Bathroom lighting
Which lighting is best for the bathrooms?is a question that seeks to find out how best you can make your bathroom beautiful. I think it’s good to answer this question because many people don’t put much effort into or think about bathroom lighting when planning light fittings.
One surprising thing is that most bathrooms are built to last for more than 20 years. For this reason, I think you should take the time in planning for bathroom lighting. When should you think of installing light fittings in the bathrooms?
The first thing is for you to know where you are going to put your basin, toilet, bath, and shower cubicle. Once you know the positions of various essential fittings in the bathroom, it is time to decide the light fittings you will install in your bathroom.
Table of Contents
- Space or area of your bathrooms.
- Ingress protection(IP) rating for the bathroom lighting.
- Types of light for the bathrooms.
- General lighting.
- Three light fitting types that you can use to give general lighting in the bathrooms.
- Task lighting in the bathroom.
- Mood lighting.
- Bathroom lighting over mirror.
- Bathroom wall lights.
- Zones for the bathroom.
- Buying guide for bathroom lighting.
- Finally, which lighting is best for the bathrooms?
Space or area of your bathrooms.
The available space or area of the bathroom will determine how many light fittings you will have in the bathroom.
Positioning of the switches in the bathrooms.
From the current IEE regulations, you can position switches inside the bathrooms as long as there is a reasonable distance from the wet areas. Ideally, you should position your switches outside the bathrooms by the door.
Ingress protection(IP) rating for the bathroom lighting.
Generally, light fittings with an IP rating of IP44, meaning that the light fitting is water splash-proof. Therefore, you can install this kind of fitting anywhere in the bathroom except in the shower cubicle or bath. The IP44-rated light fitting will generally withstand the wetness found in a domestic bathroom.
What light fitting should you install in the bath or shower cubicle? In the cubicle, you should install a light that is water jet-proof. All light fittings with IP ratings 65 and above, are water jet-proof and can be installed in a shower cubicle.
Types of light for the bathrooms.
There are three types of lighting that can be installed in a bathroom. These are:
- General lighting
- Task lighting
- Mood lighting
General lighting.
This kind of lighting, allows you to illuminate light to the entire room. The main object of general lighting is to light up the entire bathroom.
Three light fitting types that you can use to give general lighting in the bathrooms.
- Ceiling lights.
You can use ceiling lights to provide general lighting in a bathroom and you install it in the centre of the room.
2. Downlights.
Downlights can be a good alternative to ceiling lights. With downlights, you can install 2 to 4 lights in the bathroom. This number is determined by the size of your bathroom. You can use downlights as decorative fittings as well.
3. Spotlights.
Spotlights are less like ceiling lights. The only difference is that spotlight can have two or light bulbs, and these light bulbs can be adjusted to illuminate light in any direction that you want
Task lighting in the bathroom.
Task lighting is the light that you use to illuminate areas that you use to perform your tasks. in the bathroom, most tasks are performed at the basin. Therefore, you need to light up the basin area, usually, it is fitted with a mirror.
When you are shaving, brushing your teeth or doing your makeup, you use a mirror, for this reason, you must put task lights on the basin mirror. This allows you to perform your tasks with ease.
Mood lighting.
This is a kind of light that sets the mood of your bathroom. The bathroom is one room where you start and end your day. There are a number of light fittings that can give you a soothing and relaxing atmosphere in your bathroom.
Lights like a sconce, floor lamps led wall lights and puck lights. It is important to consider mood lighting as you are designing your bathroom.
Bathroom lighting over mirror.
When installing light fittings in the bathroom and particularly on the mirrors, it is a good practice to create a cross illumination on the mirror. This entails that you install your light fitting on the sides of the mirror and not put a light fixture above the mirror only.
You know very well that natural light gives or does a good job when you use it to illuminate your mirror. Therefore, when shopping for lights to illuminate your mirror, look for lights that have a colour temperature that is close to natural light.
Bathroom wall lights.
Wall lights as the name suggests, are lights that you instal on the walls in your bathroom. Wall lights in a bathroom can serve the following purposes.
- To give you both ambient and task lighting
- They are good for lighting vanity and mirror areas
- Wall lights do not take up a lot of space, this makes them ideal for a small bathroom
- When you install wall lights on each side of the mirror, it will evenly light your face and prevent shadows and glare
Zones for the bathroom.
A zone in a bathroom is simply an area in the bathroom. Why is it important for you to know the zones in a bathroom? The zone system helps you to know what light fitting or appliance you can install in a particular place in your bathroom.
There are basically three(3) zones in your bathroom. Zones system also helps to prevent electric shocks to occur in the bathrooms.
zone 0:
Is any area inside the bath or shower tray, any appliance installed in this zone must be rated at IP67 which is total immersion proof.
Zone 1
This is the area above the bath or shower tray to the height of 2.25m above the finished floor level. The minimum IP for an appliance installed in this area is IP44 and the appliance must be protected by a 30mA RCD.
Zone 2
Zone 2 is an area stretching 0.6m outside the bath or shower tray to a height of 2.25m above the finished floor level. the minimum IP rating for the area is IP44.
Buying guide for bathroom lighting.
- Task lighting is a major component of bathroom lighting, for this reason, when you want to buy task lights, you must consider the mirror.
- I know you are asking why the mirror. The mirror area is where you do most of your activities, like doing your makeup, shaving and brushing your teeth.
- It is a good practice to install two light fittings, one on each side of the mirror.
- Ceiling lighting, by now you know that ceiling lights are designed to give you general light. When you are shopping for bathroom lights, don’t forget to include ceiling lights.
- General lighting is there to illuminate the entire bathroom. Light fittings like chandeliers, downlights, pendants, and recessed lights all fall under ceiling lighting.
- Wall lights, do not give you general lighting but most of the time they are used to give you accent lighting. You can use wall lights when you want to light up certain areas in your bathroom that will not be properly lit by general lighting.
- If you want those areas to stand out, use wall lights.
Finally, which lighting is best for the bathrooms?
To answer this question as to which lighting is best for the bathrooms, you agree with me that there is no particular light fitting that is best for the bathrooms.
The only thing that is important in coming up with the best lighting for the bathrooms, is to use a combination of general lighting, task lighting, and accent lighting.
The other thing is to install proper light fitting in various zones of the bathrooms.
You must insist on installing a light fitting with IP ratings recommended for bathroom electrical installations.
This practice will ensure that your bathrooms are safe and free from electrical shocks. Do you have any questions experiences or ideas to share? Feel to share with me in the comments section below.
