Lighting Your Bathrooms
When it comes to lighting in a bathroom it can seem daunting to get your head around all the do’s and don’ts to make sure you are creating a practical and compliant lighting plan.
This guide outlines the key points and correct steps to create a bathroom lighting plan that will impress!
Planning
While you are still in the planning stages, due to the strict zoning regulations that need to be abided by to comply with Australian standards, if you don’t consider the key elements you would like when planning, it may be impossible to achieve later. When you are looking for bathroom inspiration, note the feature lighting elements you like e.g. vanity wall lights, feature pendants, LED strip lighting, and floor lighting and bring this with you to your builder so that these elements can be taken into consideration when planning cabinetry, show placement etc.
Lighting Layering is extremely important in your bathroom as it creates an atmosphere and mood to reflect your needs at different times of day or requirement.
General Lighting is always required, this is your ceiling lighting, something which you can switch on and illuminate the room as a whole. LED downlights are the perfect fitting to use for this as they are effective and low voltage.
Task Lighting in your bathroom is essentially vanity lighting. Like a bench in your kitchen, the vanity is where all the finer tasks are required. Whether this is simply washing your hands, applying makeup, changing contacts, shaving etc. this is where practical task lighting is essential.
Vanity Lighting
LED Strip Lighting is a great way to incorporate some aesthetic and practical layers into your space. Areas to focus on would be adding backlighting to a mirror, underneath the vanity or shaving cabinets. Other great options include inside shower/shelving niches, a feature wall, inside the shower or creating cove lighting around the perimeter of the bathroom.
Ventilation is extremely important when planning your bathroom renovation. Utilise an extraction fan in areas without windows e.g. a small powder room.
Adding a dimmer onto your bathroom lighting is almost essential in our opinion, dimmers are the answer to all of your ambient needs. Installing dimming on your general or feature lighting gives you the flexibility to adjust the lumen levels to suit all hours of the day.
IP Ratings
IP Ratings are otherwise known as ‘Ingress Protection Rating’ are used to define levels of sealing effectiveness against foreign bodies such as dirt and moisture.
You will often see IP followed by 2 numbers (IP00), the first number in an IP rating is the level of protection against solids such as dust and the second number indicates the level of protection against water - IP(dust protection level, water protection level).
When only one rating is being addressed generally a letter is substituted, normally an 'x', for example IPx4 is only referencing the moisture rating.
According to the EN 60529 classification system:
Bathroom Zoning
Now you know what your IP Rating means its time to talk bathroom zones. Your bathroom is divided into 4 zones. Below is a guide to figure out what zone your light can sit within your bathroom based on your IP Rating.
Zone 0 - Inside the bath or shower. Any lighting used in Zone 0 must have a minimum rating of IP67.
Zone 1 - Above the bath or shower to a height of 2.25m. A minimum rating of IP44 is required.
Zone 2 - The area stretching to 0.6m outside the bath or shower and above the bath and above the bath or shower if over 2.25m. A minimum IP Rating of IP44 is required.
Outside the Zones - Anywhere outside zones 0, 1 & 2. Where water jets are not to be used for cleaning purposes.
We always recommend consulting with your electrician before ordering and installing any light fittings.