Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jul 26, 2009 8:25 pm Hi all Could you please have a look at my eletrical plan and make some surgestions. I think I may need more lights in the meals Living area. Its 8m x 5m. Will 6 down lights be OK. I may go with 8. Or keep the 6 and then 2 battens spaced evenly beteew them. What do you think/ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Thanks to all KW.......... “It's just as unpleasant to get more than you bargain for as to get less” George Bernard Shaw. Re: My electrial plan, what needs to be changed? 2Jul 26, 2009 8:32 pm I would go 8 dL's, also i think u need a few more power points, def in back passage and bedroom also maybe front passage and side of dining room just for a vacumn cleaner at least, notn worse then pluggin in under the bed. Re: My electrial plan, what needs to be changed? 3Jul 26, 2009 8:49 pm KW, What are the batten lights in the main living area for? You certainly want at least 8 downlights in your living area. The rule-of-thumb is 1 downlight for every 4 square meters, so you should ideally be going for 10 in that area. I would also have at least 2 double GPOs per room; some only have one. Cheers, Casa Demolition August 2009, Construction Started September 2009, Completed December 2010 Re: My electrial plan, what needs to be changed? 4Jul 26, 2009 9:29 pm KW, For downlights we went 1m in from the wall, and then every 2 metres. So I would have had 8 in that area also. With your downlights, consider banking them, perhaps in pairs. This will save you dollars on your power bill by only having the ones on that you need and gives you more flexability with the light required during certains times. ie, when watching tv you may want the back two on, and not the fronts over the screen. It shouldnt cost any extra. With the placement of light switches, make sure your happy with how you will walk into and out of rooms during the day and before bed. Helps so your turning the lights on in the room your about to walk into, or off when walking out. It looks pretty good however. I dont know if your having networking put in, it doesnt look like it? If you are, consider having all phone points run in cat6 cable and bringing it back to a central point someone with the rest of your network cabling into a patch panel. Then you can turn any point in your home into a phone or data point simply by patching it differently in the hub. Adds great flexability at very minimal extra cost. Have a GPO and phone point put into a closet or something somewhere for a future alarm system if it is something you want down the track. And an extra outdoor power point near the hot water service if your into christmas lights!! Re: My electrial plan, what needs to be changed? 5Jul 26, 2009 10:04 pm Do you want outdoor lights for the backyard other than in the alfresco? Also, where is your TV going? do you have enough power points there? My tv area needs 8 power points. What about another power point at the other end of your ensuite bench? 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: My electrial plan, what needs to be changed? 6Jul 26, 2009 10:06 pm Sierra By Banking them does that mean having a switch for every 2. So one wall switch will have 2 buttons on it. Is that correct? Could I do that after hand over by changing the switch? I guess each 2 lights need there own seperate wire to the switch. I was going to go with a dimmer. I think a lady at a lighting shop told me about having only the ones you need on. The answer is banking them. Thanks heaps guys always more to learn. KW......... “It's just as unpleasant to get more than you bargain for as to get less” George Bernard Shaw. Re: My electrial plan, what needs to be changed? 7Jul 26, 2009 10:17 pm I agree with what others have said about the GPO's in the front entrance and back hallway for ease of vacuuming, and also another GPO in the room next to the main living area. I would also put a couple more along that wall of the living area incase you want to have a table with a lamp on it. Add another, if not 2 GPO's where the TV is going to go for all your other electrical gear (DVD, Media players, sound systems etc) even if you are having a dedicated theatre room (not sure if you are?). You can never have enough power points, and after all, they are just a small plate on the wall. With the front entrance GPO, you could put it on the wall next to your WIR, as that would be the place you might want a table, and a lamp as well. There also only appears to be 2 outside lights. 1 in the porch and the other in the alfresco. Would you think about changing the alfresco light to a fan and having 4 downlights out there instead? What about a TV point in the alfresco? I would perhaps consider having either a sensor light or 2 other outside lights on the sides of your garage entrance, as the one light in the porch will not light up that area enough. Where are you having paths around the house, and where are you having the clothes line? I would think about putting external lights here to light the paths and also if you get home late and have to bring in the washing, nothing worse than doing it in the dark! I would think about putting one on the kitchen external wall next to the garage door as well, even though it's close to the alfresco. I'd also perhaps add another 2 GPO's in