Lights in my attic and under the floorboards

Posy

Hi,

This probably sounds really daft, but when I look down the cracks in my floorboards there are things down there like small lights, like little bulbs which are lighting.
And up in my attic, there's lots of fluffy stuff on the floor with little lights/lamps in it.
Anyone know what they are?


I was trying to google it and seen this in an article online
"...recessed lighting fixtures in the attic that are covered with insulation become extremely hot and present a serious fire hazard..."

What does that mean? Sounds dangerous.

evosteo

get some pics up

as the saying goes a picture paints a thousand words

Bruthal

Its the view of the tops of the downlighters in the downstairs ceiling you are seeing through the gaps in the floorboards. Unlifted floorboards would have no gaps, but once they were ever lifted, such as for installing downlighters, they sometimes have slight gaps in some of them, through which the light of the downlighters can sometimes be seen.

And in the attic its the downlighters you are seeing through the fibreglass insulation.

Any downlighters installed should have a space in the insulation around them to allow heat dissipation.

Posy

Hmm.. maybe they are.. but there was light coming from under my boards when all the lights downstairs were off.. I think I'm just freaking out because I read about those downlighters causing fires by overheating and I was looking over the builders report for my house and it says something about there being 'no fire stopping provided along the top of the party wall' in the attic, which I don't understand, but now I'm paranoid that the place is dangerous. :eek:

freddyuk

The down lighters should not be covered by insulation but have proper smoke hoods or maybe a fire resistant tube placed through the insulation layer so the lights can cool down. At least move the insulation away from around the lights as a temporary measure.
The builder was pointing out that there is no wall in your attic between your attic space and the neighbours attic so if there was a fire next door it could come up and over via the attic space into your property. Not uncommon in older houses but unacceptable in modern housing.
I can only guess you were seeing daylight through cracks in your ceiling or light reflecting through the light fittings if you can see light via floorboards and the lights below are off.?? I assume there is no insulation between floors.

Posy

freddyuk wrote: »

The builder was pointing out that there is no wall in your attic between your attic space and the neighbours attic so if there was a fire next door it could come up and over via the attic space into your property. Not uncommon in older houses but unacceptable in modern housing.

Aaaah, I see. Makes sense when dumbed down for me! I'm not the brightest downlighter on the ceiling when it comes to these type of things!
Well, there's only two downlighters upstairs, in my bathroom, the rest are normal so I'll suss out the insulation around them anyway, cheers.

Bruthal

freddyuk wrote: »

The builder was pointing out that there is no wall in your attic between your attic space and the neighbours attic so if there was a fire next door it could come up and over via the attic space into your property. Not uncommon in older houses but unacceptable in modern housing.

I doubt the builder was saying there was no dividing attic wall, he was saying there was no fire stop on top of the wall most likely.