Ceiling - enough strength?
 

A month ago I bought a ceiling fan, and replaced the light above the bed in
the master bedroom with it.
This worked fine.

I purchased a second fan today and planned to replace the light in the
second bedboom.

However, after taking the little plastic fitting for the traditional bulb
and lampshade type fitting (dunno the name!), I realised that there's no
proper wood for me to screw the header of the fan into, as there is in the
master bedroom.

It appears the plaster is held against some thing slats, which cannot be
screwed into... well they can kind of, I tried it, put the base up, which
immediately pulled down, along with some plaster.

How should I affix this five or so kilogram ceiling fan? SAFELY?

So far all I can think of is laying a plank of wood across the ceiling (in
the attic!) and then screwing through the plaster again and affixing the
mounting to the plank. This sounds the easiest so far.

What is a better idea?

Ceiling - enough strength?
 

X X
X X
X BBBBBBX
X BBBBBBX
X X
X X

Basically you want to put a baton between the joists. Then screw into the new baton

--

SantaUK
Mail me at:
arjf (ng) zzvyyne (qbg) pb (qbg) hx === ROT13
Use http://andrewu.co.uk/tools/rot13/ to convert to readable format





"NorwichLad" wrote in message ...
A month ago I bought a ceiling fan, and replaced the light above the bed in
the master bedroom with it.
This worked fine.

I purchased a second fan today and planned to replace the light in the
second bedboom.

However, after taking the little plastic fitting for the traditional bulb
and lampshade type fitting (dunno the name!), I realised that there's no
proper wood for me to screw the header of the fan into, as there is in the
master bedroom.

It appears the plaster is held against some thing slats, which cannot be
screwed into... well they can kind of, I tried it, put the base up, which
immediately pulled down, along with some plaster.

How should I affix this five or so kilogram ceiling fan? SAFELY?

So far all I can think of is laying a plank of wood across the ceiling (in
the attic!) and then screwing through the plaster again and affixing the
mounting to the plank. This sounds the easiest so far.

What is a better idea?

Ceiling - enough strength?
 

In article ,
BigWallop wrote:
Springs Toggle fixings or plasterboard fixings:

Don't think those are adequate for a 5kg wobbling load into a lath and
plaster ceiling.

It either has to be fixed to a joist if one is convenient, or a noggin or
two added from above if not.

--
*The severity of the itch is proportional to the reach *

Dave Plowman London SW 12
RIP Acorn

Ceiling - enough strength?
 

BigWallop wrote:

Springs Toggle fixings or plasterboard fixings:

http://www.rawl.co.uk/Products/lightmain/cavity.htm

should do the trick.

[a] They're completely useless on lath and plaster, which is
what the OP has.

[b] Even if it was PB, I still wouldn't want to hang a big
vibrating fan on them, because they will eventually fail.

--
Grunff

Ceiling - enough strength?
 

In article ,
tim wrote:
[b] Even if it was PB, I still wouldn't want to hang a big
vibrating fan on them, because they will eventually fail.

I think you mean that the PB will eventually fail.

They (the fixings) will fail. Doesn't really matter how they fail but that
they will.

--
*Why is the word abbreviation so long?

Dave Plowman London SW 12
RIP Acorn

Ceiling - enough strength?
 

"NorwichLad" wrote in message
...

thanks folks

i'll put some strong wood across the joists :-)

Ceiling - enough strength?
 

On Mon, 4 Aug 2003 00:12:13 +0100, "L Reid"
wrote:

They (the fixings) will fail. Doesn't really matter how they fail but that
they will.


So how much weight can these things hold? I've put some shelves up using
them, and am now concerned they're gonna fall down onto my head! Been up for
a few years now though and don't appear to have moved.


Don't worry - the use here was for hanging something from a ceiling
rather than a wall, and the loading is rather different in each case.


Regards,

Colin Swan
Nildram Operations

Ceiling - enough strength?
 

In article ,
L Reid wrote:
They (the fixings) will fail. Doesn't really matter how they fail but
that they will.


So how much weight can these things hold? I've put some shelves up using
them, and am now concerned they're gonna fall down onto my head! Been up
for a few years now though and don't appear to have moved.

Shelves are a static load. A fan will shake the fixings which I reckon
makes them much more critical.

If you've used toggle or butterfly fixings into lath and plaster, I'd
guess it would make a difference how near the studs they were too.

--
*A day without sunshine is like... night.

Dave Plowman London SW 12
RIP Acorn

Ceiling - enough strength?
 

So how much weight can these things hold? I've put some shelves
up using them, and am now concerned they're gonna fall down onto
my head! Been up for a few years now though and don't appear to
have moved.

When used on a wall, the load is transferred into the plasterboard in
compression right down the whole length, which plasterboard is good at
resisting. When used on a ceiling, large bending loads are applied, which
plasterboard is very bad at.

Think of a straight drinking straw cut in half. It can support quite a load
if you stand it up and press carefully right down. However, if you lay it on
its sides, supported at the ends and push down, it has only a tiny fraction
of the strength.

Christian.