To design and install a good bathroom lighting scheme you need to consider both how a customer uses it and what IP rated products to use where.
A bathroom can be a place to relax and soak or very task orientated as the occupant gets ready in the morning. It can also be a place to have a bit of fun and add a touch of glamour with some interesting lighting effects. A good trick is to put the lighting on more than one circuit to provide different options.
Designing a scheme
It’s useful to have a ceiling pendant or downlights and to supplement this with task lighting around a mirror. Mirror lighting needs to be practical but not unflattering. Using a combination of wall lights with a warm colour temperature, set at cheek height, and a tiltable downlight to provide crisper light provides a good combination of brightness without the harsh shadows from a solo fixed downlight.
Ground Lights
You can also suggest recessed LEDs in the floor or wall to provide a soft wash of low-level light or to highlight materials and features, adding a touch of drama and luxury to the bathroom experience. Remember that it is important to position ground lights close to a vertical surface for your customer to enjoy its effect as the light needs something to reflect it. This works well on tiles and bath panels.
Free-standing bathtubs look great when they are back-lit using ground lights set in the floor behind them close to the wall or in the corners of the space. You should install these lights on their own circuit so that your customer can use them on their own, with the main lights dimmed down or turned off, to create a relaxing atmosphere in the room.
Safety first – bathroom zones
You will need to know the IP rating for a light fitting and which zone in the room you are installing it in.
- Zone 0 is inside the shower and/or bath. You will have to install the lighting on a low voltage circuit of 12V. The lighting must be rated at IP65 to protect it from powerful water jets, or IP67 from immersion.
- Zone 1 is the area above the bath or shower to a height of 2.25m from the floor. Check that the lighting is at least IP45, or preferably IP65 to protect from water jets.
- Zone 2 is an area outside the perimeter of the bath or shower stretching to 0.6m away and is at least 2.25m above floor level. You will need lighting rated at least IP44 within this area. You should also consider the area around the washbasin or a radius of 60cm from any tap to be in this area.
For areas outside these zones and where there are unlikely to be any water jets there are no specific IP requirements.
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