Lighting improvement in rented apartment

[LionMG]

I recently moved into my first apartment. I'm renting, so I can't touch the wiring or do anything else permanent (I'm terrible at DIY projects anyway).

The lighting in the bathroom isn't great, at the main big mirror especially. It makes it tough to shave.

I'm looking for what my options are to improve it. The only idea I can come up with is getting 2-3 battery powered lights and sticking them to the wall with removable 3M strips.

Any better suggestions?

If anyone can recommend where to find decent battery powered lights, I'd really appreciate it. I haven't been able to find anything at the big stores like Home Pro, Baan and Beyond, Index Living Mall, etc.

I think something like this would be great (but it isn't battery powered ): http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Led-black-silver-bedside-lamp-reading-lamp-wall-lamp-1w3wled-plumbing-hose-lighting-plumbing-trap-painting/1300978570.html

Thanks.

[beau thai]

If its only for shaving maybe buying a small mirror you can take to the daylight would fix it

[NancyL]

They have battery operated stick-on lights at Central Dept. store. Also, light-weight fluorescent lights that aren't battery-operated but are easy to hang on a wall with just a couple of screws.

Are you sure you can't do anything permanent? Most owners don't object to reasonable improvements provided you plan to leave them in place when you leave.

We've sunk over 50,000 baht into the kitchen of our rental condo, with the owners permission and the understanding that we'll leave everything behind when we leave. Of course, we have the security of a three-year lease to be sure we get full use of our investment before we leave it behind. When the lease is up, we'll probably negotiate a similar deal to improve the bathroom, with the security of another three year lease.

[CMKiwi]

Good ideas NancyL, I did similar when I was in the Philippines..... win win situation. I also made a garage for the landlady with her paying for materials while construction was to a western standard done by myself (Saved her minimal labour costs but she knew the garage would last longer than locally constructed versions).

Id be tempted to go with a plug in light if not hard wired.... cost of batteries does add up over time and electrical lighting is quite cheap here.

Oh and you can get 12v powered LED lights now, wired into the 240v system but with a 12v mini transformer.... saves on electricity costs plus the LED lights have a very long life, between 10 to 15 years! Eve Lighting down Chuang Puak Road is a good shop and there is another good place on the same side of the road but about 100m short of the Super Highway.

Good hunting and good luck

[LionMG]

Thanks, I'll contact the landlord. It's only a 6 month lease, but I'm really liking the place so far and I'll likely extend it. Plus lighting shouldn't be too expensive I hope.

Sorry for the asinine question, but how exactly do I go about this? Head to a store like HomePro and buy some lighting, then contact an electrician to install it? Or if someone can suggest a place where I buy the lighting and the store sends someone to install it for an extra charge, that'd be great.

I've never had an apartment or done any home improvement, I'm a young clueless guy.

I think I'll get a couple hot water heaters installed as well for the bathroom sink and kitchenette while I'm at it.

[CMKiwi]

Those 2 places I mentioned either have instore electricians or know of people that can do the job. I use the term electrician pretty loosely as it seems anyone that can wire in a 3 pin plugs is deemed an electrician! Lighting isnt such a big problem but Id want to be sure that anyone wiring in a hot water heater knows what they are doing.... enquire about this at the afore mentioned shops. PS the one closest the Super highway have better English speaking staff.

In regards your bathroom lighting....if you have downlights they are easy to replace/upgrade to adjustable 12v LED lights. I changed the ones in my girlfriends condo and was surprised how easy it was. What sort of lights do you currently have?

[LionMG]

Those 2 places I mentioned either have instore electricians or know of people that can do the job. I use the term electrician pretty loosely as it seems anyone that can wire in a 3 pin plugs is deemed an electrician! Lighting isnt such a big problem but Id want to be sure that anyone wiring in a hot water heater knows what they are doing.... enquire about this at the afore mentioned shops. PS the one closest the Super highway have better English speaking staff.

In regards your bathroom lighting....if you have downlights they are easy to replace/upgrade to adjustable 12v LED lights. I changed the ones in my girlfriends condo and was surprised how easy it was. What sort of lights do you currently have?

There is just one fluorescent ceiling light in the middle, so when I'm standing in front of the big mirror, I'm blocking a lot of the light.

So what I'd like is a light above the main mirror, such as this: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/75127579/c20de90e8ad1790915597894951e6a15.jpg

Hopefully something I can turn off/on separately as I wouldn't need it all the time, to save on energy.

[CMKiwi]

You can get fluro lights that have built in switches...and they can come with a power cord that just needs to be plugged in versus hard-wired in. All you would need is to mount it onto the wall and have a power/electrical outlet nearby.

The other option is to get an electrician from the shop to hard wire it in for you.

