When choosing lighting for your home, downlights are a great option. They are unobtrusive, versatile and stylish, and can fit in seamlessly with any aesthetic because they’re so discreet. However, the installation of downlights involves cutting a hole in your ceiling, which can compromise the fire safety of your building.
Fire-rated downlights are modified downlights which are specifically designed to slow or stop the spread of fire through your ceiling. Although it isn’t a legal requirement to have fire-rated downlights in your home, we would highly recommend that you do go for them when choosing the downlights for you; and in this blog, we’ll explain why.
A downlight is a light fitting which is installed directly into the ceiling. Downlights are fitted into holes cut into the ceiling so there is nothing dangling or protruding, giving you a sleek, polished finish.
Downlights are extremely versatile and can be used to create a cosy, warm glow or for full illumination for detailed work. They are growing ever more popular in interior design, especially in kitchens and bathrooms, but also in living rooms and bedrooms to provide a general wash of light over a room to be topped up with more decorative lamps.
Downlights are also especially useful in properties with low ceilings. If you live in an older building, or just a newer build with lower ceilings, downlighting is a perfect way to light up your home without taking up any vertical space. This is also particularly useful if you or people in your family are taller than average and don’t want to risk bumping your head on hanging light fixtures!
Fire-rated downlights are exactly the same as any other downlights, with the exception that they essentially block the hole in the ceiling which they are installed into. This means that if there were to be a fire in a room lit by downlights, the fire couldn’t simply spread through the house via the holes in the ceiling. Ceilings act as fire barriers naturally, and using fire-rated downlights makes sure the fire integrity of your ceiling isn’t compromised.
Fire-rated downlights are most commonly fitted with a round intumescent pad which sits behind the light fitting. These pads then expand when they heat up to a certain temperature, forming a seal with the edges of the hole in the ceiling and completely blocking the way for any fire to spread through.
Fire-resistant downlights don’t just stop the spread of fire. The way they block off the holes in your ceiling also means that they can prevent moisture from passing through from room to room. In addition to this, fire-rated downlights can also act as soundproofing and stop noise from passing so easily through your upstairs floors through the ceiling to the rooms below.
In a lot of cases, if you’re installing downlights in your home you are not required to go for fire-rated downlights. However, the ESC (Electrical Safety Council) recommends that all new downlights fitted should be fire rated, and at ES Lighting we would agree. The extra safety and peace of mind that come with fire-rated downlights make it an easy choice.
There are lots of instances where you do have to make sure your downlights are fire rated though. Some of the most common situations you might encounter where you would have to go for fire-rated downlights include:
If your home has wooden ceiling joists, you need to make sure your downlights are fire rated. This is because if fire did get into your ceiling, the spread through the ceiling joists could be extremely quick and have devastating effects.
If your house has ceiling joists or supports made from concrete or any other non-flammable material, you don’t have to worry as much about making sure your downlights are fire rated.
In a HMO, if you have different people living on different levels of a property, you need to make sure your downlights are fire rated.
Most ceilings have a fire rating of either 30, 60 or 90, which relates to the number of minutes they could stop a fire from spreading. This delay in the spread of fire means you have a much better chance of containing the damage to one room, letting residents escape and restricting the impact of the flames. Having fire-rated downlights in your ceilings means that these 30, 60 or 90 minute ratings can stay the same, whereas downlights without fire rating would reduce it significantly.
Making sure your downlights are fire rated is even more important if you own a block of flats. The risk of fire increases when you have more people living in one building, and especially when you have multiple kitchens in use. Making sure your downlights are fire rated is essential for ensuring the safety of your tenants and your building as a whole.
At ES Lighting we have a range of both fire rated and not fire rated downlights for you to choose from. You can simply browse our range online, or for help and advice on which downlights are right for your needs, you can get in touch with our team. We’ll be able to point you in the right direction and help you find exactly what you’re looking for.
