Ouch.
It seems we always do Big Home Improvement Projects when the in-laws come to visit. So when my folks came this time, I thought, hey, why not a home improvement project (of at least moderate size) for them.
Aha. The ceiling fan.
We’ve been wanting to put a fan up in the breakfast room for some time. We don’t have a/c in the house — most folks in Denver don’t, and there aren’t more than a few dozen days per year when you really wish you had some. Well, maybe more if you’re working from home.
So, now that summer is waning and we’re finally getting a few brisk (to coin a phrase) evenings, it’s time to put up a ceiling fan.
We’ve had the fan, and a between-the-joists bracket — for three or four months. Time to put it up.
And to learn, once again, why I don’t tackle these projects on my own.
Turn off the power, first.
Go up and pull off the existing, chintzy ceiling fixture.
Hmmm. Odd. I expected this to be a simple electrical box nailed to an adjoining joist. Well, there’s a joist, next to it, but no connector. Just some screws at the top.
Wait. Not screws. Rivets. Odd.
Call Jim, my Father-In-Law Master of Things Home Improvementish. He thinks its already mounted on some sort of bracket between the joists. Cool.
Assemble the fan. Big fan. Assembles easily, though.
Getting ready to mount it. Hmmmm, what’s this next step?
Remote control. Yes, this ceiling fan has a remote control. And that’s good, since we only have a single power line coming up here (otherwise we could have separate switches for light and fan). And the way that works … is with a modules the size of a garage door opener, with wires for the incoming power, then wires for the fan and light, and a little antennae for the remote control.
Y’see, this is really sort of a hybrid unit. It’s a ceiling fan with the wiring a ceiling fan would be. And it’s a remote control kit for a ceiling fan.
One problem. No way that little module is going to fit in the electrical box on the ceiling.
Okay, not a big problem. I can pry open some ceiling drywall next to the electrical box, make a slot for the remote unit to fit in, and still run the wires back through (I hope) to the box. Problem solved.
Cut, cut, cut. Be careful not to make anything that will be visible around the ceiling fan’s decorative bell around the electrical box.
Hmmmmm. That’s interesting. I can see up now past the electical box …
… and it’s simply has a hanger riveted to the top of it, that hanger in turn nailed to the joist. Seriously NFG to support a ceiling fan.
Damn.
Okay, drop back and punt. We’ll pull out the old electrical box, by brute force, then use the bracket-between-joists doodad up there, hang the enclosed electical box, all’s right with the world.
(What the hell is this old box made of? Some sort of bakelite, or quasi-ceramic material Weird.)
Okay. Slide the bracket-between-joists doodad up through the hole. This thing’s cool. It has a spiked bracket at each end to dig into the joist, and you turn the shaft in-between to extend it out. It starts out just short of 16″ — the usual distance for joists — and extends out to 24.
Unfortunately …
… the distance to the next joist is 11″.
Off to Home Depot to return that guy, see if there’s a different, shorter one. Alternative is to tear out more drywall, bracket/hang a 2×4 between the joists, and go from there. Or so suggests Jim, after another phoned consult.
A very, very helpful fellow at HD speculates that the bracket things — they have them there — could be cut down with a hacksaw. Duh. Buy a hacksaw for $5, come home, cut it off, lookin’ good …
…. And it’s time to go off and start off our new Star Wars campaign. Tale to be continued ….