Ceiling plinth with LED lighting. Making a ceiling plinth with lighting - a design element for multi-level ceilings

Currently, the emergence of new building and finishing materials has led to the fact that ceilings often turn into real works of art.

And such masterpieces, like paintings by great masters, become even more advantageous when they are surrounded by a worthy frame.

This ceiling frame is the ceiling plinth, sometimes called a baguette, frieze or fillet.

Being an additional element of the interior of any room, it plays a significant role in the successful completion of its design solution.

The convenience of ceiling plinth is that it can be installed with any type of ceiling, including the now very popular stretch fabrics and long-proven plasterboard structures.

One of the recent fashion trends is ceiling plinth with built-in lighting.

The popularity of such skirting boards is explained by the emergence of new technologies for ceiling design, materials more suitable for this, and the supply on the market of light sources that are fundamentally different from previously existing ones.

Whatever the ceiling plinth is called - baguette, fillet or frieze - it is a very convenient and inexpensive finishing material.

Among its main advantages are the following:

• convenience of geometric shapes;
• lightness and practicality of the source material;
• ease of installation and maintenance;
• affordability.

The materials for making skirting boards are polystyrene foam and polyurethane.

Most often, this finishing material is sold in lengths of 2 m, 1.5 m and 1.3 m.

The width of these segments can range from 2 cm to 8.5 cm.

The originality of the profiles and shapes of the fillets is a great way to give the ceiling a certain style.

Their decorative effect can be enhanced by being painted in different colors.

Skirting boards can be installed in any room.

They can be installed even in rooms where the walls and ceiling have a non-standard configuration.

This is possible because these decorative products are both rigid and flexible.

If you want to radically change the interior of your home and make it more modern, you can install a backlit ceiling plinth.

Such a non-trivial detail will add a touch of sophistication to any room and will become a real decoration of the whole house.

Sources of light

Since the ceiling plinth is a rather specific place for placing lighting devices in it, the requirements for these devices are quite specific.

In particular, these devices must be extremely compact and produce a minimum amount of heat during operation.

It is clear, for example, that the usual incandescent lamp will not fit here in any way.

What light sources are used for placement in the ceiling fillet?

LEDs and LED strips

LED elements became very popular after high-brightness LEDs came into use.

The most compelling arguments in their favor are a high degree of efficiency in terms of energy consumption, which is unusual for other lighting devices, and a huge service life.

The great advantage of LEDs when installed in ceiling-mounted moldings is their low heat transfer, small size and high strength.

The most convenient method, widely used when illuminating ceiling cornices, is the use of LED strips, which can also be supplemented with lamps.

An LED strip is a flexible board on which LEDs are installed at equal distances.

Such tapes, 5 m long, are sold in the form of small coils.

In addition to LEDs, the electrical circuit of the strips also contains resistors that limit the strength of the incoming current.

All elements of the electrical circuit are powered by direct current voltage of 12 or 24 V.

The tape is connected to the electrical network via a power supply.

The color and brightness of the backlight using strips is regulated by controllers installed on the strip and controlled using a control panel.

Duralight lamps

These lighting devices are produced in the form of tubes, inside of which there are small light bulbs.

Previously, they housed simple incandescent lamps, which looked quite original, but their service life left much to be desired.

If a single light bulb burned out, a whole piece of tube had to be replaced.

The situation changed radically after the advent of LEDs.

They began to place them in the tubes, as a result of which the service life of the tubes increased significantly, their brightness increased, and energy consumption decreased significantly.

Spot lighting

Spotlights with backlit ceiling plinths are effective as auxiliary lighting devices that correct the luminous flux produced by the LED strip.

The use of an additional type of lamps gives the outline of the room an unusual softness and effectiveness.

However, even with spot lighting in the room, the need for main light sources remains.

Flexible neon tubes

Gas-light tubes are characterized by the presence of fairly large color possibilities.

Like an LED strip, the tube can be placed in the ceiling plinth around the perimeter of the ceiling.

However, since its installation requires special calculations, it is best to entrust the installation to a specialist.

Gallery

How to choose a molding for a skirting board

This now popular interior decor item is offered by dozens of manufacturers in a wide variety of options.

