Boarding Loft

Swap your down lighters to fire rated ones, these have a metal shroud around them, so you can put insulation close to the lights.

Fire rated lights also have intrumescant (sp*) material in so in the event of a fire, it expands and seals the hole up and delays the spread of fire into the adjoining room.

[tigersaw]

or put plant pots over them

[BoltonSte]

Originally Posted by Kilted Ginger

Mines getting done next month and i fully expect to have to raise the floor level if i want to re floor it.

Don't know if these are any good put spotted them in a leaflet today.

http://www.diy.com/nav/build/insulat...-Pack-11837507

Originally Posted by tigersaw

or put plant pots over them

Plant pots don't allow enough ventilation for the downlighters and can cause wiring or the light fitting to go into meltdown

Originally Posted by daveyrach

Unfortunately these will be no good, my loft you can only just sit in, by that I mean if you sit on a joist my head more or less touches where the pitched parts meet. prob only 3 feet ish in height

Having looked at where you live (Reading) I think I know the style of house you have - those lofts are pretty useless for storage as you have trouble getting anything over 3 foot long through the hatch. Also, I'm pretty sure that the wall behind the tiling on the upper floor is a 9 inch solid wall and can't be filled, though on many the tiling is only to the front of the house with a full height brick faced wall to the rear. Over the 2 years I was surveying I must have spent about 2 days a week working in the Reading/Bracknell/Wokingham/Maidenhead/Slough area. There's a lot of houses in the style you describe around that way.

[DarrenSV650S]

I'd just keep all insulation well away from the down lighters. When we moved in we found them all covered with insulation. One that was fitted hard up to a joist had completely charcoaled the joist. Really dodgy

Depends on the bulb as well, low energy gu10's give off virtually no ambient heat at all.

[tigersaw]

Originally Posted by Lozzo

Plant pots don't allow enough ventilation for the downlighters and can cause wiring or the light fitting to go into meltdown

I use big terracotta pots and leave the hole in the top (bottom) open to the air.
Bang goes my part L compliance.

Originally Posted by tigersaw

I use big terracotta pots and leave the hole in the top (bottom) open to the air.
Bang goes my part L compliance.

I've been into lofts that already have 4 or 6 inch diameter plastic plant pots over the downlighters and some of them have been completely distorted and 3/4 melted by the heat generated

[tigersaw]

That's why I used terracotta. Previous occupant had a fetish for these lights, a mix of 13 gu10 and mr16 penetrate the loft, looks like a plant pot farm up there.
When I can find cheap and effective led replacements or evendifferent fittings that use the same huge holes he's carved out I'll change them, I,m not a fan and they use stupid amounts of leccy.
However, i,'ve tried the megaman flourescents whichare the only ones that really work but they stick out too far, and all the led's I've tried so far are ****e.