Stairway Lighting

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jmellc

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Location
Durham, NC
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Facility Maintenance Tech. Licensed Electrician
Anyone else get irritated with stairwell lights high above stairways? Makes you have to use stairway scaffolding just to change a tube or ballast & still sometimes have to reach way beyond the scaffolding. I talked a church into putting new lights in ceilings at the upper & lower landings and wall mounts at midpoint landings. Kept where lights can be reached with std 6 or 8 foot stepladder. Existing lights can be left in place and power killed from the nearest JBox. Anyone designing a building should use a little common sense. Stairways are a life/safety issue and changing bulbs/tubes should not be turned into major problems.
 
Yeah I am with you and not just in stairways. The designers should really consider the costs involved in maintaining fixtures located in bad locations.
 
Depending on the width of the stairway I believe that the building code has something to say about how far into the stairway space that a wall mounted light can pertrude into the space.
 
jmellc said:
Anyone else get irritated with stairwell lights high above stairways? Makes you have to use stairway scaffolding just to change a tube or ballast & still sometimes have to reach way beyond the scaffolding. I talked a church into putting new lights in ceilings at the upper & lower landings and wall mounts at midpoint landings. Kept where lights can be reached with std 6 or 8 foot stepladder. Existing lights can be left in place and power killed from the nearest JBox. Anyone designing a building should use a little common sense. Stairways are a life/safety issue and changing bulbs/tubes should not be turned into major problems.
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Scaunce lights installed on the wall are also an option.
I have done this on several stairways.
 
infinity said:
Depending on the width of the stairway I believe that the building code has something to say about how far into the stairway space that a wall mounted light can pertrude into the space.
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I believe that once the light is above 6'8"(somewhere around that number) that it is not an issue.
 
Dennis Alwon said:
I believe that once the light is above 6'8"(somewhere around that number) that it is not an issue.
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That might be it. Just wanted to point out that before you go installing stairway wall sconces at 5' that you may end up with a building code issue.:)
 
It is the ADA laws:

4.4 Protruding Objects.

4.4.1* General. Objects projecting from walls (for example, telephones) with their leading edges between 27 in and 80 in (685 mm and 2030 mm) above the finished floor shall protrude no more than 4 in (100 mm) into walks, halls, corridors, passageways, or aisles (see Fig. 8(a)). Objects mounted with their leading edges at or below 27 in (685 mm) above the finished floor may protrude any amount (see Fig. 8(a) and (b)). Free-standing objects mounted on posts or pylons may overhang 12 in (305 mm) maximum from 27 in to 80 in (685 mm to 2030 mm) above the ground or finished floor (see Fig. 8(c) and (d)). Protruding objects shall not reduce the clear width of an accessible route or maneuvering space (see Fig. 8(e)). Appendix Note

from here:

http://www.access-board.gov/adaag/html/adaag.htm#4.9
 
jumper said:
It is the ADA laws:

4.4 Protruding Objects.

4.4.1* General. Objects projecting from walls (for example, telephones) with their leading edges between 27 in and 80 in (685 mm and 2030 mm) above the finished floor shall protrude no more than 4 in (100 mm) into walks, halls, corridors, passageways, or aisles (see Fig. 8(a)). Objects mounted with their leading edges at or below 27 in (685 mm) above the finished floor may protrude any amount (see Fig. 8(a) and (b)). Free-standing objects mounted on posts or pylons may overhang 12 in (305 mm) maximum from 27 in to 80 in (685 mm to 2030 mm) above the ground or finished floor (see Fig. 8(c) and (d)). Protruding objects shall not reduce the clear width of an accessible route or maneuvering space (see Fig. 8(e)). Appendix Note

from here:

http://www.access-board.gov/adaag/html/adaag.htm#4.9
Click to expand...


I don't see stairwells on that list unless they fall under accessible route?
 
Thanks for the feedback from everyone. I forget exact heights, but I wallmounted a 4' flourescent T8 and a "frog eyes" emergency light above it. I made sure no one could reach either light from the floor. That would be another invitation for disaster of some sort.

I remind homeowners of the same issue regarding chandoliers and other lights in high foyer locations. I had to get an 18 ' ladder into a house to reach a foyer light and the foyer barely had room to spread the ladder out. And of course, the homeowner didn't want the walls scuffed in any way. I obviously don't object to being paid to change bulbs, but some things aren't worth doing.
 
jmellc said:
I had to get an 18 ' ladder into a house to reach a foyer light and the foyer barely had room to spread the ladder out. And of course, the homeowner didn't want the walls scuffed in any way. I obviously don't object to being paid to change bulbs, but some things aren't worth doing.
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If it were my house and I had a chandelier that required an 18' ladder I would invest in a motorized chandelier lift system to lower the fixture down to a sensible working height for cleaning and re-lamping. :D

 
Dennis Alwon said:
It is a building code issue. I got hit on it years ago.
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I think i found it:

IBC 1003.3.3 Horizontal projections. Structural elements, fixtures or furnishings shall not project horizontally from either side more than 4 inches (102 mm) over any walking surface between the heights of 27 inches (686 mm) and 80 inches (2032 mm) above the walking surface.

Exception: Handrails serving stairs and ramps are permitted to protrude 4.5 inches (114 mm) from the wall.
 
One building I worked in had lights at the top of stairwells that required costly and disruptive scaffolding to reach.
I solved, or at least postponned, the problem by installing fixtures that used 3 mercury vapour lamps, all in parrelal, from the same ballast.
Re-lamping would only be required when all 3 lamps had burnt out, which could take 10 years or more.

It is also possible to wire several metal halide lamps from one ballast, again re-lamping wont be needed until all have failed, which could take many years.

In the case of linear flourescent lamps that have only a single pin at each end, any number may be wired to one ballast, only one will light.
 
jumper said:
I think i found it:

IBC 1003.3.3 Horizontal projections. Structural elements, fixtures or furnishings shall not project horizontally from either side more than 4 inches (102 mm) over any walking surface between the heights of 27 inches (686 mm) and 80 inches (2032 mm) above the walking surface.

Exception: Handrails serving stairs and ramps are permitted to protrude 4.5 inches (114 mm) from the wall.
Click to expand...

I believe you do have it because I remember the exception for the handrail. Now if the fixture doesn't protrude more than 4 inches you are good to go. I suspect that will limit many fixtures from this install.
 
Dennis Alwon said:
I believe that once the light is above 6'8"(somewhere around that number) that it is not an issue.
Click to expand...

infinity said:
That might be it. Just wanted to point out that before you go installing stairway wall sconces at 5' that you may end up with a building code issue.:)
Click to expand...

I found this for stairwells:

IBC 1009.11.7 Stairway projections. Projections into the required width at each handrail shall not exceed 4.5 inches (114 mm) at or below the handrail height. Projections into the required width shall not be limited above the minimum headroom height required in Section 1009.2.

IBC 1009.2 Headroom. Stairways shall have a minimum headroom clearance of 80 inches (2032 mm) measured vertically from a line connecting the edge of the nosings. Such headroom shall be continuous above the stairway to the point where the line intersects the landing below, one tread depth beyond the bottom riser. The minimum clearance shall be maintained the full width of the stairway and landing.

What I cannot find is the maximum width of a projection between the handrail and 80 inches.
 
infinity: http://www.aladdinlightlift.com/
jmellc, I had a similar situation; expensive house, high foyer, crystal chandelier, etc.. I was luckier than you, it was only a 14' ladder (it was the biggest one I could rent). I should try and talk the HO into retrofitting with the lift.... pete
 
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