Finally... Our Home

[alamak 0]

New windows are up.

Plastering to start next week.

[Mickey M 0]

New windows are up.

Plastering to start next week.

Blue tinted windows?

[alamak 0]

Blue tinted windows?

yes, blue tinted windows with natural colored frame.

need some advise from everyone.

I have a stretch of cove lighting which is about 5m. how many 4ft T5/T8 should I place along the 5m? I saw some people paired 2 tubes of T5/T8 at 1 spot, is it necessary?

thanks.

[ossify 1]

yes, blue tinted windows with natural colored frame.

need some advise from everyone.

I have a stretch of cove lighting which is about 5m. how many 4ft T5/T8 should I place along the 5m? I saw some people paired 2 tubes of T5/T8 at 1 spot, is it necessary?

thanks.

i suggest 2 tubes of T8. T5 is more expensive, but less wattage and less bright.

[alamak 0]

i suggest 2 tubes of T8. T5 is more expensive, but less wattage and less bright.

thanks for the suggestion.

i was initially thinking of putting 3x 4ft of T5 along the stretch but not sure whether the light can fill up the whole 5m. so need more opinions from here.

[gantan88 0]

New windows are up.

Plastering to start next week.

Nice! Did your contractor help to dispose the old windows as well?

My windows will be up this Thursday.

Mine is powder coated white with tinted green.

Waiting for Thursday :-)

[gantan88 0]

thanks for the suggestion.

i was initially thinking of putting 3x 4ft of T5 along the stretch but not sure whether the light can fill up the whole 5m. so need more opinions from here.

I am also thinking about this right now because my Contractor is asking me how many sides of the living room i prefer to have cove lighting.

When you say 5m, i presume you are referring to the length of the living room right? 5m is about 16 feet.

So you need about 4x 4 feet T8 tubes to cover the whole stretch. Maybe can use only 3, and spread them evenly along the 5m (16 feet) stretch.

Contractor keeps saying that cove lighting is meant to create a cosy feeling and the light should be yellowish kind - warm-white?

But it will never be sufficient to light up the whole living room.

So i thought of using 'daylight' instead of 'warmwhite'. Maybe slightly brighter to brighten up the room sufficiently, but i lose the cosy feeling.

1x 4ft T8 = 40W.

3x 4ft = 120W.

So you are consuming 120W to brighten up the room.

Compared to normal ceiling CFL (normal ceiling hamburger light) which is 2x 32W each = 64W.

[ossify 1]

I am also thinking about this right now because my Contractor is asking me how many sides of the living room i prefer to have cove lighting.

When you say 5m, i presume you are referring to the length of the living room right? 5m is about 16 feet.

So you need about 4x 4 feet T8 tubes to cover the whole stretch. Maybe can use only 3, and spread them evenly along the 5m (16 feet) stretch.

Contractor keeps saying that cove lighting is meant to create a cosy feeling and the light should be yellowish kind - warm-white?

But it will never be sufficient to light up the whole living room.

So i thought of using 'daylight' instead of 'warmwhite'. Maybe slightly brighter to brighten up the room sufficiently, but i lose the cosy feeling.

1x 4ft T8 = 40W.

3x 4ft = 120W.

So you are consuming 120W to brighten up the room.

Compared to normal ceiling CFL (normal ceiling hamburger light) which is 2x 32W each = 64W.

i presumed cove lighting was not meant to brighten your room sufficient for reading because light reflected off the ceiling is diffused and not able to brighten the whole place. My suggestion of 2x 4ft T8 would be sufficient to light up the whole room if you don't reflect off the ceiling. I intend to diffuse it at the source, so no reflection is necessary.

4ft T8 need not be 40W

Read this.

September 3, 2002 - T8 Watt-Miser® Ultra XL saves up to 11% in energy over standard T8 lamps and offers 25,000 hours of life. Incorporating Starcoat® technology, lamp operates at 29 W and offers 81+ color rendering index. It is TCLP compliant and available in 4 ft versions.

[alamak 0]

I am also thinking about this right now because my Contractor is asking me how many sides of the living room i prefer to have cove lighting.

