Levello explains how its modular fixing system makes plaster-in fittings easy and quick to install while accommodating the changing requirements of clients.
Plaster-in fittings are becoming increasingly popular as more customers desire uncluttered ceilings and clean lines. Most plaster-in products can be difficult and fiddly to install, as well as being limited in their applications.
With different sized cut-outs for each different type of fitting it’s easy to make mistakes and constantly changing the hole-saw can be a very time-consuming process.
At the heart of what makes Levello different is its patented fixing system: a housing is fitted permanently into the ceiling and different styles of fittings or ‘inserts’ are placed into the housing and held in by magnets. A front plate then completes the flat finish.
The solution is versatile, allowing the user to change a downlight, to a pendent, to a spot light or even blank-out the position completely, in seconds. You just need to decide if the product needs to be fire rated (or not) and the choice is endless.
Simple installation
The “first fix” housing is one size for all of Levello’s products, reducing errors and speeding up the cutting of the holes. Housing installation is simple – drill a 62mm hole, fit the supply cable to the Levello connector, push the housing into the hole and pop in the decorator’s card. The ceiling is then ready for plastering and painting.
The decorator’s cards – apart from making the life of the plasterer and painter easier – serve another useful purpose: they stop the housing getting filled with plaster and paint.
They’ve been specifically designed to grip the inside of the housing, ensuring that they don’t fall out during decorating. Levello supplies both a plastering and a painting decorator’s card with each housing and recommends that they’re removed when the plaster is green, or the paint is not completely dry, to ensure the perfect finish.
The “second fix” stage is even easier as all Levello products are supplied with factory-fitted connectors to ensure a simple ‘plug & play’ fit. The magnetic fixing system means that the “insert” is simply popped into the housing.
Stunning ceilings
One of Levello’s aims is to make ceilings look beautiful. Modern living requires that many devices – from light fittings to presence detectors, smoke alarms and speakers – are fitted into the ceiling.
This clutters up the ceiling and makes it almost impossible to achieve the clean, flawless look that architects and designers, often, would like to achieve. All Levello products have been designed to have as small a visual impact as possible, giving an almost zero sight line.
One of the problems with most ceiling fittings is that the metal or plastic of the fitting ages differently to the paint on the ceiling. After a couple of years one ends up with a yellowing fitting on the ceiling, which can give an aged appearance to the room – especially if it had been re-decorated.
To ensure that the desired finish is achieved over the longer term, Levello offers paintable front plates with practically all of its products to ensure that the colour of the visible part of the fitting not only blends in with the ceiling but ages gracefully too.
Changing rooms
The modular nature of these products means changing client requirements are no longer a problem as the “insert” can simply be swapped out in seconds for another type of fitting.
For example, if the customer suddenly decides they want to move the kitchen table to another part of the room (to have their statement pendant light fitting above the table) this can be easily and quickly accommodated in less time than it would take to get a ladder.
The ‘flush’ range of downlights can cater for almost any installation; the ‘Low Profile’ products have been designed for ceiling voids where there is minimal space, while the Deep range are stylish recessed fittings with many different baffle colours to choose from.
The Directional products can tilt by 35° and rotate by 360° and are perfect for wall washes or feature lighting.
The entire flush range can be IP65 rated with a minimum of fuss and no visual difference to the other products. There’s even the possibility to fit accessories, such as honeycomb louvres of filters, to reduce glare or create other lighting effects.
Varying budgets
To cater for different budgets a wide variety of light sources are available, with the products designed around the industry standard 50mm diameter (MR16/GU10) lamp style.
The GU10 version, for example, allows the contractor to select the GU10 of choice, while the range of high CRI light engines caters to applications where quality of light is important, such as restaurants and high-end properties.
Should the customer require other styles of lighting, such as surface spotlight or pendants, these can be easily and quickly installed into the housing. The only limitation with pendants is that the fitting must not weigh more that 5Kg – similar to a ceiling rose.
There’s also an ever expanding range of alarms and detectors covering many control systems. From stand-alone smoke and heat detectors to inter-linkable smoke and heat alarms the fire detection range is incredibly discrete with the largest alarm having a diameter less than 65mm.
The presence detection range covers Lutron, Casambi, Dali and even 1-10V systems and, as the detector head is 10-20mm in diameter, they’re arguably the most discrete PIRs available today.
Simple to maintain
Even with modern LED lamps, changing a lamp becomes inevitable. At best this often involves a face full of dust and at worst a damaged ceiling (not to mention broken fittings).
Levello completely eliminates all the inconvenience of changing a lamp whilst maintaining the integrity and finish of the ceiling.
For more information about the Levello modular fixing system visit: https://levello.net/
