Help with downlight spacing for dormer loft

[b21playa]

Hi all

As I need to patch & skim the ceiling I thought it was a good opportunity to remove the nasty bulkhead light and fit some downlights.

The floor area is 3.95m x 2.8m and the flat ceiling part if 3.95m x 1.7m. Highest point is approx 2.25m

These are the lights I was thinking about
https://www.wickes.co.uk/Saxby-Inte...immable-Downlight-500lm---Matt-White/p/213338

Not sure how many I need and what spacing would be best. Any suggestions welcomed.

Thanks in advance

 

[BS3036]

Make sure to buy plenty of spares as they will not be available when they fail, and you will want them to be matching. Although they pretend otherwise the bulb is not replaceable.

 

[b21playa]

Make sure to buy plenty of spares as they will not be available when they fail, and you will want them to be matching. Although they pretend otherwise the bulb is not replaceable.

Thanks for that. I could always replace them or buy luceco ones which seem to available plentiful

 

[BS3036]

If you can find a matching one with the same hole cutout size.

 

[b21playa]

I

If you can find a matching one with the same hole cutout size.

I may just buy Luceco ones instead. Main thing is spacing

 

[BS3036]

For full disclosure - I think cutting dozens of holes in a ceiling for mediocre lighting is a bad idea. However there are people here who do (or did) this for a living who have a different opinion, so I would hope one of those could come along and advise.

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Depends what you're using the room for, what headroom you have and what height you want to light to.
'ordinary' room lighting (your nasty bulkhead or a pendant lamp) benefit from a lot of reflection from walls and ceiling- so pale walls and ceilings mean that one light source gives enough light from many directions so you can see what you're doing.
Downlights project a circle of light. No bounce from the ceiling, no bounce from walls (unless the downlight is pointed at or washing the wall), you can work out how big the circle will be using basic trigonometry and the beam angle of the downlight.

 

[Taylortwocities]

What is in the space above the ceiling? Is there enough space/clearance for downlights?

If the void is full of Kingspan, etc it is a very bad idea to carve chunks out of it. You’ll reduce the energy save and create cold spots round the lights.