How to Install the Easiest Attic / Loft Lights
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- Опубликовано: 4 ноя 2021
- Working in the attic or loft is not a pleasant experience so watch me as I show you how to do most of the work somewhere more comfortable and install the lighting you really want without the need for an Electrician.
How to Install the Easiest Outdoor Socket: • How to Install the Eas...
ITS website: www.its.co.uk
Amazon links to the tools and materials used in this video...
UK links:
► Cordless Drill (Dewalt): amzn.to/3k0GEeX
► Dewalt Magnetic Bit Holder: amzn.to/3GQXu8V
► 6" MK Pendant Light Fittings: amzn.to/3GPTdml
US Links:
► Cordless Drill (Dewalt): amzn.to/3qWFgLy
► Dewalt Magnetic Bit Holder: amzn.to/3bMGDWB
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Хобби
I like the idea of the mdf backboard. Todays top tip is, when terminating cables in a switch, socket, etc… don’t cut the earth cable at the same length as live & neutral. Leave the earth cable longer so that if, for any reason, the cable/flex is pulled out the earth cable is the last cable that loses connection. 👌
Same applies to wiring plugs
Top tip mate
Yup. Good tip. It should be common knowledge as well as common sense, but when you start rummaging around wiring done by allegedly trained professionals, it's not always done that way...
I've installed pendants in my loft too. I absolutely agree that these offer a big advantage if you happen to knock against them with your head, and modern LED bulbs don't feel too hot if you brush against them. It's a good approach if the slope of your pitch roof is shallow and you don't have much head room.
Glad even the best DIYers swears at some jobs lol. Looking forward to the boarding out and what ingenious cost effective ways you come up with to board over the insulation.
Absolutely great idea, I bought and connected the pendant to the wiring and fitted in a day. By the end of the week I have fitted loft boards on loft legs, now I have so much more usable storage space.
I think if it was me I would've taken a piece of flooring or timber up to lay across the joists, then you wouldn't have needed to balance on the joists. You could've also taken a sturdy toolbox to stand on too to give you the extra height so you don't need to re fix them higher later on. But other than that, yes it's a good idea. Thanks for sharing 👍
couple short boards + a milk crate to stand on
Absolutely Janine. You took the words right out of my mouth. 👍
I also forgot to mention. When I did my loft, I fixed CLS battens across from rafter to rafter, a bit like a collar tie, then put Chipboard flooring across for the shelves. I was able to make large shelves for storage. That way it keeps everything off of the floor and you have more room too.
Thanks Stuart. I've just installed the same set up in my loft after seeing this. Brilliant idea for someone not comfortable enough with electrics to install a full socket
Just finished installing the same setup in my loft after being inspired by your video. It was pretty straightforward and works really well. Quite cheap to do too. Thanks for the video!
Excellent well done!
What a brilliant idea to do all of the fiddly stuff in the workshop! I can't recall the number of times I've struggled with wiring etc in the loft or in some inaccessible space.
When I did my attic I put some temporary loft boards down to enable me to use a small step ladder and provide safe places to stand. Once the wiring was complete I added the loft legs, insulation and boarded it out. Sometimes a temporary fix saves lots of time and improves safety and comfort. Glad you didn't put your foot through the roof and good money saving idea using pendants.
Another great video Stuart, refreshing to find someone who clearly plans it and delivers it in a professional manner
Thank you very much!
Thanks for the inspiration Stuart. I've just installed this in my loft today. Without your video I'd have probably made do with an inspection light on a hook. This is a much more useful solution 👍
Looking forward to your video on insulating and boarding out the loft. Mine already has the flooring, but everything is covered in dirt as the angled roof sections are just the original boards with the tiles on the outside. It’s a 1935 detached house, and I’ve been putting off doing this job for ages, partly due to the amount of ‘relics’ accumulated up there, over the years! One day I will have a good clear out, or so I keep promising ’she who must be obeyed’!
Stuart,
Thank you so much for this inspiration. I am visiting my parents in Ireland to help insulate their loft and put this setup together. All put together and tested in the workshop/living room. Working a treat.
Plus I got to buy some new tools 🔧 ☺️
Nice one!
Top man, my son and I just finished putting the lights in. Thank you, great video.
Attic lights make all the difference!! Great video. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you very much for the informative video. It's always good to see an effective workaround for some of the more 'daunting' jobs for the everyday DIYer.
