Electrical box for lights

[sirocosm]

This may seem like a dumb question, but is there a standard electrical box for lights in the UK? I am renovating and drywalling ceiling and am wondering what to do with the light. I am from Canada, and there all lights have a standard electrical box that looks like this:

All fixtures have the same spacing, much like the power points and switches here. Is there something similar for lights? Can I just use a normal plug/switch box? All of the lights in my house seem to have no box at all, the wires just come straight through the plaster, and the fixtures just thread into the lath below.

 

[FrodoOne]

In the UK most Ceiling lights used an Electrical Ceiling Rose.

See

as a start for understanding these connections.

 

[stubob]

You can purchase round dry lining boxes from Toolstation or Screwfix for less than £1.

 

[ericmark]

It seems lights use same spacing as conduit boxes, not sockets and switches. I used conduit boxes for some wall lights, but the screw holes are 45 degrees to conduit entrance, so better with boxes designed for drilling.

It does seem odd I know, I seem to remember the click plug in ceiling rose does have a back box to match, but standard back boxes have wrong hole spacing.

I fitted an expensive plug in ceiling rose with a hook, which formed a proper box, main idea was don't need to hold the weight of lamp while wiring it.

 

[JohnD]

... the wires just come straight through the plaster, and the fixtures just thread into the lath below.

Lath, you say?

How old is the house?

 

[securespark]

It seems lights use same spacing as conduit boxes, not sockets and switches. I used conduit boxes for some wall lights, but the screw holes are 45 degrees to conduit entrance, so better with boxes designed for drilling.

I used to use BESA boxes for wall lights. I was able to buy a load of galv stop end boxes with horizontal (assuming the cable entry was vertical) lugs.

Just done a search and can only find trouser boxes.

 

[sirocosm]

Would something like this work?

Deta 4 Hole 20mm Loop-In Conduit Box BZP - Screwfix

Order online at Screwfix.com. BZP metal loop-in box with 4 x 20mm knockouts. FREE next day delivery available, free collection in 1 minute.

www.screwfix.com

Any by "work" I mean have the most common spacing for lights in the UK to bolt to. Too bad they don't have holes to mount them, internal cable clamps, and ground lugs. Just sayin.

 

[EFLImpudence]

Would something like this work?
Any by "work" I mean have the most common spacing for lights in the UK to bolt to. Too bad they don't have holes to mount them, internal cable clamps, and ground lugs. Just sayin.

Surely the answer to your questions is simply "No".

UK lights just screw into the ceiling joists (with wood screws) or suitable anchors.

 

[sirocosm]

So there is no standard spacing for lights? and no standard box? When they build a new house, after drywalling do you really just see wires hanging out of holes in the ceiling?

 

[pcaouolte]

When they build a new house, after drywalling do you really just see wires hanging out of holes in the ceiling?

Yes.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Yes.

Usually alongside a timber joist, which makes fixing the ceiling rose easy.

 

[JohnD]

I have occasionally used a round ceiling pattress, and in older houses you may find the light, black-painted steel conduit and round boxes in a house that has thick lime L&P

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I have occasionally used a round ceiling pattress,

You cannot buy the wooden ones now, a ceiling rose looks OK without one, but wall lights just look odd to my eye without. I ended up turning my own, on the lathe.

 

[JohnD]

I meant the white plastic ones.

No longer have an old house.

 

[sirocosm]

Normally in a light box I would have power in, power out, and a cable to the switch. I suppose you could put it all in the switch box, but they are normally on masonry walls, and one would think it is easier to run 3 wires into a ceiling box than in the wall.