When choosing a material for backlit skirting boards for your home, you need to consider the following nuances:

1. The same baguette can be used to install skirting boards with and without lighting. When choosing a material, preference should be given to profiles that can only be attached to the wall at a sufficient distance from the ceiling to ensure the passage of light. As a rule, this distance is from 6 to 10 cm.
2. When choosing a baguette design, you need to avoid overly high sides that will cover the light. The profile of the parts should be minimal. To achieve the optimal result, you should abandon fancy ornaments and complex shapes, and choose discreet and laconic models that ensure ideal placement of lighting elements.
3. When determining the width of the baguette, you should, first of all, focus on the area of ​​the room and its features. The width of the baguette should be greater, the higher the room and the larger its area.
4. To determine the required amount of baguette, you just need to measure the perimeter of the room where the fillet will be installed. Like any building material, baguette should be purchased with a small margin.

Preparation for installation and installation of the baguette

Before installing the baseboard, you must make sure that you have all the necessary tools and materials.

To work you will need:

• hacksaw;
• miter box necessary for cutting the baguette at the required angle;
• knife with replaceable blades;
• rubber spatula;
• mounting gun;
• glue and putty;
• acrylic sealant;
• masking tape.

It is best to install fillets before wallpapering the walls, since otherwise there is a risk of staining them with sealant or putty.

Since the baseboard will have lighting, when starting work, you should remember that the fillet must be attached only to the wall, leaving a sufficient gap between it and the ceiling.

To correctly join the baguettes in the corners of the room, you can use special corner elements.

If there are none, then the correctness of the corner joints can be ensured by using a miter box.

In the most visible places of the room, the number of joints on the wall should be minimal.

When joining baguettes, you need to pay attention to the correct relative position of the shelves, since the top and bottom, as a rule, differ in thickness.

The adhesive material along the length of the baguette can be distributed in dots, dotted lines or over its entire surface.

Having completed the gluing, the joints between the individual sections of the baguette must be sealed using a mounting gun or a rubber spatula.

Installation and connection of lighting

As mentioned above, light sources in ceiling fillets can be LED garlands or strips, as well as duralight or neon tubes, that is, the structure of all these lighting devices is similar.

Spotlights are used only as a supplement.

The LED strip is glued with the sticky side to the wall behind the ceiling plinth.

The individual pieces of tape are connected to each other using soldering or special connectors.

With tubes everything is even simpler: they just need to be placed in the internal cavity of the baguette.

Connecting any of the mentioned lighting devices to the electrical network is done using power supplies.

Thus, the work of installing the ceiling plinth and laying lighting elements into it does not pose any difficulty.

Video about backlit ceiling plinth:

The baguette and the lighting fixtures placed in it are quite affordable.

However, these inexpensive elements can radically change the interior of any apartment, giving it additional charm and comfort.

In contact with

Now there are many finishing options that allow you to complete the work efficiently and beautifully. But in such diversity it is very easy to get lost. Therefore, many do not even realize that backlit baseboards exist. Such options make it possible to significantly simplify all design activities; the need to install false plasterboard boxes disappears. Although it should be borne in mind that floor and ceiling products have significant differences.

To get an excellent backlit ceiling plinth, you need to carefully choose the lighting source. Currently, there are several options, but the most popular is the use of LED strip. It has the following features:

1. Flexibility. The LEDs are mounted on a very flexible strip of small dimensions. It should be borne in mind that it is often sold in coils of 5 meters.
2. Brightness and wide color range. You can create an interesting play of colors; for this you need a control panel that allows you to select a mode.
3. Easy to install. Attaching the tape is very simple: you just need to remove the tape from the reverse side.

Most often, lighting hidden under the baseboard is created using LED strip

It is important to consider that this option requires limiting the incoming current, because it operates on a current of 12 or 24 V, so a power supply is required for connection. But the greater the power of all installed tapes, the more massive such a transition device will be. Therefore, care should be taken to place it hidden.

On a note! To avoid such troubles, many craftsmen advise using several small blocks.

Skirting for lighting: ceiling and floor

Floor and ceiling plinths for lighting are two completely different products that differ in appearance and technical characteristics.