Love you stuff Stuart - some great tips, so many thanks. But why didn't you show us a fully wired up bulb? After all the detail of what could be done, there was too little detail about what was done.
Brilliant idea ! This is in my opinion the best instructive DIY channel on RUclips!!
I'm glad you think so! Very nice to get comments like these after putting in many hours making these videos.
Ditto
A shot of the final wiring in the light fitting would have been nice
Great channel with so many useful projects. Thank You!
Making the world better one job at a time👍🏾
looking forward to you doing the flooring and storage as this is a job waiting for me but not confident without good guidance , from yourself of course regards
This is what we planned to do originally, in fact we got as far as wiring in the first one then left it for 5 years! Lucky for us there was a socket right underneath the loft hatch so it took literally 2 seconds to plug it in.
In the end, since we had a few 5m LED tape strips left over from another project we ended up just putting them up along the ridge board, which gives a bright, even light across the whole loft!
Excellent job.
I'm looking forward to you boarding out your loft.
You can now get LED battens in various sizes e.g. 5ft length, which have the advantage of not using so much headroom and starting much better in cold weather compared to older fluorescents.
Another great video and a great idea. This is a job I need to do and you make it look so doable…… Also it was great to meet you this week. Keep up the great work!
Thank you! Nice to meet you. As I said send me an email (you'll find the address in the About tab) and I'll send you what I said.
I still have engine bay inspection lamps clamped to my rafters, works great, but always meant to be a temporary solution. Move on 10 years and still doing a great job.
From experience working in the loft, always take a small grandchild up with you when attempting this. Not as you may think to sit on your shoulders to use the drill and hammer to fix the lights and cables you are struggling to reach. But for their useful questions like; “Grandad why did Sue say be careful not to fall through the ceiling” etc.
It’s a great job. Fortunately my son in law is an electrician, so did this job for me. Its a very neat solution you have come up with and good advice not to cut into cables that you think you have traced correctly as a light circuit.
Will be interested to see how you do the boarding and storage and update the insulation, especially around the hatch. With ours as soon as the lights were installed I could see a large gap around the hatch when switched on.
No small children available here at the moment I'm afraid. Just thinking about lugging all the chipboard up there is enough to get me shaking - I will have to take a deep breath and do it at some time
Great video Stuart nice easy job for the DIY person… I replaced my old strip lights last year with LED batons really bright now 👍👍👍👍
Nice one!
I will never forget a friend of mine yesrs ago who clipped a whole load of cables along the length of his loft only to find when he had finished that he had also clipped his tail light cable in with them LOL. As far as I know the tail light is still in the loft. Nice video, think I will do the same when I come to board my loft.
Nice one! I did check twice before cutting them all!
I use you as an excuse, when my wife ask me to do a diy job around the house, I tell her “ yes I’ll do that as soon as PD shows me how to do it
I know what to do” 🥴
So it's my fault!
Innit, what kinda MAN are u ?? 😂
you made it so easy and simple
Another masterful touch with the audio when you take the ear protectors off around 8:29 - Spielberg-level work!
Great job, and good idea to do the work ahead of the install. 👍👍
really enjoy your videos, properly informative and instructive and you are wonderfully engaging and interesting. Greatly admire your work. thank you sir! x
Greetings again from South Africa, once again we are in the dark here, load shedding, thanks for this one Stuart, you take care up in that loft….
Thanks. Nice to see you watching SA again - Dankie
Yes I’ve done exactly the same. Well done.
Excellent
Congratulations to exactly 100000 subscribers
Thanks
Thanks Stuart, I will be installing that in the new year.
Glad to help
Great job. I know how important it is to get lighting up in the loft.
Thank you
Looking forward to seeing the loft board project next!
You and me both!
great idea
Although this may be a simple cheap and cheerful DIY job I always thought it’s better to run loft lighting from a socket circuit fused down as if you are working on the lighting circuit and it’s isolated there will be no power in the loft so you have to mess around with additional lamps and torches. I’ve done this before and it works a treat but now I’ve spurred it off one of the sockets on the landing and put in a fused switched connection unit with 5amp fuse in it so that you don’t have to spend more time plugging it in etc. I have my fuse spur mounted on the side by the hatch and it works really well! Nothing wrong with your work at all matey and a good video for anyone who’s wanting to just get a quick lighting job done up the loft! 👍🏻
I wouldn't call this a simple DIY job. That's something like changing a lightbulb or wall socket not this lol
@@rs-qt1qg in most cases it’s what your average DIY guy would do just to get some lights going but some who have more experience with electrics will take a spur off the sockets below so when the 6amp lighting circuit trips or is being worked on from the loft above it’s backed up by a spur fused down to 5amp so it won’t be pitch black lol
Great tutorial once again!
