Why I need to build my own house

Blaze

Blaze

The Jeeper Reaper
Joined
Aug 9, 2005
Location
Wake Forest, NC
Man, stupid crap just keeps happening to my current house.

I was working out Saturday morning when I looked up and noticed that the ceiling fan looked weird. The trim plate that covers the gang box in the ceiling was not flush against the ceiling anymore, there was about a 1" gap. I reached up and was able to push the fan back to where it was flush.

I figured no biggie, the gang box probably came loose and I would just drop the fan, reattach the box, reinstall the fan and be back in business.

Last night I took the trim plate off. It looks like they took a 2x4 and ran it flat side down between the floor joists and then attached the box right to that. I can see the wood and the box moving up and down together when I push the fan up.

Still not sure how I am going to fix this one. Maybe I can get a long screwdriver extension on my drill and screw the wood back to the joist. I really don't want to cut into my ceiling. :shaking:
 
there ought be some way to get in the attic.. IIRC by code there has to be a crawl hole somewhere to every space above living space that is open..
 
Blaze said:
It's on the first floor, directly under my bedroom.
There's a joke in there somewhere.....
Click to expand...

oh. was thinking single floor house. put a 3/4" hole in the ceiling and use a 2 ft extension and run a screw in thru the joist.. if you have a bore scope, check for wiring before running a screw ;)
 
I think if I take the fan off, then take the box off the 2x4. I can push it up enough to use my long extension and toenail a screw into the joist through the existing opening.

Or maybe I'll just glue it to the ceiling and put my house up for sale. :lol:
 
Blaze said:
I think if I take the fan off, then take the box off the 2x4. I can push it up enough to use my long extension and toenail a screw into the joist through the existing opening.
Or maybe I'll just glue it to the ceiling and put my house up for sale. :lol:
Click to expand...

sure, and if that fails, take the box down (if you have to) measure over to the joist, then run a 3" screw thru the drywall and through the 2x4 then into the joist.. then you only have a few screw holes..
 
Hey, keep in mind, if you wanted to fix it "right" - e.g. cut a big hole so you can access the space up there and replace the whole mounting system the right way... but don't want to patch the ceiling, at Lowes and HD, you can get those big round "medalion" things that go in between the fan base and the drywall. The fancy ones with trim and designs come as big as like 18-24", or simples ones that are only like 12" or so.

They're cheesy but women seem to like them.

When I was installing a ceiling fan in one of our bedrooms, I wasn't carefull and broke part of the drywall around the hole. One of those covered it up nicely, you'd never know.
 
Hey, good idea. If it comes to cutting a hole in the ceiling like that, that's definitely what I'm going to do. We're going to be selling the house in the next 3-4 months more than likely, so that would be a fantastic idea to save me from working too much on something I care jack squat about. :lol:
 
Used many of these over the years for "old work", different brands though, and they work great.

scroll down for better pics of how it works

http://www.amazon.com/Westinghouse-0110000-Saf-T-Brace-Ceiling-Fans/dp/B00027EWNW

Home Depot,Lowes and other venders carry versions as well. Basically it is on a screw with teeth to bite into the joists when screwed out. Just stick it in the hole screw it out, install the box and reinstall fan. Done.Easiest, and cleanest way to fix your problem.
 
I've used those old-work ceiling fan hangers. Work awesome. You'll need to get the blocking out of the way, but that's all.

In the electrical aisle at Lowe's.
 
Blaze said:
Awesome, thanks for the heads up! I'll get one of those and get it all taken care of that way. :)
Click to expand...

they do look like a great idea, just wondering if you read the reviews there at all.

this one has great idea if there isn't enough room for it to fit, he made it work still

This review is from: Westinghouse 0110000 Saf-T-Brace for Ceiling Fans (Tools & Hardware)
I ordered this brace for a ceiling fan. It seemed like the perfect thing, to insert the brace into a 4" diameter hole, in this case, between ceiling joists at 16" spacing.

So... this is the deal: I have 16" on center spacing of 2x12 joists which are actually a little narrower than 2". This leaves a little more than 14" open space between the joists... get it? The brace is 14" at it's smallest, therefore it could not be inserted between the joists at an angle... it's too wide. I can't go all the way above the joists with the brace to make it level and pull it down in this installation, there is flooring above the joists. Even if I could do that, the idea of no breathing room for the brace is very odd. Only option for me was to carefully cut off 2" of the square metal tube, re-insert the threaded cast metal plug, cut off 2" of the screw-rod, reassemble the thing... then guess what? It worked. Someone at Westinghouse didn't think this one through..... But on the bright side, I got to use a bunch of my tools to modify the brace... and made it work. If Westinghouse makes a different version of this brace that is shorter, I couldn't find it.

Just a fair warning about my particular installation problem with this brace. It does come with all you need to provide a solid electrical box for a ceiling fan.
 
I have used these 100 times when I was an electrician.They work great.I never had an issue with a Joist bay being to wide or too narrow.Worse case though,you could take one of the arms off,hack saw it shorter and put it back.
 
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