Considerations For Home Lighting | Guidelines For Home Lighting

 CONSIDERATIONS FOR HOME LIGHTING

 

Guidelines for Home Lighting

In this article, we will discuss the guidelines for lighting the various rooms in a home.

 

Living and dining rooms. We combine light fittings which provide good strong light (for reading, sewing, etc.) with decorative light fittings such as floor standing or table lamps. As one needs fairly good lighting over the dining table, we use single or multiple pendant (which should be able to take at least a 100 W lamp) directly over the table. Two or three well-placed wall brackets or table lamps should light up the rest of the room. These need be only of 25, 40 or 60 W. We may also think for providing a 100 W floor lamp that can be moved to any part of the living room for general lighting.

 

Bedrooms. The lights should be so positioned that we will not be looking at the glaring light when lying in bed. This is particularly important as we may have to switch the light on suddenly in the middle of the night in a room where more than one person may be sleeping and the switching on should not disturb others. Bulbs need not be stronger than 100 W. One strong light and another weak one will be ideal. Lamps fitted for reading should be used to conceal the lighting. For adequate light over the dressing table, two lamps mounted on either side or one lamp above the mirror will be the best.

 

Kitchen. It should be remembered that a kitchen is normally a hot place and hence, cool lighting is the best. Tubelight (fluorescent lamp) will be ideal for general lighting. It should be so placed that it is easily accessible for being cleaned regularly. A 60 W bulb fitted directly over the cooking place will also be helpful.

 

Bathroom. Here the light should be of uniform level throughout. A simple ceiling-mounted fitting is not suitable. The bathroom mirror needs special lighting and for this purpose, we can use a matching wall bracket fitting or a small tube light over the mirror.

 

Notes:

(a) Clear lamps should be avoided for interior lighting as they create glare and harsh shadow. Bulbs with inside coating or clear bulbs inside glass fittings which give well-diffused light can be used. Clear lamps are to be used for lighting up the outside of buildings.

 

(b) People need more light to see as they grow older. Persons over forty need three times more light than a child of ten and those over sixty to need fifteen times more light than children to read with the same degree of comfort.

 

(c) The major three factors to be considered in lighting are:

1. The nature of work

2. The age of the person

3. The distance between the light source and the person using it.

 

Provision of Minimum Number of Outlets in Each Room

The minimum number of outlets to be provided in each room of a building will depend on the lifestyle of the owners. This should be planned well in advance. The following can be taken as the average for a middle-class family:

Kitchen	4 to 5 (water pump, mixer, oven, etc.)
Living room	3 to 4
Dining room	2 to 3
Bedrooms	2 to 3
Bathroom	2 to 3 (heater, for mirror, etc.)
Study	2 to 3
Staircase	1 to 2 (one- to two-way switch)
Stores	1
Laundry	2

 

Switches for bathroom lights and heater should preferably be provided outside the bathroom at its entrance to avoid standing on wet areas to switch them on. The mounting heights of these outlets depend on their use. In the kitchen, many of the outlets are fixed just above the kitchen platform. In order that the switches are inaccessible to children, the recommended minimum height is 1 to 1.5 m above the floor level. This also avoids the need to bend to switch on the system.