Hi Lisa tell your friend if they swap out the bulb  just be wary when using the new one sniff the air for burning or scorching and if possible touch the shade or bulb holder to make sure it's not too hot hope this helps

Why guess and risk it? Perhaps safer and cheaper in the long run to simply change the fitting.


F

OMG - did Lisa just say "Light Bulb"


Expect dozens of posts by the outraged pedants in the next few hours ?


OMS

Can you get an LED bulb, less heat so you can go for max power probably about 5 to 7 watts?

I'd suggest a retrofit LED might be a safer bet as brighter with less heat output? A 9.5W LED will match a 60W incandescent/halogen.


edit: As post above!

If there is good clearance around the lamp ('bulb to you') such that you can get your hands in there, it is unlikely to set fire to even a paper lampshade of more than 8 inch diameter at 60W.

Over a long time the cheaper lamp holders get a bit crumbly and smell of burning fish if you put 100W in a 60W fitting.

A 42 W lamp in any normal lampshade with an obvious air vent will be fine, only very small wall lights were less than 60W.

Or as they want more light, you could leave the shade off for now.

Most lamp holders will not catch fire but may decompose and become brittle with excessive heat. A T2 lamp holder is rated at 100 Watts tungsten maximum I believe. I think that T1 rated lamp holders were rated at 60 Watts for tungsten bulbs. As suggested why not fit a new L.E.D. light bulb which is very bright and low Wattage. A warm white colour output will be close to the old filament bulb's colour. New L.E.D. bulbs can be bought in shapes that resemble the old hot running filament bulbs so do not look too out of place. It will have something like 3000K printed on the box for a warm white colour output quality.  The lumen output is a guide to brightness. The higher the lumen number the brighter the light output. New L.E.D. bulbs often have an equivalent value  printed on the box, e.g. 10 Watts real power relates to an old 70 Watt light bulb as a rough example, even though 70 tungsten bulbs were not made. It is just a guide.



Z.