Hey all!

I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction.

I recently bought a house that was built in the early 90's. The living room has a large vaulted ceiling, and the house had a ceiling fan (just a fan... no light).

I went to replace the fan with a chandelier, and when I took the fan down, I was shocked to see that the fan balancing bracket was screwed straight into a ceiling joist. They had cut a hole through the drywall in the ceiling, but again... no box; just a length of romex coming out of the ceiling and hooking up the fan.

So my goal is to hang a chandelier, but I'm kinda stuck. I figure I have a few options, but I'm not sure which one is "right".

1. Cut open the ceiling and cut the ceiling joist to allow space for a box. Install the box, and wire as appropriate. Fix the drywall (and popcorn!).

2. Mount the hanger bracket for the chandelier straight to the joist as well, but run the wire from the chandelier up into the ceiling/attic area. Once the wire is in the attic, put a junction box somewhere accessible and make the cable junctions there. (I'm leaning this way, but I'm wondering what kind of wire I need to run such that it will look good on the chandelier, but also be rated for insulation contact)

3. Skip the box, and wire the chandelier the same way they had the fan.

Edited to add: The chandelier is an 18 light (40w/ea). So, 720w @120V - is 18ga ok?

The weird part is that the romex hanging down into the room had a staple holding it to the joist... That implies that it was there when they built the house. How did that pass inspection?


thanks in advance for any advice/help!

 

Install a saddle box it will support the weight of a chandelier. It saddles right around the 2 x4 and uses lag bolts to support everything.

 

Here is the type of box mentioned. It has a fixture rating up to 110 LBS.

 

That picture is of a half saddle they make one were both sides saddle around.

 

Here is the one that wraps on both sides of the ceiling joist. Both boxes are rated for ceiling fixtures and you can use either one.

 

#18 for what? Smallest wire permitted for house wiring is #14 but only if the breaker is 15 amps. 20 amp breakers require #12. If you are referring to the chandelier"s fixture wires whatever the manufacturer used is okay.

If there is only one two conductor cable you could also use a pancake box.

 

The fixture wiring cannot be run through the drywall and into a splice box.

 

Given the date the house was built (1990's) the ceiling fan installation with no outlet box was against code to begin with. Even if this was an older house where the installation was grandfathered, you would need to bring it up to code when you substituted a chandelier.

If the original fixture had a fully enclosed surface metal body (not with just an open topped conical or hemispherical canopy against the ceiling) and the Romex cable entered a small hole lined with an approved bushing or clamp then the installation was legal to begin with.