' the loose insulation into the bath loft space. But the downlighters will still need covers!

 

[Adam_151]

To hi-jack the thread...

@ BAS, What fittings would you recommend for a kitchen then? ... I tried telling the missus that when I tear down the swiss cheesed drop ceiling in the kitchen, and overboard and have skimmed the old lath and plaster ceiling above it, that I would fit a couple of 5' pop packs... after explaining what a pop pack was things then went the way of a lead balloon....!