Spot Light replacement

[Adrian Simpson]

The previous owner of my bungalow (aka the bodge master general) placed four low voltage spots in the ceiling of the lounge (in doing so he managed to cut through one of the joists). These have never worked properly (some never lit up, the rest would turn themselves off at some point). Now they don't work at all, and hitting the switch has the effect of tripping the light circuit. So I want to replace them. Should I go for low voltage or mains ? Also since the guts of them are in the loft, what to do about the insulation ?, and just for good measure, I want to board the loft

Suggestions please.

Adrian

[Owain]

Pull the spotlights out, fill in the holes and make good.

Use some nice uplighters and table lamps instead.

Owain

[cynic]

Recessed spots are one of the really stupid "improvements" to be foisted on the public. I'll bet you don't have any means of firestopping installed so the holes make an excellent rapid fire path from room to loft. Never mind part P the installation contravenes part B of the building regs The cut joist is bad news and contravenes part A. - Building regs are there for a reason although part Ps reasons are dubious since we already had BS7671 to cover the standards. The damn things are malfunctioning anyway. I suggest you remove them, replace or effectively repair the joist, repair the holes in the plasterboard with an effective firestopping material and use a conventional light fitting.

[Adrian Simpson]

Like I said, fitted by the bodge master general (you should have seen what he did with the extension).

I was starting to get around to that way of thinking, something to do over Christmas I suppose.

Adrian