In the house we are building we asked to put in wiring to support a
ceiling fan/light combo in some rooms. The builder said it would cost
us $50 per room. Fine but when I went to see the mud rings they have
fastened to joists they looked like any other mud ring in other palces
where we have not asked for a ceiling fan. All boxes do have a tiny
label which says "accepatable for ceiling fan light combo". I still
can't imaging these things fastened with two nails to the side of
joist can support such a heavy object. I guess I expected to see some
kind of heavy duty braces for the money they asked us.

On 8 Jan 2004 13:16:24 -0800, (SS) wrote:

In the house we are building we asked to put in wiring to support a
ceiling fan/light combo in some rooms. The builder said it would cost
us $50 per room. Fine but when I went to see the mud rings they have
fastened to joists they looked like any other mud ring in other palces
where we have not asked for a ceiling fan. All boxes do have a tiny
label which says "accepatable for ceiling fan light combo". I still
can't imaging these things fastened with two nails to the side of
joist can support such a heavy object. I guess I expected to see some
kind of heavy duty braces for the money they asked us.

Were these outlets in addition to what was specified on the original plans
or were you asking for already planned outlets to be upgraded?

A Electrician contractor friend of mine warned me about some models of
plastic ceiling fan boxes coming loose a few years after they are
installed. So watch out.

You may find however that the nails are simply 'tacking' the box to the
joist and when you install the ceiling fan you will use two rather heavy
duty lag bolts which screw through unused holes in the top inside of the
ceiling fan box and into the joist. In this manner the box does not
support the fan, but rather it is the lag bolts that do it.

You will find however that your wrist gets a great workout screwing
those lag bolts in -- especially if you try to install 6 ceiling fans as
I did. Our home builder also charged an obscene amount ($50 or so) per
ceiling fan box but considering that I would have really wasted the
ceiling doing it myself after the fact, it was probably a bargain.

steve


SS wrote:

In the house we are building we asked to put in wiring to support a
ceiling fan/light combo in some rooms. The builder said it would cost
us $50 per room. Fine but when I went to see the mud rings they have
fastened to joists they looked like any other mud ring in other palces
where we have not asked for a ceiling fan. All boxes do have a tiny
label which says "accepatable for ceiling fan light combo". I still
can't imaging these things fastened with two nails to the side of
joist can support such a heavy object. I guess I expected to see some
kind of heavy duty braces for the money they asked us.

except in my case these boxes are placed adjacent to the joist - flush
with ceiling (not under it) - hence there is nothing above these boxes
to screw into. Since I don't have direct contact with electricican, I
am wondering if I should wait and see how it develops or raise hell
now.


steve wrote in message t...
A Electrician contractor friend of mine warned me about some models of
plastic ceiling fan boxes coming loose a few years after they are
installed. So watch out.

You may find however that the nails are simply 'tacking' the box to the
joist and when you install the ceiling fan you will use two rather heavy
duty lag bolts which screw through unused holes in the top inside of the
ceiling fan box and into the joist. In this manner the box does not
support the fan, but rather it is the lag bolts that do it.

You will find however that your wrist gets a great workout screwing
those lag bolts in -- especially if you try to install 6 ceiling fans as
I did. Our home builder also charged an obscene amount ($50 or so) per
ceiling fan box but considering that I would have really wasted the
ceiling doing it myself after the fact, it was probably a bargain.

steve


SS wrote:

In the house we are building we asked to put in wiring to support a
ceiling fan/light combo in some rooms. The builder said it would cost
us $50 per room. Fine but when I went to see the mud rings they have
fastened to joists they looked like any other mud ring in other palces
where we have not asked for a ceiling fan. All boxes do have a tiny
label which says "accepatable for ceiling fan light combo". I still
can't imaging these things fastened with two nails to the side of
joist can support such a heavy object. I guess I expected to see some
kind of heavy duty braces for the money they asked us.