What is the best way to wire ceiling lights?

Alan Capon:

I agree, looping in to a ceiling rose is by far the most common, and probably the cheapest.

It might be the most economical when it comes to twin and earth cable but the savings are likely to be minimal over other methods as around 90% of the cost of a new installation or rewire is labour rather than parts.


I rewired the lighting on my house using Surewire light and switch junction boxes in a more radial than loop-in topology. It's quite an elegant arrangement with only one cable to the light fitting and one cable to the switch, but are there any better methods? It has a notable disadvantage that it doesn't supply a neutral to the switch.


An electrician criticised my unconventional rewire with 'large' junction boxes under the landing floorboards and asked why I didn't just use loop-in wiring with ceiling rose junction boxes. I replied that I hold the view that ceiling roses should be easy for residents to replace so they should not contain a complex and intimidating interconnection of wires where connections also affect downstream light fittings as well as the one in the room. Also the potential health and safety issues with working with complex wiring at a height whilst looking at it upsidedown. He still wasn't convinced and thought that I was wasting my money on the junction boxes and an extra few metres of cable, as ceiling roses will do the job just as well, as well as confusing electricians in the future who expect to see loop-in wiring.

Alan Capon:

I agree, looping in to a ceiling rose is by far the most common, and probably the cheapest.

It might be the most economical when it comes to twin and earth cable but the savings are likely to be minimal over other methods as around 90% of the cost of a new installation or rewire is labour rather than parts.


I rewired the lighting on my house using Surewire light and switch junction boxes in a more radial than loop-in topology. It's quite an elegant arrangement with only one cable to the light fitting and one cable to the switch, but are there any better methods? It has a notable disadvantage that it doesn't supply a neutral to the switch.


An electrician criticised my unconventional rewire with 'large' junction boxes under the landing floorboards and asked why I didn't just use loop-in wiring with ceiling rose junction boxes. I replied that I hold the view that ceiling roses should be easy for residents to replace so they should not contain a complex and intimidating interconnection of wires where connections also affect downstream light fittings as well as the one in the room. Also the potential health and safety issues with working with complex wiring at a height whilst looking at it upsidedown. He still wasn't convinced and thought that I was wasting my money on the junction boxes and an extra few metres of cable, as ceiling roses will do the job just as well, as well as confusing electricians in the future who expect to see loop-in wiring.