How to move a ceiling rose

The position of your ceiling light can have a strong effect on the type of lighting in a room. A centrally located ceiling light can produce a more harsh light whereas a light to the side on the ceiling will soften the light throughout the room. Read this guide on how to reposition the ceiling rose in a room.

Level of difficulty

Level 3: Advanced

What you need

  • Screwdriver
  • Wire strippers
  • Circuit tester
  • Screwdriver
  • Ceiling rose
  • Saw
  • Screws
  • Nails
  • Hammer
  • Electric tape

The steps to follow

  1. Turn off the mains power supply.
  2. Examine how the existing ceiling rose is wired up. Unscrew the rose cover and check for the number of cables present in the ceiling rose. If there's only one cable, this means the ceiling rose gets its power supply from the nearby terminal junction box. If there are two or more cables, then the ceiling rose is wired into the lighting circuit. 
  3. Disconnect the cable, unscrew the base plate and remove from the ceiling.
  4. To move and reposition the ceiling rose, you'll need to lift one or two ceiling boards to access the ceiling void. Determine where the ceiling joists are so that you don’t accidentally saw into them when cutting a hole for the rose.
  5. Using the ceiling rose base-plate, draw the rose's outline on the ceiling. Then, cut a hole in the ceiling next to a joist with a saw.
  6. At the existing ceiling rose position, relocate the cables into the ceiling void and reconnect them to either the junction box or lighting circuit.
  7. Draw a new length of two-core and earth cable to the new ceiling rose position. Connect them to the cores in the junction box.
  8. Feed the cables through to the new ceiling rose hole and secure the base plate to the joist with nails.

    Wiring a ceiling rose to a lighting circuit
    1. Remove the ceiling rose cover and thread the original flex of the lighting circuit through it.
    2. Strip the ends of the flex core with a wire stripper. You should see three cores: blue (neutral), brown (live) , and a yellow-green (earth) core.
    3. Connect the brown core to the live terminal. Connect the blue cores from the circuit cables to neutral terminal.
    4. Connect the yellow-green core to the terminal marked with an "E".

    Wiring a ceiling rose to a junction box
    1. Remove the junction box cover.
    2. Make sure the flex core from the ceiling rose is long enough to reach the junction box cover.
    3. Strip the ends of the flex core with a wire stripper.
    4. Connect the brown core to the live terminal on the junction box.
    5. Connect the blue core to the neutral terminal.
    6. Connect the yellow-green core to the earth terminal.
    7. Replace the junction box cover.
     
  9. Tape the cores with electric tape and put the cables back into the ceiling void.
  10. Screw the rose cover back on.
  11. Restore the mains power and test the light.

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