Good luck

[LionMG]

I think I'll get it hard wired (assuming the landlord allows me). The only electrical outlet in my bathroom is right next to the sink, and apart from looking bad with a cord sticking out, I don't know how safe that is... the outlet is covered by a clear case that opens/closes. I also splash a lot, bad habit.

I'm assuming with hard wiring, it's a messy job and they'd need to get into the wall?

[Dante99]

If you can accept both lights on the same switch, the can run a wire from the existing fixture to the new one, might have to be exposed but that depends on what kind of ceiling you have. Or run from the plug up and change the two plug receptacle to a switch and one plug giving you a separate switch for the light. There is some plastic stuff around that would form a small rectangular conduit to cover the wires. Not bad looking but perhaps better than tearing up the wall and the repair of that which could be ugly.

[elektrified]

Are you sure you can't do anything permanent? Most owners don't object to reasonable improvements provided you plan to leave them in place when you leave.

We've sunk over 50,000 baht into the kitchen of our rental condo, with the owners permission and the understanding that we'll leave everything behind when we leave. Of course, we have the security of a three-year lease to be sure we get full use of our investment before we leave it behind. When the lease is up, we'll probably negotiate a similar deal to improve the bathroom, with the security of another three year lease.

We too, have made a number of improvements and regular maintenance to our place. In exchange, our rent has not been raised in 5 1/2 years now. Most people are paying about 15K per month for a place similar to ours and we pay 6K per month. Indeed, a win win situation.

[NancyL]

Talk to your landlord or the building owner about what you plan to do. They may have someone on staff who knows the building and can do the work for a reasonable price. That's what we've done for most of our home improvements and for the ones that were beyond the capabilities of the building staff, the manager has been able to arrange for someone to come to do the work for a reasonable price. Plus, the manager speaks reasonable English and has served as a go-between with workers who speak only rapid-fire northern Thai -- beyond my language-school Thai capabilities.

We made the mistake of using someone from the shop where we bought a hot water heater for the kitchen sink to install it and sure enough, the electrical system in our condo unit couldn't handle it. We should have had the building staff install it from beginning, rather than getting them involved after the electrical panel blew up and we had no power in the entire unit.

[beau thai]

Talk to your landlord or the building owner about what you plan to do. They may have someone on staff who knows the building and can do the work for a reasonable price. That's what we've done for most of our home improvements and for the ones that were beyond the capabilities of the building staff, the manager has been able to arrange for someone to come to do the work for a reasonable price. Plus, the manager speaks reasonable English and has served as a go-between with workers who speak only rapid-fire northern Thai -- beyond my language-school Thai capabilities.

We made the mistake of using someone from the shop where we bought a hot water heater for the kitchen sink to install it and sure enough, the electrical system in our condo unit couldn't handle it. We should have had the building staff install it from beginning, rather than getting them involved after the electrical panel blew up and we had no power in the entire unit.

I too have used the condo engineers with good results but when our consumer unit blew the strong fuse recently, they just bypassed it with thick wire, so if the fuse is there to prevent a fire, there is now a risk. And I was not reassured when they told me they had done many like that in our building-I live on the 12th floor!

[Lancashirelad]

Water heaters need a heavy duty thick wire power supply.

[beau thai]

Water heaters need a heavy duty thick wire power supply.

What? Say more please? Is this answering another post?

[onthedarkside]

Water heaters need a heavy duty thick wire power supply.

What? Say more please? Is this answering another post?

Maybe in response to post #12

[onthedarkside]

6 off topic posts removed. The topic is about 'lighting improvements' . Further posts about rental costs vs facilities will be removed.

[happysoul]

For water heaters you need one cable per unit and one breaker per unit too. Cables of 2.5 copper are mostly used, a regulation seems to require the bigger ones (3 or 3.2 for the "in ceiling" part). Then the earth... Hope you don't have a "specialist" like i got once in bkk, who wired the ground on the only metal part he could see and that was the towel hanger in the bathroom

Sent from my LT25i using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Lancashirelad]

Water heaters need a heavy duty thick wire power supply.

What? Say more please? Is this answering another post?

That was in response to the OP's post #5 where he said in his final sentence:

I think I'll get a couple hot water heaters installed as well for the bathroom sink and kitchenette while I'm at it.

[shepsel]

It is not that expensive to purchase a lighting fixture with better light, and install it, then at the end of the lease remove it and put back the old fixture. I did that in a couple of apartments that I rented and nobody said anything.

[jackr]

If it's a gypsum ceiling, bung in a simple downer over the mirror paralleled off the existing light.

Or if you're completely inept ( ) consider getting one of these to shave with:

[metisdead]

Posts about rental costs vs facilities have been removed.