A Guide To Bathroom Lighting Installations

Everybody wants a sleek water closet but selecting bathroom lighting is not all about the looks. There’s some very important factors that you need to consider whilst buying lights for your bathroom, and in this post we’ll cover all the essentials. To make sure you have a squeaky clean experience installing bathroom lights – please take note of the below!

Safety First

Before you get carried away looking at all the decorative ceiling lights available, you need to remember one thing – is that light fitting safe for a bathroom? The reason this question is vital is because some lights are simply not safe to use in bathrooms. To guarantee your lighting is safe to install in the bathroom you’ll have to make sure that the IP rating is correct.

Every single light fitting has an IP rating, regardless of whether it’s being used in a bathroom, bedroom or outside, and getting the right IP rated light for a particular situation is essential for safety and performance. The general rule for bathroom lighting is to have an IP rating of IP65 or above, however every bathroom has a ‘zone’ and depending on the zone’s location you may be able to install a light with a lower rating than IP65.

Understanding The Bathroom Lighting Zones

The above diagram signifies a typical layout of bathroom lighting zones. It consists of three different zones (0-3), with zone 0 being the most at risk from water damage and zone 2 being more flexible – with the IP ratings you can use.  

Zone 0 – Due to this being the closest to water or in some cases frequently touching or being submerged within, your light needs to be low voltage and have an IP rating of IP68.

Zone 1 – Zone 1 is the middle ground, it’s susceptible to water splashes but it won’t endure the full force of shower or bath water. Some zone 1 areas can even go as low as IP44, but this is only if there are no shower heads above the bath or a constant water flow that will hit the light fitting.

Zone 2 – Unless there is a risk to a direct jet spray then lighting in zone 2 can be as low as IP44. However, as said before, if you want to categorically guarantee no damage will be caused then a IP65 rating will ensure this.

IP Ratings In Detail

An IP rating contains two digits after the letters and it’s these numbers that signify how secure the light is in testing environments. To fully understand the nitty gritty of IP ratings, please take a look at the table below.

To learn more about IP ratings please visit our previous blog. If you wish to view our to full range of bathroom lighting, then please feel free to browse and get in touch should you find a suitable light for you!