I need to move a chandelier to center it over a dining-room table. There's a good chance that the new fixture location will be between the ceiling joists and I'll have to install some blocking or some sort of bracket to mount the box to.
Putting up 2x4 blocking would require making a fairly sizable hole in the ceiling. If I can avoid this, I'd like to.
If I could use some sort of expandable mmetal bracket that I could extend once I got it into the ceiling, I could use a bit extension and I might be able to screw it in place through the 4" hole I make for the box. However, all the bracket-boxes I've ever seen are much too flimsy for this application. Any ideas?
Thanks.
-John
You can suspend the chandelier from an adjustable brace, a steel bar that hangs between the joists from two sharp-pronged metal feet. Most braces are rated to support a fan weighing up to 70 pounds if the joists are spaced 16 inches on center. But if they're 16 to 24 inches apart, the brace can only handle up to 35 pounds.
It fits in the hole made for the box in the ceiling, and the brace is extended with a threaded portion of the brace to bite into the joists on either side.
[This message has been edited by Ron (edited 11-05-2005).]
I've gotten fan boxes from the big orange box around here that are rated for a 150lb. static load.
Depending on the age of the home, you might have I-joists. This in itself may present unique mounting problems for the type of brace that Ron mentions.
Sometimes you just have to cut the holes.
What the guys are talking about is an adjustable old work box support or brace, often used to support a fan box and fan but also very nice for any fixture under 150 pounds.
The ones I like to use work like one of those basement jack posts with the jack screw on top. You cut your 4" hole in the bay between the joists then put the support bar up through the hole and lay it on top of the sheetrock or plaster centered on your hole. You then unscrew the bar with with your hand which expands the bar against the joists on either side. When you can't turn it any more with your hand finish up with your channel locks. Now you can do chin ups on it if you wanted!
The kit gives you a bracket, nuts and a U bolt for attaching a 4" round regular or fan box to the bar.
-Hal
I have used those expandable fan support boxes/braces that you can get from the local home center many times, I love them!Everything you might need comes with it and I always felt like I could hang an engine block from one when I was done with it.
Wish I had invented them!
Went to the hardware store today and found those old-work fan boxes. Looks like that will do the trick. It's definitely good to know those things exist.
I might luck out and be right on a joist, in which case I'll just use a fan box and bracket, but that probably ain't gonna happen.
I appreciate the help.
-John