I intend to install about 12 halogen lights in the ceiling of two adjacent rooms. Each room has at present a single ceiling light fitting. Can anyone tell me the best way to deal with beams in the void. I am unable to lift the floor above so I have to work from below. I already know that there is no way to get all the lights in place without dealing with beams in the ceiling void. How do you drill a hole in a beam through the small access hole for a fish-eye halogen light?
On Thu, 22 Jul 2004 00:58:58 GMT, "symon miller" strung together this:
With great difficulty\you can't. You could use a long drill bit, can't say I've ever tried though. If you do manage it, it only works if you're having a light between every joist. I think the question you are trying to ask is "can I install recessed lighting into a room without damaging any finished decor". The answer is no, unless you can get the floor up in the room above. If you could manage to repair the ceiling when you've finished, I would cut a notch in the underside of the joists and then patch up with filler\plaster.
The longer answer depends on few factors like beam spacing, proximity of hole to beam, and size of hole (which will be governed by you light fitting).
Several options:
If the light fitting hole is large(ish), and can be positioned next to the beam you need to drill, and you have/can get/hire/borrow an angle drill, you might be able to insert the drill into the hole and then drill through the beam. Possible - but tricky. You could alternatively drill through at a steeper angle using an ordinary straight drill.
If the light fitting can be positioned a fair distance from the beam to be drilled, then you could use a long (say 400mm or more) drill bit at a shallow angle through the light mounting hole. Sometimes a 19mm spade bit on the end of a 300mm extension (or two) can work well with a smallish cordless drill on the other end. The difficult thing is having got your hole, then threading the wires through it at a distance - especially if you can't get a hand in through the hole for the light!
Finally a fail safe method which is simpler to carry out, but will require some making good after: work out where the beam you want to cross is, and then drill a series of partially overlapping holes *up* through the ceiling into the bottom of the beam. If you use a wide spade bit (say 25mm) then three holes will usually be enough to cross the beam. You only need drill 10mm or so into the underside of the beam - so that will be enough depth to leave a channel across the underside of the beam, but above the ceiling. once the wire is in place you can fill the holes in the ceiling.
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