Making Your Own Lights
Making Your Own Lights & Lighting
We've a huge range of components which can be used to make lights and lighting. The collection includes:
- lamp or light bulb holders and LED light bulbs
- 30+ varieties of lighting cable
- Industrial style lamp shades
- Ceiling roses
- Lighting accessories
When you buy from us, printed user instructions and diagrams are supplied with the products and the instructions are also available to download from each product page. The instructions show how to safely wire the products.
The diagrams below show some of the popular configurations for pendant lights. As well as being available as separate components, all the pendant styles below are available as as complete ready-to-install pendant lights designed by you. When you're happy with your design, the light is hand built and certified to BS EN 60598 at our production HQ in Yorkshire. If you chose to assemble your own lighting, there is some basic safety information below the diagrams.
Get in touch by email (hello@urbancottageindustries.com) or phone (0207 193 2119) if you need advice or help.
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PENDANT LAMP SHADE WITH GALLERY & CHAIN | STRAIGHT DROP
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PENDANT LAMP SHADE WITH GALLERY & CHAIN | LOOP DROP
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PENDANT LAMP SHADE WITHOUT GALLERY | STRAIGHT DROP
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PENDANT LAMP SHADE WITHOUT GALLERY | STRAIGHT DROP WITH CHAIN
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PENDANT LIGHT WITH CAGE LAMP SHADE | STRAIGHT DROP
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PENDANT LIGHT WITH CAGE LAMP SHADE | LOOP DROP
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Making and Installing Your Own Lighting
Electricity can and does kill. Undertaking electrical work may be dangerous if it is not done competently. The most serious risk is not from electrocution at the time of installation, but after the work has been done when unsafe wiring causes a fire, often at night when people are asleep in bed.
Information from the HSE
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) provides guidance about working with electricity including whether you can do your own electrical work. The HSE advice is:
- You can only do electrical work if you are competent to do so. Simple tasks such as wiring a plug are within the grasp of many people but more complex tasks, such as modifying electrical installations, may not be.
- If you undertake electrical work it is important that you can satisfy the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989.
- For work on installations below 1,000 volts AC, you need to be able to work to BS 7671 also known as the 'IET Wiring Regulations 17th Edition’ or ‘the Wiring Regs’.
Information about Building Regulations
Even if you are competent to do the electrical work, certain wiring jobs are covered by Part P of the Building Regulations. The Building Regs are designed to keep people safe from electrical hazards. They apply to new houses and to alterations to wiring in existing dwellings. Certain electrical work is 'notifiable' to a local authority. Examples include:
- the installation of a new circuit
- the replacement of a consumer unit
- any alteration to an existing circuit in a room containing a bath or shower
Notifiable work must be done by an electrician registered with a Government-approved scheme (such as NICEIC) or building control must be notified before work begins. Alternatively, work done by an unregistered electrician can be approved by a third party certifier who inspects and tests the work during installation and on completion.
Advice from Urban Cottage Industries
The customer support team can advise on products, but they cannot give advice on wiring and installation beyond the user instructions - it is not possible for the customer support team to decide if you are competent to undertake the work, to understand the wiring in your home, or to check and approve what you are doing.
Our advice is that simple lighting installation tasks - fitting a wall or ceiling light for example - are within the competence of some people, but we recommend you use a registered electrician. Using a registered electrician means potential problems with your wiring are picked up are rectified. More complex tasks - altering or installing existing circuits for example - must be done by a registered electrician. Using a registered electrician means you can be sure the work meets BS 7671 'Requirements for Electrical Installations' and you won't have to involve building control. Again, using a registered electrician means potential problems with your wiring are picked up and rectified. A registered electrician is not prohibitively expensive. Electrical work is skilled, knowledge-based and an ever changing discipline that takes time to study and get accredited for. Electrical contractors are required to regularly update their qualifications. They carry test equipment that checks for electrical safety beyond a simple visual inspection.