# Forum Home Renovation Lighting  downlights and electrical work in pergola

## gilly75

Hi, the mother-in-law is getitng a new pergola installed. Its a fairly standard treated pine gable frame with laserlite sheets.
Currently they have installed the framework, but havent put the sheets on yet. 
She asked me to find out if it is best to get the electrical work done before the sheets go on? (eg the day before - unexpected rain rarely happens in Adelaide so thats no an issue).
I assume all electrical work should be done after the sheets have all gone on, but she wanted me to double check. 
She wants to have downlights installed. Should these be mounted on an additional piece of flat timber that goes between the rafters, with holes cut out for the lights?
Or do outdoor downlights generally get screwed onto the side of one of the rafters (by rafters I mean the large peice of timber that goes up to the center)? 
If somebody could point me in the right direction here that would be great.

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## Bros

Pretty much an impossibility to answer. I would say it depend on how the pergola is fixed to the house and where the electrician can get access to the lighting circuit. Most times it is better before the sheeting as you can stand up between the timbers to drill holes and get easier access. 
As for the down lights I will pass on that.

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## gilly75

The pergola is replacing an old one, so the existing light is actually still connected to a piece of timber, which is sitting on the ground (as the people who removed the pergola obviously werent allowed to disconnect the light). 
The pergola is attached to the eaves of the house with metal brackets.

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## oldtrack123

> The pergola is replacing an old one, so the existing light is actually still connected to a piece of timber, which is sitting on the ground (as the people who removed the pergola obviously werent allowed to disconnect the light). 
> The pergola is attached to the eaves of the house with metal brackets.

  Hi Gilly 
In that case, I suggest she gets an electrician to SAFELY disconnect the existing light AND circuit before a nasty accident occurs 
At the same time ask HIM, how HE would rather do the job
Doing that could save money & headaches for both :Smilie:   
PeterQ

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## koshari

I agree with pete there gilly,   
 you could get the sparky to place an outlet somewhere under the eaves with the correct IP rating for the location, then you could get an LED driver again with the correct IP rating to power some 12v LED lighting, the 12v side you could do yourself as its XLV. 
as for going forward i have recently put led strip lighting under 2 pergolas and they come up looking a treat,  
personally i used 2 x 5 meter strips of waterproof warm white 3528 150leds. 
hard to beat at 24 watts total. 
btw, iam a sparky.

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## LinesElectrical

It makes little difference if the sheets are on or not to the labour required. 
i would avoid downlights if possible however there are some good options for halogen downlights fittings with the reliability of quality of led globes from reputable Manafactures that may be suitable if that's the look you want.
I have recently done a couple of similar installs here in adelaide and used Pierlite hippo minis LED floods shining up with good results.  Pierlite - HippoÂ® Mini

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