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As the titles reads, I'm interested in installing a ceiling fan in a bedroom with a sloped ceiling. The catch is, the attic isn't accesible.
I'm assuming one idea is to run wiring from underneath the house, up the wall, across the ceiling and cover with a wire cover. Is that the only option?
As the titles reads, I'm interested in installing a ceiling fan in a bedroom with a sloped ceiling. The catch is, the attic isn't accesible.
I'm assuming one idea is to run wiring from underneath the house, up the wall, across the ceiling and cover with a wire cover. Is that the only option?
Yes, and no.
You need bracing in the ceiling to mount the box on that will support the weight of the fan. I would open up the ceiling a hole 18' by 18' to add wood to bolt to and to aid running wire down the ceiling. You will likely encounter a freeze block half way down.
One thought is to use light weight wire conduit and paint it white, install on top of drywall. Install a box on the drywall and lag it directly into the joist or truss.
My electrician has done this for me a few times. He runs wiring from a close electrical outlet or other ceiling fixture and fishes it to the spot where the new ceiling fan will go. When you use this method, tho, you need to control the fan with the remote switch -- you won't have a wall switch. But it works fine and most of the fans that have a remote come with a bracket you can mount on the wall if you want to operate the fan from a wall location.
Location: Visitation between Wal-Mart & Home Depot
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ckg242
As the titles reads, I'm interested in installing a ceiling fan in a bedroom with a sloped ceiling. The catch is, the attic isn't accesible.
I'm assuming one idea is to run wiring from underneath the house, up the wall, across the ceiling and cover with a wire cover. Is that the only option?
If you have no attic access at all this will be extremely tricky without some drywall demo, which is to say I can't think of a way to avoid cutting out some drywall in a number of different places.
You may need an access hole in the drywall at floor level where you drill through the bottom plate into the crawlspace, at ceiling level where you drill through the top plate and you may need another in the ceiling where it intersects the wall just for fishing workspace.
I think the best solution for hanging a fan is to install some blocking between the ceiling joists (rafters in this case?) and you will need to cut out a fairly large section of drywall for that. There are some other options, though. I forget the manufacturer and I forget the name of the product, but if you poke around in a big box store or an electrical supply store you may find an "extendable hanger bar" that can be installed through a cutout for a single gang ceiling box and has "feet" that can be positively extended by rotating the body of the assembly against a pair of tabs on either end. It's difficult for me to precisely explain without drawing a picture, but you thread it through the cutout, hold some light downward pressure on it to keep the tabs in contact with the back of the drywall and twist clockwise to extend the feet (which are spiked to dig into the wood) into contact with the joists/rafters on either side. You can torque it pretty tightly into the rafters and may be able to do some damage if you aren't careful. Once you have the bar in position the ceiling box is screwed to it. I still recommend going the wood blocking route because you are less likely to get a wobbly fan that way, but it's another option if drywall repair from a ladder isn't really your thing.
I've used the extendable hanger bars a couple of times, and would reccomend staying away from them. Frankly, they aren't all that stable, and on a sloped ceiling I could see you getting a lot of wobble in the fan.
How bout a nice looking retro or something rotating fan that sits on a desk, stand or floor. Much easier. They last a few years at a pop.
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