Ceiling fillet

Designers point out that the correct placement of lighting sources can transform even the most boring interior. Therefore, illuminated ceiling plinths are an integral part of many modern styles. It should be borne in mind that this option serves more as a decorative element, which must be supplemented by a constant light source.

Currently, you can find two practical ways to obtain the desired result:

Based on the specific situation, the material of the product is selected. This must be done taking into account the fact that the ceiling plinth for LED lighting must have complete fire safety. Therefore, preference should be given to products made of polyurethane, polystyrene and PVC.

On a note! It is important to pay attention to the light transmission of parts. The best are fillets that are not transparent.

Floor products

It is much easier to choose a plinth for the LED strip for the floor, because in most cases it already has a special groove into which the lighting is installed. The main varieties can be distinguished:

1. PVC. This is the most popular option, which has many textures. The cost of this product is low, which means you don’t have to worry much about the financial component. The PVC element has a special insert under which the tape is installed.
2. Tree. This is a classic with a higher cost. There is an opinion that this option is completely unsuitable for installing lighting, because the material is highly flammable.
3. Polyurethane. Indeed, this material is becoming increasingly popular for all types of decoration. It has all the advantages that are necessary so that the plinth for the LED strip does not cause problems. Very often, the light source is attached directly to the top of the parts, which requires accuracy and caution.
4. Aluminum. Many craftsmen prefer this particular variety. Aluminum plinth looks great and also allows you to carry out all stages of installation quite quickly. But there are a number of features. Thus, the price of the elements may be higher than that of wooden products, and fastening is carried out only on well-prepared walls.

If you don’t want to bother with connecting electrical wires and soldering tape, then it’s better to overpay a little, but choose a completely finished product that only needs to be installed and connected to the network.

Installation of skirting boards

Installation is quite simple. Everything goes smoothly if you follow some rules.

Fixing the ceiling fillet

The ceiling plinth for lighting is installed as follows:

• Due to the fact that the light source will be located directly behind the part, it must be glued at a distance from the ceiling. The distance is determined by what result you want to get. It is important to consider that small rooms require mounting the baguette at a minimum distance with a small gap.

Installation diagram of ceiling plinth with lighting

• All ready-made samples have a large part that is attached to the wall, because fixation is carried out only on this surface. If the work is carried out using standard fillets, then they are selected taking into account this feature.
• Fastening is performed directly on the coating, which has not yet been decorated. That is, wallpapering or other procedures are performed last.
• For installation, a reliable adhesive is selected: it can be putty with the addition of PVA or quick-drying glue.
• Ready-made options require soldering contacts of adjacent fragments. Independently laying the tape requires drawing up a diagram and thoughtfulness of all actions.

Installation of a backlit plinth on the ceiling: 1 – installation of an LED strip, soldering of contacts; 2- fillet fixation

On a note! A flexible neon tube can be used to illuminate the ceiling. But it requires experience and special tools.

Installing the product on the floor

Installation of such a structure consists of a series of successive steps:

• It all starts with preliminary calculations, which help to obtain the exact quantity of all necessary materials.
• It is better to purchase options that have a groove with a securely closing screen. It’s better to overpay a little, but avoid a situation where the transparent panel falls out due to some impact on the flooring.
• The LED plinth is attached to the floor using screws and dowels. Two-element options are very convenient, when the front part simply snaps onto the mounting plate.
• If trimming is required, it is done with a hacksaw. But here it is important to pay attention to the tape if it is already inserted into the structure. You should always follow the instructions that should be included. When the separate method is used and the LED product is purchased separately, it is better to consult the seller.

Thus, illuminating the ceiling with an LED strip under the plinth or using an incomplete version with a special groove is an excellent solution for transforming the interior, which you can do yourself.

A ceiling with perimeter lighting today may well be considered a trendy interior solution: in any case, you can easily find such a design in leading magazines dedicated to interior design.

However, this is just at first glance: as with any technology, there are a lot of nuances. So to get the desired result, it is advisable to thoroughly understand all aspects, and here this article will be very useful to you!