Another great video. Thanks Stuart - keep up the great work 👍🏻
Thanks, will do!
Thanks for this video, I’ve just installed my own this weekend after being inspired by this video. Instead of a junction box, I opted to use Wago connectors which are super simple to fit. Loved the idea of MDF backing, so did something similar with some spare off cuts of timber. Keep up the great content. Thanks
I had really hoped you had something on your channel for how to deal with the walking on the attic. Now you have the lights, but you are still walking on the studs.
Easy cheap walkway please? :D
Great advice. Thank you
Very good and informative video, well thought out. I'd be buggering about in the loft.
Thank you
Great job thanks for sharing 👍
Living up to your channel name as usual mate 👏 another thorough and precise video 👍 very enLIGHTening 😆👍
I'm glad you're enjoying them
Great idea. Thanks
Thats a prime space for a full loft conversion. Would make an awesome vid
You're right - maybe sometime in the future
Splendid video... Pretty sure I wouldn't be hammering in cable clips onto powered up cable!
I finished this project last weekend. They work well and look great. Will you be doing other loft videos? I need to board my loft but I'll hold off of you're going to do a video on the subject. Thanks for the great content
Great video thanks. I have a similar setup with just one bulb, so I am going to do this soon. Just a thought I wonder if showing us a final picture of how you wired the rose after explaining how you had to alter the wires. This might help others watching. ?? 👍
very enlightening.
Thanks - I see what you did there!
THANK YOU!
Great job as usual. Have a great weekend 👍😃
Thank you
For those with a socket in the loft and the socket isn't in an easily accessible location to the loft hatch then you could quite easily add a pull cord switch to the junction box with some additional flex. The wiring is slightly different, but trivial once you look up a diagram. You'll also need two of the pieces of brown insulation to signify the switched live conductor in the junction box and in the pull cord. You can then leave the plug plugged in.
Fabulous video ...gets me inspired
I'm glad
Please do a video on boarding your loft!
Nice job 👍
Very neat.
Another enjoyable episode Stuart, most enlightening. Ever thought of installing an off-grid style solar & wind unit with a electric generator to use and store some free wattage?
Ohh I want to do this in my next gaff.
Wow ..that is a good idea ..
Would love to see a video on how to fit loft insulation to go along with this
Very good video Sir to give an idea you can make another video teaching how to install an outlet in the attic for that purpose appreciate sharing your knowledge
Tip: mount lights on alternate sides for a slightly more even overall illumination😁 I have one light up there…I might take your approach and fit it out properly!
Great video. I’d like to do something like this but didn’t really understand the initial rose wiring.
Quality, thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it
Hi great video as usual. Tip from Skill Builder with the loft hatch adjust it so the treads have a bit of a gap from the hatch so its more comfortable climbing up the ladder with space for your boots to go. In future you could run the cable down to the consumer unit and pay a leckie to connect the lights up. My loft came with a 12 inch plank running lengthwise on the joists for a walkway.
Thanks. I'll have to try that
In a loft there is usually no point in disturbing the house to run down to the consumer unit. You can usually gain fairly easy access to the circuit going into one of the upstairs lights. You then add the attic lights to the upstairs lighting circuit. There should be no issues with load if you are using LED's. You then have a choice of fitting a suitable switch near the hatch in the attic, a string switch on a beam above the hatch so you can switch it on while still on the ladder or if you want to decorate the landing drop a wire to switch outside the attic.
Brilliant !!!
First time I've seen you get at all flustered! :)
There's nothing like working in the loft to het me going!
A couple of LED floods work really well. Same wiring method if you want to do it that way
Good job. I'm thinking of doing something similar but I might use twin and earth cable for the section that is fixed up in the attic to have the option to get it connected into the lighting circuit at some stage in the future. Flex definitely makes more sense for the part that goes to the plug and no point in oversizing that if using a 5 amp fuse.
Are you planning to have a raised the floor on loft stilts?
NOOICE!! Too Good!