the garage, just in case! You may want to put a beer fridge out there! You may even want to consider lighting up your front elevation with downlights in the eaves (if you are having eaves!). What is the front room you walk through from the garage? Is it a formal lounge or a study? You may need more lights there too, and also more GPO's for either computers and associated gear, or lamps etc. EDIT: Also it migth be worth thinking about having the extractor fan directly over the showers, not in the middle of the room. I know this doesn't work if you want to heat/light the room with the Tastic's, but you could put in an extra one on a separate switch just for showering? Anyway, just a few suggestions! Henley - Wilshire Mk 3 ... I love my house!! Site start: 4th Feb 09 Handover: 10th Sep 09 Blog: http://stormygirlscastle.blogspot.com/ Build Thread: viewtopic.php?t=7166 Re: My electrial plan, what needs to be changed? 9Jul 26, 2009 10:39 pm OMG Here we go again. I had to ask didnt I. Ok A big yes to the out side lights front and back and may be sides also. Great for security. Great comments by all. I was just thinking the room is to wide for only 2 lights. I dont really like down light anyway so I may pull them out. A good friend of mine on this forum is building the same house. She has placed the down lights out around the walls of the room to light them up and used very nice batten lights in the middle. Maybe thats the way to go. More power points I just put more in. For $55 each I best put them in and be done with it. Thanks heaps KW................ “It's just as unpleasant to get more than you bargain for as to get less” George Bernard Shaw. Re: My electrial plan, what needs to be changed? 10Jul 26, 2009 10:46 pm Exactly right about banking. However, hard to do after handover as you have pointed out the lights need individual wires.
I must admit, I had a lot of trouble picking d/l locations and was dissapoined the elec. consultants werent any help. Re: My electrial plan, what needs to be changed? 11Jul 26, 2009 10:49 pm Electrical plan looking good KW I think you have a good number of powerpoints, i think we will be adding some more to our plan once the electrician goes on site. If you decide to stick with only downlights to the living area,i think you will definitely need to add more. You could go with the batten lights too, i personally prefer them. The only other thing that i could bring up is possibly a two-way switch to the entry for those two downlights? it isn't much of a distance so it may not be that important, but just thought ill mention just in case Re: My electrial plan, what needs to be changed? 12Jul 26, 2009 11:05 pm My suggestions are focused on the postion and access of lights. I would consider some two-way and three-way switching also. From the garage light (in the study?) I'd like to be able to turn on the front entry lights and/or the study light as l come home. The study light l'd make two way also. I'd make the garage light two-way with the other switch at the rear access door. So if ever you come in from the outdoor area, you don't have to fumble across the garage to turn the light on! For the dining light, l'd want to be able to turn off the front entry lights, so l'd make that a two way one. I think your hallway light switch is in a awkward position. Coming from the family, you have to open the door and walk down the hall to turn the lights on. I'd move that switch to the right hand side of the door. I'd also have the light point near the bathroom on it's own so that if you have young children then you can leave that light during the night (for bathroom/toilet visibility and to keep the heebee jeebies away, lol) without having to run the other 2 lights all night. I'd move the outdoor light closer to the kitchen bench. I'd move the light switch for the study and HT? (near the dining) to the outside of the rooms. As they are now, you'd have to walk in a dark room to turn the light on, makes more sense to me to be able to turn the light on and walk into a lit room. I'd move your WIR switch to the other side along the ensuite wall. Just my 2c...hope it may help Re: My electrial plan, what needs to be changed? 13Jul 27, 2009 12:36 am Made a few changes: Sitting room. As mentioned, 2 way switch just inside garages entry door. Front Hall: 2 way switch closer to meals area on the jut out next to WIR. Rear Hall: Switch next to sliding door. May be a seperate light to light the are of bathroom & toilet as opposed to lighting the whole hall. Please tell me are you better to have the light swithes inside you WIR or outside on the wall. Ive seen some inside. I have ducted Vac. Im not sure of the position of it inside the garage, its behind the pantry, do you think its to close to the front of the car? Its a round tin thing like a 20 liter drum. Thanks people for you kind input, the forums great for this type of thing, so well do. Cheers KW............ “It's just as unpleasant to get more than you bargain for as to get less” George Bernard Shaw. That drawing’s in the old units. The sewer tie is 1.44m deep and 4.5m offset from left boundary however the levels were taken ages ago so the surface level will have… 1 3543 i thought the flipped plan initially but bec i want narrow pathway from entry to dining (dont like bend), also cannot fit the… 7 12819 5 7299 |