Benefits of the solution

Installing contour lighting using ceiling plinths provides us with a number of advantages:

1. As I noted, this is a fairly simple installation method. We don't need to build additional frames, attach grooves, etc., so the whole job can take literally a few hours.

1. Financial costs will also be relatively small. Yes, a high-quality LED strip costs a lot, and you won’t have to buy the cheapest baseboard. But otherwise, it’s a completely economical solution, at least compared to other lighting methods.
2. The efficiency of lighting mounted according to a contour scheme is also sufficient. By choosing bright LEDs (more on this below), you can radically solve the problem of background light. And if you consider that the energy consumption of LED strips is minimal, the savings on room lighting will be significant.

1. Finally, ceiling lighting using LED strips allows you to realize a variety of ideas for lighting decor. So it's at least very beautiful!

Material equipment

What is needed for installation?

To implement such a project, we will not need many consumables.

A sample list includes:

1. The plinth for the LED strip is a special ceiling fillet made of non-flammable polymer (most often polyurethane) with a shelf for mounting lighting. Such a plinth is attached only to the wall, so its base must be wide and quite massive.

1. Glue for ceiling plinths - it is advisable to take a high-quality one with good adhesion. Such a purchase won’t hit your budget too hard, since you only need a little glue.

1. LED strip, the length of which corresponds to the perimeter of the room.
2. Accessories for connecting LED strip - power supply, dimmer for brightness adjustment, controller for color control.
3. A controller with a remote control is needed only for three-color RGB strips.

1. Connecting wires (I use two- or four-wire copper).
2. Connectors for LED strips. You can do without them, but then the wires will have to be soldered, and the soldering points will have to be protected with insulation or heat-shrinkable tubing.

Selecting LED strip

An LED ceiling plinth will be useless without the main element - the LED strip itself. Today, these products are produced in a very wide range, so it will be very difficult for a beginner to understand.

To make this task easier, here I will briefly describe the main parameters by which tapes are selected:

1. Color is, of course, responsible for how the backlight will look. White stripes (warm/cold light) are used for basic lighting; colored stripes are used for decorative lighting (yellow, blue, green, etc.). There is also a three-color (RGB) option that allows you to change the color of the backlight using a controller controlled from a remote control.

1. LED type – design and size of the main luminous element of the strip. In the marking it is indicated by the abbreviation SMD (Surface Mounted Device) and an index of four numbers indicating the linear dimensions of the product. Thus, the most popular are tapes with SMD 3028 (3.0 by 2.8 mm) and SMD 5050 (5 by 5 mm) diodes, but other models can also be found.

1. LED density is the number of active elements per linear meter of strip. For decorative lighting, strips with a density of 30 and 60 are used, which do not provide a large luminous flux. If you plan to use baseboard lighting as functional lighting (even background lighting), then your choice is 120 or 240 diodes per meter.

1. Moisture resistance is another parameter that needs to be taken into account. The moisture resistance indices in the markings show how strong impacts the tape can withstand without compromising the integrity of the electrical circuit and resulting in a short circuit.
   For most rooms, IP20 - IP33 tape with diodes located openly is suitable. For kitchen, bathroom or toilet - IP65 with silicone coating. When used in pool lighting, IP68 - a strip with silicone-coated diodes with an additional transparent casing made of PVC or silicone.

When selecting a tape and components, you need to take into account its power. This parameter depends on the type of diodes used and their density, so it is easiest to calculate it using the table:

Knowing the power and length of the perimeter of our ceiling, we can not only calculate the parameters of the power supply required for our system, but also predict how effective the lighting will be.

For reliability, it is advisable to purchase a power supply whose power is at least 25% greater than the total power of all tapes connected to it.

The price of the tape also depends on the above parameters:

• LED strip SMD 3528 30 IP20 costs about 65 – 80 rubles per linear meter;
• tape SMD 3528 60 IP65 - already about 220 - 250 rubles per meter;
• RGB tape SMD 5050 30 IP67 - 520 - 600 rubles per meter.

If you do not want to waste time selecting all the components, you can purchase a kit that includes both the tape itself and all the parts necessary for installation. So, 5 m of SMD 3528 60 LED strip for residential premises (i.e. with minimal moisture protection) with a set of power supply and connector will cost you about 1,500 rubles. More expensive than buying separately, but for a beginner it may well be a good solution.

