Soffit lighting on flat roof house

[psarinuk]

Hi,

I've a 3 bed end of terrace 'flat-roof (felted)' house. I am having new fascia boards and soffits installed this weekend.
The existing fascia boards and soffits are made of timber and the new ones are going to be 'clad-over' UPVA (plastic) fascias and soffits.

I've seen a lot of houses these days with soffit lights (spotlamps built into the soffits) pointing down which we really fancy having on our house now.

The timber soffits currently have 50-60 mm holes every 100 cms near to wall but the new ones are just plain continuos with no vent/ holes. They are the right size and are supposed to go on top of existing soffits with poly pins.

The questions at the moment are:
1. Do you generally get soffit lighting for the front of house only or for the back as well?
2. What is the kit that I need to buy? If you could break it down with items like bulbs (wattage, ams etc) and price, it would be great.
3. Would I need a transformer or can I get AC low wattage spot lamps.
4. Since there is no loft, would drilling a hole through soffit into the gap between ceiling and roof be safe? I intend to then bring the wire down through the wall into a socket/ switch.
5. How big of a job is this and how much should the equipment cost? Is it fairly cheap to run these lights daily?

Sorry for the long mail and thanks in advance for your valuable tips.

Kind regards
Kunal

 

[EdwardCurrent]

Hi,

At the moment my answers are :


1. It depends on if you want lights in both areas .
2. It depends on how large an area you will need to light and at at what level of brightness, the style you want, price of fittings etc. Most manufacturers will tell you if they are suitable for 'oudoor' use.
3.Refer to above.
4. socket/switch, do you mean spur ??? will you be within the 'zones' with your cable run ?
5.This can vary depending on which type of lights you pick, lamp type being a major factor ?


Maybe a timeclock should be fitted ???


Cheers,

Ed

 

[psarinuk]

Thanks for your reply Ed.

The front of house is 6 metres, so probably I would need 3 or 4 soffit spot lamps.

I am not too bothered with brightness as we have regular well lit lamps at the front of house, so probably one of the most efficient energy and price wise would do.

The lights would need to be fed with a power supply. That could be either through a switch (ON/ OFF) or through a socket (wired plugged and controlled through ON/ OFF). Having a timeclock would help, and that would mean using the socket with ON/ OFF.

The wiring would run through the gap in roof and ceiling plaster board and into a fitted wardrobe where I have an existing power supply.

Can you please provide me with some example/ specs of items that need to be bought and their ratings?

Thanks
Kunal.

 

[EdwardCurrent]

Hello,

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Index/Lighting_External_Index/Shower_Lighting_Halogen/index.html

All the kit you need should be found here, transformers, spur and timeclock (which could be fitted inside your wardrobe) etc.

Cheers
Ed.