Lighting requirement (lumens) for a lounge

[DIYedboy]

Hello all you clever lot, I've trolled the internet n got meself all confused with different answers, so it's best to ask the experts.

My lounge will be 23ft x 12ft with an 8ft ceiling, I want to sit in it n watch the tele with the lights on and a relaxing, theraputic glow to the room rather than have my retinas blasted out.......how many lumens do I want?

 

[bernardgreen]

Too many variables to give advice about which lights to use.

Colour of walls, ( how much of each colour in the spectrum do they absorb / reflect ) furniture, carpets floor etc will all have an affect on the choice of light sources.

Best option is to get the room functional with basic white light and then try out different lighting until you get the effect you want.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

It is difficult to say. I prefer to watch TV with lights off. But also like to be able to read in this room, so I like the light to achieve that.
Likely looking at 20-50 Lumens/p/m2 as ball park figure. But it maybe something you need to tweak with.

 

[JohnD]

IMO a room 23ft long would benefit from two ceiling lamps, equally spaced, for when you want the whole room illuminated. You will need some kind of reading lamp close to where you expect to sit.

I would then go for table lamps, uplighters, standard lamps or wall lamps according to your taste for your more subdued lighting. Modern LED lamps run very cool so you can tinker with their wattage depending on the brightness you prefer, or turn on all, some, or none of them for your preferred lighting pattern. And that's before you consider dimmers.

If you want, you can have special 5A round-pin sockets for lamps, controlled by a light switch, so you can unplug and move the table or standing lamps according to your whim. This is part of the house rewiring, if you are having that done soon.

 

[DIYedboy]

Here's the thing...............the room is a rear extension with a sloping tiled roof above, it has 2 velux windows in, this weekend I have to fit 150mm celotex between the flat ceiling rafters, so whatever ceiling lighting I bung in cannot ever be changed! I'm thinking a bright central 'chandalier' and 4 downlighters?? (don't want too many holes in the poor old celotex)

 

[EFLImpudence]

(don't want too many holes in the poor old celotex)

You don't want, and probably won't be allowed to have, ANY.

 

[DIYedboy]

The regs inspector said it would be fine for downlighters (but I don't want loads of them)..............I'll be using shallower ones that won't fully penetrate the celotex

 

[Taylortwocities]

Your regs inspector needs to go back to school then.

Or can he move to my LABC. Here they NEVER, EVER let you compromise the thermal properties of the insulation by making it into some sort of swiss cheese.

 

[ericmark]

My house similar sized room, started with two 100W tungsten bulbs, we changed to two chandeliers with three bulbs each, went to 40W each, but before long moved to 60W, as the CFL came in we started fitting 3 x 11W but they looked rotten so when a burst pipe forced us to do repairs we fitted 5 bulb chandeliers at this point we fitted 10 x 8W globe bulbs giving around 3500 lumen of light, however these were useless bulbs on switch on these Philips bulbs were very red, slowly getting brighter, and they were not really bright enough to read with.

So when Lidi did some LED bulbs we gave them a try, first was two 1.8W candle bulbs and then another 8 x 3W this gave us around 2400 lumen but it actually seemed a lot brighter, in fact the brightest the room had ever been, however as time went on we were not so sure if actually brighter or just the colour of bulb making it seem brighter, so bulbs all moved to mothers house and replaced with 10 x 5W LED lights so back up to around the 3500 lumen mark.

Not sure if too bright now, I think using standard lamps to read with is a better idea and have just the 3W lamps, they shine up onto a white ceiling which spreads out the light well, simply using a chandelier where the bulbs face down will change the light output. But at least this should give you an idea

 

[DIYedboy]

Taylor.............of course you can compromise the ceiling......BUT......only if your wall n floor values are high enough to make the whole structure below the lower than the standard required, but don't pierce all the way thru the celotex, what's the problem with that?

 

[EFLImpudence]

but don't pierce all the way thru the celotex, what's the problem with that?

Why do you think it comes in the thickness it does if half or third would do?

 

[DIYedboy]

EFL................don't be daft mate...............if you remove 10 holes about 3" in diameter and 4"deep you haven't exactly halved the thickness over the whole ceiling area have you? did you also forget that I'd already stated the construction is already BELOW the required total U value therefore we have a margin don't we?

 

[EFLImpudence]

Suit yourself.

Do the instructions for your lights say they may be installed in 3 x 4 holes in thermal insulation?

 

[DIYedboy]

I haven't bought any yet,..............I'm still in the planning (how many lumens?) stage aren't I?

 

[flameport]

of course you can compromise the ceiling......BUT......only if your wall n floor values are high enough to make the whole structure below the lower than the standard required, but don't pierce all the way thru the celotex, what's the problem with that?

600mm of celotex insulation in the walls, floors and ceilings to ensure a super high insulation value for the whole structure, vastly in excess of any standards that exist.

You can then put the heating on and leave one of the velux windows wide open. Surely there is no problem with that?