Hello all.
First post here with a question, but hopefully will be able to contribute as well.
I'm an Electrical/Construction Engineer in the oil and gas industry. Since my layoff several months ago, I've been fortunate enough to put my hands on exp to use around my community. Putting up TV'S, recessed lighting soffit lighting...etc.
Lately i have been asked to install a chandelier in an 18ft ceiling. This wouldn't be an Issue generally except for one problem. The HVAC system sits directly over the fixture. The chandelier i plan on installing weighs around 50lbs and i'm pretty sure the box IS NOT rated for it.. my question is how to go about getting the box that is in place removed and an expandable box put in without drywall work. I've seen several done in my neighborhood after the fact and was told by the homeowner that they did not damage the drywall when they installed it. However they had no idea in regards to the details.
Is it a matter of just cutting the box out and leaving the old braces in place?
Ive attached 2 photos and you can see in the rough photo the base for the HVAC system so there is no way to access it from the top.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Last edited by PJmax; 12-17-20 at 11:03 AM.
Reason: swapped fixture for box
I corrected your mistake.
Can you reach that ceiling to work on it ?
That looks like a fairly substantial bar box...... as it should be ..... but not enough detail to risk hanging a fixture on.
If you can reach that high you can replace that box and bar with an expandable fan rated box.
It can be done thru the existing hole without opening it too much more.
Yeah I can reach it. I have a 3 tier roll around scaffold. I've changed a few light fixtures out in that spot in other houses, some do not have that box, they have the cheaper plastic box with the lighter metal bracing. The framework pic is from a random house being built in the neighborhood. I go through them to help understand the inner layouts, routing etc..
Thats how I know they are different from one house to another. So if I had yo replace that box with an expandable, how would i go about it?
The old box gets unscrewed from the bar and the bar gets either cut with a sawzall or bent and pushed out of the way. The new bar goes in and using a wrench, the bar expands and its spikes go into the neighboring joists. Then the box gets screwed into the new bar. No drywall work required.
This one is rated to 70 lbs.
No idea why the original builders thought that would be a good place to save $8... but ah well.
I actually use them quite a bit. A lot of people around here will install old work boxes for kitchen pendant lights. I won't. Seen an incident where someone slipped and grabbed for the closest object. ......Pulled it down and the other 2 into the attic.
I kind of thought it was a matter of cutting it out, but I wanted to be sure.
how to go about getting the box that is in place removed and an expandable box put in
no idea in regards to the details.
I actually use them quite a bit
Hmm, maybe it's just my inquisitive mind, but it appears from the posts that you are asking about a product, how to install, them show you have a quantity, more than local ACE hardware, sitting on your shelf?
The fan is working fine on my ceiling fan. But the lights will not come on... when I pull the chain I get a click, but nothing, not even a flicker. Since the chain is getting a good solid click which I can hear when I pull it, I'm assuming that the fan light switch is okay.
I've attached a link to photos of my ceiling fan and it's wiring. A couple things I need to explain: the black box in photo number two, you can read the print on it if you enlarge the picture. Also, in picture number two there are blue and white white wires. They attach to the black and white wires on the piece that the lights are on.
Thanks, in advance if you can help me fix this. If you reply, please keep in mind that I know next to nothing about this kind of stuff, so please explain as if you were speaking to a 4-year-old. I take direction very well.
[url=https://postimg.cc/gallery/7z59MF8]Pics of my ceiling fan[/url]
[img]https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.doityourselft.com-vbulletin/506x640/fan1_b3980bee636fe2cc4e2f9a3eaafcae90ddce4a58.jpg[/img]
[img]https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.doityourselft.com-vbulletin/624x765/fan2_1aa8dffa39d51b430e9c332bacbfe780cc6c9b29.jpg[/img]
[img]https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.doityourselft.com-vbulletin/633x580/fan3_8aba33344cf302a48e512bf2561ab240778e7da9.jpg[/img]
Hi all, I bought a couple of 4ft LED lights for my laundry room (open ceiling) and had a question about what box to use.
I bought a couple of 4" octagonal boxes with brackets, but the mounting screws (as is typical) are diagonal across the box. The lights I bought have holes 3-1/2" apart which match the screws on the box, but using these would mean mounting the light 45° off kilter. I don't know what the slots are for...
I want to mount the lights perpendicular to the joists.
Here's a photo:
[img]https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.doityourselft.com-vbulletin/2000x1504/light_b8f68cbe50fd20d40a9422238cde23fc494934f1.jpg[/img]
What am I missing? What box should I use?
Thanks.
12-17-20, 10:33 AM