Set of tools and accessories

To mount the plinth under the LED strip and install the lighting circuit, we will need the following tools:

• saw for plastic;
• a sharp painting knife with a durable blade;
• miter box for trimming baseboard corners;
• putty knife;
• brush for priming and applying glue;
• wire cutters;
• pliers;
• soldering iron;
• a thin screwdriver for working with terminal blocks.

The system will have to be installed at a height, so it is advisable to get a stepladder.

Installation technology

Fastening the baseboard

The instructions for installing the lighting begin with a description of the technology for installing the plinth.

It is attached in the same way as any ceiling fillet, but it must hold more firmly, so the technology must be followed very strictly:

1. It is highly advisable to attach the plinth not to wallpaper, but to a concrete base or, at least, to a durable plaster layer. So before installation, we determine the level at which the lighting will be located and carefully remove the wallpaper from the wall.

When determining the level, you need to remember that the minimum gap between the upper edge of the plinth and the ceiling must be at least 50 - 70 mm for effective passage of light.

1. The cleaned strip intended for installation of the ceiling fillet is treated with penetrating. Instead of primer, you can use an adhesive solution.

1. At the same stage, you can install a special profile for LED lighting on the wall. The use of such a profile is at least desirable: during operation, powerful LEDs get very hot, so it is better to stick the tape on an aluminum base, and not on wallpaper or polyurethane.

1. Then we trim the fillets. The most difficult thing here is to correctly join the outer and inner corners, so to form the edges we must use either a miter box or cardboard templates.

1. Immediately after trimming, we join the corner on the wall without glue, adjusting the planes with a knife if necessary. The need for additional trimming arises quite often, since the corners in our apartments, especially older ones, are far from ideal.

1. Then we apply glue to the base of the fillet and attach it to the wall. Press firmly, making sure that excess glue does not get on the wallpaper.

To join two parts in a corner or on a flat section of the wall, glue must also be applied to the end of the baseboard.

1. Hold the baseboard for several minutes until the glue begins to polymerize. After this, we continue gluing, carefully joining the following parts.

After completing the work, wait a few hours and then seal the gaps between the baseboard fragments with sealant. It is better to lay the LED strip the next day, when the glue has completely polymerized and the plinth is securely fixed to the base.

LED system installation

Now we are left with the most painstaking work - installation of the lighting system.

We assemble the structure from LED strips as follows:

1. Using scissors, we cut the tape of the selected type into fragments no more than 5 m long. When cutting, pay attention to the product markings: there are special lines along which you can cut without risking damage to an important part.

1. Then we put a heat-shrinkable insulating tube on the wire (two-wire for regular tapes, four-wire for RGB). We strip the ends of the wires and solder them to the contacts on the edge of the tape.

When soldering, a temperature of no more than 250 0 C is used. Soldering time should not exceed 10 seconds to avoid damage to the tape.

1. After soldering the wires, we move the heat-shrinkable tube to the contact point and heat it with a hair dryer. Thanks to this, the insulation is as reliable as possible.

1. Instead of soldering, you can use a special connector to connect: we simply put it on the edge of the tape, and attach the wires to the other end.

1. We connect the second end of the cable to the power supply. When connecting, polarity must be strictly observed. It is also advisable to either crimp the ends of the conductive wires using a special tool, or install special limit switches on them.

1. After assembly, we check the functionality of the system by connecting the power supply to the network. If the LED strip works, you can begin installing it.
2. We fix the tape with a self-adhesive layer on the reverse side, securing it either to the profile, or to the wall, or to the fillet itself.

1. The power supplies, controller, dimmer and wires are either placed behind the baseboard or placed in a special niche closed with a small door. In this case, a suspended ceiling made of plasterboard is very convenient: you can hide all these elements behind it.

As you can see, everything is quite simple: installing the tape yourself will not take much time, so within a few hours you will be able to appreciate the transformed interior.

Conclusion

When installing a plinth to illuminate the ceiling and installing an LED strip into it, you should scrupulously adhere to the recommendations mentioned above. Still, these tasks have a lot of nuances, and each of them can have an impact on the final result.

