Indy Total Construction

The purpose of general lighting is to allow you to see where you are and where you are going, and to identify the objects and furniture in a room. It includes lighting for safety and you should ensure that staircases are well lit without casting confusing shadows, and that you can see the whole of a room, including individual pieces of furniture which might be knocked into otherwise.

The best general light is probably daylight. If you have large windows or roof lights, then you have a head start over people who live in dark basements. However, at night you will need some sort of general electric light and the best idea is to keep it simple.

Many people rely on a single central bulb to provide general lighting, but if you find this a bit bleak you can have lights fitted into the ceiling which have adjustable sockets so they can be swiveled to face in different directions: straight down or towards a wall or worktop, as you wish. These are less obtrusive than spot lamps and are effective for providing good general lighting. They are often used as work lights as well, for example, over a kitchen worktop.

Spot lamps (or eyeball lamps) are effective in most parts of the home as general lighting.

Spots can be fitted individually or on a special track which holds two or three at a time, angled in different directions. For general lighting, choose a spot bulb with a wide beam because too narrow a beam will only highlight details of the room. In a very small or low room, a spot bulb may glare into people’s eyes and a bulb with a silvered end would therefore be preferable.

It may not be necessary for the lighting to be at full strength all the time, particularly when it is combined with other forms of lighting, so it makes sense to have it on a dimmer switch which gives you control over the level of brightness.

Staircases

A step, or even a slight change in level, can cause people to trip if they don’t see it so all steps and staircases must be properly lit. A light shining downwards from an eyeball fixture or a spot lamp in the ceiling should cover the whole area. The placing of lights on staircases is important because the steps and risers must not fall in shadow. A fluorescent tube hidden behind a wooden strip or baffle will light up the individual steps. The effect can be softened by the addition of wall lamps with opaque shades, which emit a diffused light. These give a soft glow, helping to soften the main light and making any shadows less strong. Nowadays you can buy low-voltage fluorescent bulbs which will fit into standard sockets.

Living rooms

In many rooms, general lighting can be provided by lamps directed towards the ceiling, from which the light is reflected back into the whole room. There is a wide choice of standard and wall lamps which cast their light upwards. Low-voltage tungsten-halogen bulbs are coated with a special gas to give a bright, white light when heated up, not unlike daylight. They incorporate transformers and dimmer switches, which makes them very versatile and economical. Modern standard tungsten-halogen up lighters are usually elegant and good-looking, they take up little floor space and one should provide enough lighting for general purposes or for work in a small- to average-sized room.

General lighting can also be provided by wall lamps, which give an attractive, diffused glow by reflecting light off the wall.

Staircases are often taken for granted yet they are complex pieces of carpentry which give many years of trouble-free use. They rarely need replacing: just as well, since they are often tailor-made to fit. Even so you can buy ready made versions, which cater for common storey heights and these can often be easily adapted to fit exactly.

A staircase comprises a number of steps fixed between two long boards which are fixed to the joists of the floors they connect. These boards are called strings, the horizontal surfaces of the steps are called treads and sometimes they have vertical boards between them known as risers.

Strings can be in two forms: closed and cut. With the former the ends of the treads and risers are housed in shallow slots cut in the face of the string and held there by wedges driven in from behind and below. The risers are fixed to the treads below with housing joints or screws, and to the treads above by triangular blocks glued and nailed in place. The top edge of a cut string is shaped to provide horizontal ledges to which the treads are fixed. Sometimes both foul’s of string will be used in the same staircase, the closed string being fixed against a wall with the cut string on the outside.

Further support for the steps can be provided by a beam that runs below the treads and risers parallel to the strings. This is known as a carriage.

There are two basic types of staircase: the closed tread and open tread. Of the two, the former is most common, having treads and risers in a boxed-in construction. The underside of the strings are usually clad with lath and plaster or gypsum board or there may be a closet below the stairs. The latter is preferable since it allows easy inspection and repair. The open tread staircase has no risers and is completely exposed.

In a closed tread staircase the treads are about lin thick and will overhang the risers by a similar amount, their leading edges or noses being rounded off. A decorative molding is often fitted below the nose. An open tread staircase will tend to have thicker treads because they are not supported by risers, although sometimes a batten will be set on edge immediately below them to stiffen the tread.

All staircases must have at least one handrail and if wide they must have one on each side, depending on the requirements of your local code. The handrail forms part of the balustrade, the other parts of which are the newel posts and balusters.

The newel posts fit at each end of the stairs with the handrail running between them. Not only do they support the handrail but often the strings as well which will be slotted into them and fixed with wooden dowels. Further support for the handrail is provided by the balusters which fit between it and the strings.

Though straight staircases are common, where space is limited it is often necessary for the stairs to change direction on the way up. A small quarter landing is used to provide a 90° change of direction and a half landing will turn the stairs back on themselves.

If there is not room for a half or quarter landing a turn can be put into the stairs by inserting triangular treads called winders. Winders are also used in spiral staircases which can be great space savers. Unfortunately they are not very practical since carrying furniture and other bulky items up them is difficult.