Bathroom renovation — lighting and mirror

The electrician’s day on a bathroom is early

Almost everything that matters happens before the tiler arrives. Once the wall is waterproofed and tiled, the cable for a backlit mirror is a very expensive change of mind.

So the rough-in is where the decisions get made: where the mirror is going and how big, whether it switches with the room or on its own, how many downlights and how far off the wall so the light lands on a face instead of the top of a head, and whether the exhaust is going in the ceiling or combined with a heat lamp.

What’s in this one

Downlights set out over the vanity rather than down the centre of the room, which is the single change that stops a bathroom feeling like a change room. A backlit mirror with its supply run up inside the wall, so there is nothing visible behind the glass. Points where a renovation actually needs them — beside the vanity, not on the far wall.

Zones, because bathrooms have rules

Wiring rules divide a bathroom into zones around the bath and the shower, and what is allowed to sit in each one changes with how far it is from the water. It is the reason your sparky will move a light or a point on a plan that looked fine. Worth knowing when you are choosing fittings, because the good news is that it is almost always solvable — as long as someone raises it before the walls close up.