Be that as it may, before you start, you need to think through everything carefully and watch the video in this article - then you will definitely succeed. And, of course, you can always ask questions in the comments - I will try to answer them as informatively as possible!

If you are not planning a major renovation, but just want to update the interior a little, then installing ceiling lighting with an LED strip under the baseboard will add light accents to the room. Such lighting is not used for the main lighting system and has only a decorative function.

LED strip is a flexible polymer product with built-in LEDs. For lighting, you need to choose products with more than 30 LEDs per 1 m. To increase the decorativeness of the lighting, you can combine products with a uniform distribution of LEDs and intermittent ones. When choosing a suitable tape, you need to decide what properties it should have. Depending on the characteristics, the following types are distinguished:

According to the color of the diodes:

• Monochrome ones are chosen for mounting the backlight of one color;
• The universal tape is used for multi-color decorative lighting.

According to the degree of resistance to moisture:

• Moisture-proof elements fail upon contact with water;
• Waterproof products are resistant to moisture, however, they have a higher cost.

Monochrome ribbon
Multi-colored LEDs

The color of the lighting should be in harmony with the overall interior of the room or, conversely, create lighting of a contrasting color. Warm white lighting is most often used, however, colored lighting looks more attractive. Photos of various colored lights are presented below. The use of waterproof tapes will ensure the functioning of the lighting system even in the event of an emergency water leak on the ceiling.

Selecting the belt power

The power of the strips varies according to the number of LED elements per meter and the dimensions of the LEDs. To illuminate the ceiling, you should not choose very high-power tapes, since when illuminated, a large amount of heat will be released and the polystyrene baseboard may melt. LED strips operate on 12V or 24V current. They cannot be connected directly to a 220V network; power supplies must be used. If you plan to use a long or powerful tape, you will need a large power supply that is difficult to disguise. It is more rational to connect several small blocks.

Selecting a belt by power

To provide the ability to adjust the brightness of the backlight or select the lighting mode, the LED elements are connected to the controller. A remote control is used for control. When installing lighting, it is important to correctly combine the color of the glow and the shape of the ceiling or baseboard. For voluminous skirting boards or multi-level ceiling structures, it is better to choose a dim, plain tape. For smooth narrow baseboards and painted ceilings, lighting with multi-colored LEDs is suitable.

Types of ceiling plinths

To install LED lighting on the ceiling, you need to choose the “right” plinth. First of all, this concerns the weight of the product and possible methods of attaching it to the ceiling. The plinth can be made from various materials:

1. Foam baguettes are lightweight, so even voluminous textured elements can simply be attached to any surface. Choose foam baguettes if you need to mask the gaps between the wall and the plasterboard ceiling or the surface of a regular painted ceiling. Baguettes look good in rooms with high ceilings. Products are produced in different colors, with three-dimensional patterns or imitation stucco. Photos of different baguettes can be seen below. For fastening, use a gypsum mixture or a wet plaster solution;
2. Polystyrene foam baseboards are used in combination with lighting for plaster or plastic ceilings. Outwardly, it resembles a foam baguette, but has a completely different density and structure. Decorative elements are glued to a building mixture or special glue. The weight of products made from polystyrene foam is small, so large decorative elements can be used;
3. Polyurethane plinth is most often used to illuminate suspended ceilings. Distinctive features of polyurethane products are high flexibility and ductility; they can be used on rounded surfaces. However, the weight of the products is greater, so the thickness of polyurethane skirting boards is usually less than foam. In addition, the price of such products is higher than other types. Installation is carried out using a special glue, which is applied both to the baseboard and on the surface of the wall and ceiling.

Foam baguette
Polystyrene foam baseboard
Polyurethane baguette

Products made of polystyrene foam and polystyrene foam often have a curved shape, so be careful when choosing.

Finished products for installation of illumination

To install light illumination, you can buy special ready-made skirting boards, which are also called fillets. They are made of polyurethane with spot lighting from built-in lamps (an example of polyurethane products in the photo). However, backlighting using an LED strip allows you to get more uniform illumination and the ability to adjust the brightness of the light.

