lowering kitchen, ceiling

[silverfox1]

hello all,

new to this site so be gentle with me,lol.
where and how do i start is the question i ask myself, i want to lower the kitchen ceiling and then put in downlights, have an idea how to start but need an expert to guide me and tell me where to start, are there any experts out there who can help?

 

[Steve]

How much do you want to lower by? If its only a few inches then you can cross-batten the joists with timber and plasterboard that. Obviously if you want it lowering by more, you'd been some suspended structure.

 

[silverfox1]

hi steve,thanks for your reply,

yes i only want to lower by few inches i think by about 12 inches, when you say cross batten the joists i think you mean i need to basically pull down the ceiling and expose the joists and batten to these, that will be too much work i prefer to leave as it for time being. i was told to make a frame using 3x2 timber and then plasterboarding and then skimming, would this be not be as good. i dont undersand how to fix the downlights? would you know.

Regards

 

[kjacko]

I've re-board 2 kitchens, and i just battened across the existing joists with the existing plasterboard in place, then re-baorded over the top.
However 12" is a helluva cavity to have. I assume your room can take the extra loss in height?
Recessing downlighters is quite easy when you have a cavity above to work with. Might be better to pre drill your lighting holes first though, so you can feed the cabling through with some help

 

[silverfox1]

thanks kjacko

probably wont be 12" what is ideal cavity size. can you explain how i install the downlights, also can you explain how the cabling is done, are there any sites i can check to understand the cabling., will all the downlighters come in a kit form with all necessary cables.

thanks

 

[Steve]

There are those on here that HATE downlighters with a passion. I am on the fence a little.

Dont buy downlight kits, especially not extra low volt (12v) ones. They only come with one transformer, and its of poor quality normally.

I would fit mains voltage downlighters, and fit them with low energy lamps. This will give a very good quality of light in a kitchen, far better than halogen.

When selecting the fittings, dont use fire rated or fireguard fittings. But do make sure they are the sort with a retaining ring on the face of the bulb, with a flylead that plugs onto the bulb. This type is the only one that can be used with low energy lamps.

Also please bear in mind, any DIY electrical work in a kitchen is notifiable to your building control. You must do this before work starts, and have it inspected by their sparks. If you intend employing a spark to sign off your work, discuss this with them first. They aren't supposed to.

Also, since you're altering a circuit, and it will have cables less than 5cm from the surface, you must RCD protect it to bring in line with the 17th edition of the wiring regs.