Best Way to Fit Wall Lights

Don’t make the mistake I made if you want to fit wall lights in your home. Select and fit your wall lights BEFORE you finish decorating and have had your carpets fitted. Although my wife and I planned our house refurbishment carefully, we found that when the curtains were fitted in our lounge they reduced the natural light considerably.

The two main lights made the room too bright and we required something a touch more subtle – controlled backlighting. So up came the bedroom carpets upstairs, and out came the hammer and bolster chisel for our lovely decorated lounge walls. So remember, we ALL make mistakes! One good thing that came out of that experience was that we knew exactly where we wanted to put the wall lights because of the position of the furniture.

As a guide for when marking out the position of your wall lights, it’s best that you locate them centrally in each section of wall. This task is not as difficult to attempt as it sounds – just follow the process through the various steps detailed below. All you have to do now is decide where in your room you want to situate the lights!

Cutting the Chase

Mark the position of the wall lights, and using a spirit level and pencil, draw two vertical lines approx 40mm wide up to the ceiling. Cut along the lines using a 1kg (21b) club hammer and narrow bolster chisel. Using a cold chisel and hammer, cut back the plaster chase. Normally the plaster is thick enough to house the cable, but it is good practice to house the cable in conduit or plastic capping to protect it. This may mean cutting the chase a little bit deeper to accommodate the conduit. Fixing the conduit or capping can be achieved by using 40mm galvanizetfclout (plasterboard) nails knocked into the mortar joints. Plaster over the conduit to a smooth finish. The cable you should use is 1mm2 twin and earth type. Fit the light switch and cable up to the junction box, and loop the cable in and out for each wall light mounting position, finishing the cable run at the last of the wall light mounting positions.

Cut back the ends of the conductors (wires), fixing the two red conductors into one terminal and the two black conductors into the second terminal. The earth wire should be sleeved and connected to the mounting box.

Fitting The Wall Light

Mark the fixing position of the wall lights on the wall with a spirit level and pencil. Drill fixing holes into the wall for all the light fittings, insert rawlplugs and screw in hooks by hand for securing the units to the wall. Offer up the wall light units, push the cable ends through the holes in the back and secure them to the wall. Cut back the conductors 12mm and fix the brown conductor into the other end of the red terminal and the blue conductor into the other end of the black terminal. The power should be turned OFF to make the final connection with the lighting ring main into the new junction box.