Special skirting boards for lighting have a recess, inside which they placeLED- tape. Finished products can have a shape similar to a U-shaped metal profile. Such skirting boards are used not only for LED strip lighting, but also for placing spot lighting with diode lamps. The fillets are sold in 2 meter lengths. To determine the required amount of material, before purchasing, you need to measure the perimeter of the room and add a margin for corner cutting of joints.

Selection of fillets

Price overview

Here are the average prices for the materials needed for ceiling lighting. The indicated price is for reference only.

How to make installation

In order to mount the light illumination, the plinth must be glued not at the intersection of the ceiling and the wall, but at some distance from it. For different types of fillets and room heights, this distance ranges from 10 to 20 cm. Before starting to assemble the structure, you need to provide a place to install the battery and controller.

For fastening, different materials are chosen depending on the type of baseboard and wall. The fillet is screwed to a wooden surface or MDF or chipboard panels with self-tapping screws using a screwdriver. They are glued to a concrete or plasterboard surface using damp putty or special glue. “Liquid nails” are suitable for polystyrene foam baseboards. The tube with glue is inserted into the mounting gun and a strip of glue approximately 5-8 mm wide is applied to the inside of the fillet. Then the plinth is pressed against the wall and held until the glue completely sets. Then the LED strip is attached using an adhesive layer applied to the back of the product. If there is no adhesive layer, then it is glued to double-sided adhesive tape or simply laid inside the baseboard.

Do not use a strip longer than 5 m; the LEDs at the ends will have a weak glow.

In the corners of the structure or at turns, the tape is smoothly bent. To avoid damaging the LED elements, it is recommended not to crease or twist. In some cases it is necessary to cut the strip; this can be done in specially marked places.

After completing the installation of the plinth, it is recommended to continue installation after 24 hours, during which time the structure will acquire the necessary strength. The individual pieces of tape are connected to each other, and the system is connected to the battery. Connectors are used for connection. After connecting the system, you need to check how the backlight works. The power supply is placed in such a way that, if necessary, it can be accessed.

Installation of LED strip

The process of installing LED lighting is simple, but the room is greatly transformed after its installation. You can install LED illumination with your own hands; a large selection of LED colors and types of baseboards allows you to take into account the features of any interior.

Finished ceiling

DIY polyurethane plinth with combined lighting

To radically transform the design of a room in your house or apartment, you can mount a backlit plinth on the ceiling with your own hands. Installing, unlike installing a suspended ceiling with lighting, does not involve large-scale repair work - but the result from the point of view of room design is at least no worse.

In this article we will tell you how to independently install a backlit baseboard, as well as how to select and connect lighting system elements.

Skirting board - the basis for LED lighting

General information about ceiling skirting boards

If we decide to implement contour lighting of the room, then we will definitely need the polyurethane ceiling plinth itself. Let's figure out what it is?

The classic ceiling plinth (correctly called “fillet”) is a corner trim that should cover the junction of the wall and the ceiling. If you plan to install lighting, then the ceiling plinth is not mounted close to the ceiling, but at a distance of 70 - 100 mm from it - for the passage of light.

As a rule, ceiling plinths are made from polystyrene foam, polystyrene foam or polyurethane, but when installing lighting it is better to choose the latter option.

As for the design, it is better to choose a plinth with a not very high side (so as not to block the light), and also with minimal relief. The last wish is explained by the fact that embossed skirting boards (they are also called foam stucco) require regular cleaning from dust.

In addition, the size of the plinth directly depends on the height of the room: the higher the room, the wider the baseboard can be.

You can buy ceiling plinths for lighting in hardware stores. Having chosen a design, you need to decide on the required amount of plinth. As a rule, skirting boards are sold individually in strips of 2 meters, so it is not difficult to calculate the volume of labor purchases.

Note! Both for lighting and for regular ceiling finishing, it is better to buy a plinth with a small margin, since a certain part of it will “go to waste” when cutting the corners. Fortunately, the plinth is quite inexpensive.

So, the baseboard for installing our lighting has been selected - we need to fasten it. And the first difficulty we will encounter at this stage is cutting corners (see also).

