Stairs, Staircases And Lighting
By Greg Vanden Berge
Before we get started, I would like to mention a few
things about stairs, staircases and lighting. It's dangerous to walk up
and down stairs in the dark and it's always a good idea to have lots of
lighting.
Dark Stairways Are Dangerous
I'm not about to suggest that 99% of all accidents, related to stairways, has something to with insufficient lighting. As a matter of fact, I would imagine that most stairway accidents happen during the day or in well lit areas.
Let's face it, stairs are dangerous and if we can do anything to reduce these dangers, it's going to be a bonus. Let's keep it real and replace damaged lighting and light bulbs, as soon as possible.
Staircase Lighting
There's no need to have a couple of aircraft landing lights mounted at each end of the stairway, but at the same time, we don't need one 40 Watt light bulb, either. You probably think I'm kidding, but it's not uncommon to find a poorly lit staircase, especially in older homes.
It's also not uncommon to find older homes that don't have any lighting at all, in the stairway. However, if you do have a light with electricity going to it, from a switch or a couple of switches, you're in luck.
If the light fixture isn't producing enough light, you can always change the light fixture. There's a good chance that you will have more than one option, when selecting a new light for your stairway.
If you have a regular 13 step stairway, it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a light fixture that's capable of producing at the least 100 Watts. Remember the old saying, bigger is better, will it definitely applies to stairs, staircases and lighting.
If you're stair lighting fixture is difficult to reach, you should consider hiring a contractor to replace the light fixture.
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