Ah yes... which thread does this post best tie in with?

So I bought a new outdoor light fixture to replace the existing ugly
generic outdoor lampholder over my back door. I also found a 23W
fluorescent outdoor floodlight bulb at Lowe's (there's two, the
availability of outdoor fluorescent bulb replacements and the
superiority of Lowe's to Home Despot) on Saturday. This evening I
decided to hang the new fixture and see how it looked. The first thing
I did was unscrew the old floodlight bulb which promptly separated from
its base (there's another recent thread) but was easy to remove with
needle nose pliers. Then I got up close to it and looked - it's nailed
into the siding, not screwed to a box! I was unable to pull the nails,
I'll have to wait until my friend brings my angle grinder back. It
looks like what happened was that originally there was a small porch on
the back of the house, which was removed and replaced with a large deck.
The siding was patched with asbestos shingles to match the rest of the
house. I am guessing that there was a light in the "ceiling" of the
porch and someone just cut the wire where it came through the exterior
wall of the house and nailed the light fixture on to cover the hole.
What a hack job. (there was just a recent thread on one of the
automotive groups I frequent about "stupid things previous owners do
because they apparently don't give a s**t.")

Question is this. What can I do now to easily rectify the situation? I
know that I could just attach a surface box to the exterior of the
siding and that would be OK, but it'd look like crap and then I couldn't
use my chosen fixture. Would and old-work box be appropriate? Could I
even use one here? It's just asbestos shingle over wood, but I have no
idea how thick the wood sheathing is. It's real lumber I assume not
plywood. I do have a scroll saw so I am tempted to try that approach,
but would like some advice if I'm about to do something I'd regret in
the future.

In other news, my Siemens TVSS breaker arrived today so that's installed
as well. Of course, after searching three different HD's I actually saw
one on the shelf at Lowe's... AFTER I'd ordered it. (there's that
thread again.) Also, the fluorescent floodlights won't fit into the
typical generic cast metal outdoor lampholder; the bulge at the base for
the ballast prevents it from screwing in far enough. It also won't fit
into the recessed can light over my sink. Oh well such is life.

Thanks for any thoughts on how to get this fixture in...

nate

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