Trimming corners of ceiling plinths

To join the plinth for laying lighting in the corners of the room, it needs to be trimmed correctly. To trim the plinth, a tool such as a miter box is used.

The miter box is a U-shaped block with grooves sawn at certain angles.

We use the miter box like this:

• First, we make a template (we will need it to avoid wasting material). We place two short pieces of plinth in the miter box and cut them at the desired angle.
• To cut polyurethane skirting boards, you can use either a knife with replaceable blades or a metal saw with fine teeth. You need to cut with longitudinal movements, without strong pressure, as pressure leads to chips along the cut line.
• Then we join the “test” sections on the ceiling. If everything worked out – i.e. the joint has no gaps - which means the template is made correctly.
• Now, using a template and a miter box, we cut the baseboard in each corner of the room.

The trimmed plinth can be glued to the wall (for more information, see).

Installation of plinth on the wall

Installation of the ceiling plinth, behind which the contour lighting of the room will subsequently be hidden, should be done in a completely renovated room. The plinth can be glued both on top of the wallpaper and without it (if wallpapering is planned after attaching the plinth).

We mount the plinth like this:

• Having retreated the required distance from the ceiling (up to 100 mm), we draw the main line– this is exactly what we will use to mount the plinth. To draw a line, be sure to use a level.
• The place where the plinth is glued is treated with a primer immediately before the sticker..
• If the plinth is glued to a “bare” wall, then diluted putty is used for fastening. It is also possible to attach the plinth using adhesives for polyurethane or construction acrylic.
• We start gluing the plinth from the corners. We coat the plinth pieces cut according to the above diagram with glue and apply them to the corner. We press the baseboard and remove excess glue with a spatula.
• Having glued the corners, we glue the smooth sections of the plinth. We also coat the joints of the skirting boards with adhesive, after which we wipe them with a damp cloth.

So, half the job is done - the baseboard is fixed. The next stage is lighting.

Baseboard lighting

Backlight selection

The backlight is selected based on your personal preferences.

Most often used as backlight:

• Fluorescent lamps of small diameter and power
• LED strips

In principle, both options are viable, however, backlighting from fluorescent lamps has one significant drawback - “gaps” of light at the junction of two lamps. So if you want the lighting installed under the baseboard to be uniform, choose the option with LEDs.

The following LED strips are suitable for contour lighting:

• Magna S (brighter options are Magna 2S and Magna 4S, but this is perhaps too much)
• Magna L (Magna 2L respectively)
• Magna RGB

For RGB lighting - a multi-color LED strip - you will need an RGB controller. As a good option, we can recommend controllers from LEDX Radio with a control panel from Traxon, or similar models from the same price segment.

Note! The power of the power supply depends on the total power of all tapes. If the power of the block exceeds 50 W, then it is better to use several smaller blocks, since a large block is difficult to disguise behind a baseboard.

Connecting and installing backlight

So, the plinth is fixed to the wall, the necessary equipment has been purchased - it’s time to move on to connecting the LEDs. A little more - and our backlit ceiling plinth will shine (perhaps with all the colors of the rainbow!)

• Attaching the LED strip itself is not difficult. We remove the protective film from the self-adhesive layer, wipe the inner surface of the baseboard from dust and debris - and after a few seconds the tape is secured.
• To install the tape into the baseboard, it may need to be trimmed. To do this, we will use ordinary scissors - we will only cut in the places specially marked on the tape.
• You can join the tapes together using connectors. However, if there are no connectors, or you come across not very high quality ones, you can simply solder them with wires, observing the polarity.

Note! When soldering LED strips, the temperature of the soldering iron should be no more than 250 degrees, and the soldering time should not exceed 10 seconds.

• You can connect the tape to the power supply using the same connectors, or you can simply connect the wires to the corresponding terminals. It is quite difficult to connect incorrectly, since each contact is usually marked.
• Skirting boards with RGB lighting also require the installation of a controller.

We hide the controller and power supply behind the baseboard - and our lighting is ready!

If the room does not require other repairs, then you can install a ceiling plinth with lighting in the room in less than a day. So now you know how to quickly and cost-effectively transform your home!