Thanks
Proper job mate. Excellent video as always. You have got to stop these mate. If my misses see this,that’s another job for me to do. 😂
I do apologise. You'll need to watch the channel when no one is looking!
This is a brilliant idea being able to make it up and just plug it in. When will you be doing the attic storage video?
I used a 5M led strip light all the way along, easy and cheap and good light spread. Had to run a cable to both ends to avoid voltage drop along the length of the LED.
Lol done exactly same thing, the I didn't need to run a cable the other end. Seems weird
@@royalstevep68 led lights dim along their length due to internal resistance, the far end will be dimmer than the start of the run. You can fix this by splicing in power every few metres.
@13:10 I get this. Which is why I have been slowly but surely flooring my attic with runs of sub floor or with 'lily pad(s)'
Cracking video. FYI your Keylite loft ladder is not properly adjusted. The 4 brackets held in with hex key need extending which gives you more toe room on the treads where it joins the hatch
Excellent video just what I was looking for. Can you do a video showing how to put sockets in the loft. I want to build a railway up there. Thanks
Hey PD sorry I'm late I've been busy in the garden before the weather gets worse 🙃.
There is something about seeing/hearing a usually composed person loose their cool and speak French 🤣.
Also I'm observant not nit picking......your loft ladder.....the section attached to the door hatch needs adjustment so you can safely put your feet on the rungs.
If you look at the two plates either side that have the slots in, you need to loosen the bolts slightly and pull the ladder away from the door/hatch then tighten them again in the captive position. If you don't understand what i mean please take a look at one skill builders latest videos about the keylight loft ladder installation.
All the best 👍🏼
Take a feed from a bedroom ceiling light, the power is already in your loft. And just put a switch near to the loft hatch. A lot easier than having to plug it in every time you want to use it..
Used a pir on my set up just above the hatch , on when you open and off when you leave….😉
I’m going to do the same after watching this inspiring idea , however I’m going to connect a switch rather than use an extension cable to a socket in a room below the loft!
great videos as ever. what is the make of the loft ladder you use?
I like the pre assembled light in string. plus the trailing lead means that you don't forget to switch the lights off! That reminds me I need to fit an indicator light to my installation, any bright ideas that don't involve cutting a ceiling mounted neon or led into the circuit?
Could you have taken a small board up into the loft to stand on (it would span several joists and much easier to balance on)?
Thank you, very interesting set up, much better doing it all in the workshop rather than loft ;-)
Should 0.75mm wire be ok for one bulb? It keeps tripping my circuit breaker.... Would thicker cable fix this?
1 guess as to what your next job in the loft will be :) Great video as always Stuart!
Thank you - maybe
Great video and a super simple way of lighting up a loft well - One question - Is it all OK to terminate flex cable into pendants or is it better to use ferrules/tin the wires?
I am going over to ferrules for as many connections I can now as it is just so much neater with stranded conductor.
What an excellent video with great ideas (socket power, daisy chain, mdf backing) and very straightforward explanation of the loadings and fuses etc. Thanks!! PS Love the loft ladder - home made?
Glad you enjoyed it. Not home made - it came with the house and I think it's a purchased item
@@ProperDIY Keylite loft ladder - excellent quality but on tip-toes at the top where the hatch gets in the way. I think I will go telescopic with a simple drop-down hatch.
Nice install, if only I could actually get into my roof space 😫
Nice video, they look like they will do for Christmas!!
On the bench they were very festive!
@@ProperDIY one question on youtube, how did you get your name in grey like that on the comments? Mine seems still white? Loves all the vids by the way, my channel is very much in its infancy!
@@FatManBuilds I'm afraid i can't tell you - I've not noticed before.
@@ProperDIY I have the answer! My 13 year old told me! Apparently its due to the amount of subscribers and watch time, you have enough to be verified but I don't yet. Thanks
@@FatManBuilds Really, I didn't know that.
Whats that drill bit attachment that is being used? looks really useful
Brilliant. Great job for entry into diy electrics. I will definitely be doing this. Thank you. Do you have a "suggestions box" for future ideas because I often run into things I can't find on youtube. Cheers
Thank you. Yes, just send me an email - the address is in the 'About' tab on my YT page.
Hi, what a great idea and would love to do this,any chance you could show a bit more detail on how you wired the ceiling rose up and so on.
You closed it to soon 😆.
why not tps
love your work