When you say 5m, i presume you are referring to the length of the living room right? 5m is about 16 feet.

So you need about 4x 4 feet T8 tubes to cover the whole stretch. Maybe can use only 3, and spread them evenly along the 5m (16 feet) stretch.

Contractor keeps saying that cove lighting is meant to create a cosy feeling and the light should be yellowish kind - warm-white?

But it will never be sufficient to light up the whole living room.

So i thought of using 'daylight' instead of 'warmwhite'. Maybe slightly brighter to brighten up the room sufficiently, but i lose the cosy feeling.

1x 4ft T8 = 40W.

3x 4ft = 120W.

So you are consuming 120W to brighten up the room.

Compared to normal ceiling CFL (normal ceiling hamburger light) which is 2x 32W each = 64W.

for me, the cove lightings for my place are just for the ambient lighting and not to be used solely as a direct source of lighting. Those will be done by the PLCs.

this is what i will be doing, only concern is how many tubes needed to light up the whole cove lighting area w/o obvious pockets of dimmer areas.

but come to think of it, i am not sure if i will be using the cove lights that frequently. maybe only when i am watching movies in the living room. still considering whether to have cove lights a not..... have to decide by Xmas.

Edited December 21, 2009 by alamak

[gantan88 0]

i presumed cove lighting was not meant to brighten your room sufficient for reading because light reflected off the ceiling is diffused and not able to brighten the whole place. My suggestion of 2x 4ft T8 would be sufficient to light up the whole room if you don't reflect off the ceiling. I intend to diffuse it at the source, so no reflection is necessary.

4ft T8 need not be 40W

Read this.

If you are just mounting the tube on ceiling, then it should be bright enuff already, dun need to diffuse already mah. Or is it part of your dressing up of the tubes?

I dun intend to have cove lighting to brighten up the room for reading. I just need it to be bright enuff, comfortable to the eyes. So that we wont feel giddy and need to strain our eyes to see or do normal things.

[junkie 1]

Hi Alamak,

Ru my mate whom we got lost in Brunei's Temburong Jungle together?

Good to see your reno coming along well. Nice layout you got there.

Cheerios,

Junkie

[alamak 0]

Hi Alamak,

Ru my mate whom we got lost in Brunei's Temburong Jungle together?

Good to see your reno coming along well. Nice layout you got there.

Cheerios,

Junkie

hi bro, not lost yet lah. still managed to find our men whom we left behind.

[alamak 0]

If you are just mounting the tube on ceiling, then it should be bright enuff already, dun need to diffuse already mah. Or is it part of your dressing up of the tubes?

I dun intend to have cove lighting to brighten up the room for reading. I just need it to be bright enuff, comfortable to the eyes. So that we wont feel giddy and need to strain our eyes to see or do normal things.

nowadays like not many pple mount fluorescent directly on the ceiling, i mostly see them in cove lighting purely for ambience.

[ossify 1]

If you are just mounting the tube on ceiling, then it should be bright enuff already, dun need to diffuse already mah. Or is it part of your dressing up of the tubes?

I dun intend to have cove lighting to brighten up the room for reading. I just need it to be bright enuff, comfortable to the eyes. So that we wont feel giddy and need to strain our eyes to see or do normal things.

if i don't diffuse, it won't look good if you want cheap and classy, have to diffuse

the cove light can only throw light in 1 direction, it doesn't throw downwards. If you want to throw downwards, your L box must have holes to let light travel downwards. Know what i mean?

[gantan88 0]

September 3, 2002 - T8 Watt-Miser® Ultra XL saves up to 11% in energy over standard T8 lamps and offers 25,000 hours of life. Incorporating Starcoat® technology, lamp operates at 29 W and offers 81+ color rendering index. It is TCLP compliant and available in 4 ft versions.

this watt miser brand, how expensive is it compared to typical china brand? If slightly more expensive only, can consider.

But on second thoughts, 10 plus years ago we are also use the tube in our kitchen, and it lasted quite long.... i suppose back then we bought any cheapo brand also as we are not as well informed as we are now about various brands and such stuffs.