Help On Fitting A Light

[anyoneanywhere]

I live in an old property ..high ceilings and the like...so am not familiar with new builds but anyway... I have a modern brass light fitting which I acquired and it does not suit my property and I was thinking of giving it to a friend for use in her bedroom as she has brass bed,tables etc . I have uploaded a picture here of the fitting .

has two screwholes which you can see in the pic and obviously are used to fix it to the ceiling .My property has wooden blocks built in to the ceiling and the rose/pendant lights are screwed on to them .

Even if I wanted to use this lamp fitting I would not be able to screw it directly to the existing block of wood as the wood is too large and the screwholes in the fitting are at the sides .I would need to make a smaller wooden block to fit inside it .

Would I need to do this in a modern house . Presumably they are built with wood in the ceiling to take ceiling roses but will I have the same problem ,in that the screw holes are facing in the wrong direction . I had thought that perhaps there was a part missing from this lamp fitting but I am not sure Stuart

[Cod Roe]

Maybe is the answer, new houses aren't necessarily different to old one in this respect. Depending on the quality of the electrician they may do any of the following:

Attempt to screw it to just the plasterboard: very bad, tends to look like its about to fall off, because frankly it is.

Put one screw into a joist and the other just into the plasterboard (my house has been done mostly like that) but this looks like it will fall off sideways all the time.

Put a wooden bridge between two joists just above the plasterboard of something like 100x18, secured to the joists at either end using small bits of batten. If your friend already has this then great, just screw it to that, it not I would suggest you add one, it isn't difficult.

Best go and check.

[anyoneanywhere]

Thx for that .The problem I see is that a ceiling rose has the screws going straight up in to whatever it is being screwed to . This fitting has the screw holes at the sides,albeit at the top ,which was why I was thinking I would need to make a round wooden block that would fit inside the fitting to take the screws .

However Since writing the above I have found that the knob at the bottom of the fitting comes off and I could put a screw up through that and in to the ceiling ...then refit the knob ....maybe advisable to slip a piece of insulation over the screw threads nearest to the fitting ? Look here at this pic

[Cod Roe]

I see where you are coming from a little more now, normally such fittings would have a base plate that you screw to the ceiling, and then the horizontal holes use blots to go into small threaded tags hanging down from the base plate. It maybe that this bit is missing. I'm afraid I don't fully understand how it is held up at the moment with a piece of wood that you say is too large?

You can do, but it should be earthed via the body of the fitting, and all the electrical connections should be insulated, so I don't think it will be too much of a problem.

[anyoneanywhere]

It's not held up anywhere at the moment . I found it yesterday as it had been left by someone for the binmen to collect on Thursday ( today ) .Sorry for not making that clear . I agree that there probably is another part that is missing . What you said about the screw being earthed ...That's right as the fitting is definitely earthed. Thx for your help Stuart

[Harry Bloomfield]

[e-mail] formulated on Thursday :

What I would suggest is a polished wooden pattress to fit between ceiling and the light. I don't think they even sell them any more, but they are quite easy to make. I just bolted a roughly circular bit of 1" thick wood into the chuck of an electric drill which was clamped in a vice, turned it to shape using a sharp chisel, sand it smooth, finish with a suitable varnish. Then just drill a hole for the cable to pass through, fix it to the ceiling and finally the light to the block.

Looks so much more finished than the brass plate fixed direct to the ceiling.

[robgraham]

The other option is to make the piece that is missing and that depends on your skills in wood work or metal work ?. The bit that is missing is just a bit of something like 15mm wide thin steel bent at the ends to fit inside the brass dome - two holes to attach to the ceiling rose, and holes on the ends to take self tappers to hold the fitting.

Rob

[anyoneanywhere]

Thx Rob...That'll be the final option .I had thought I might need to do just that but meantime I have faxed Poole Lighting to ask if the ceiling plate part can be obtained ( free hopefully) so we'll see what happens Stuart

[The Medway Handyman]

There is indeed a bit missing. Its a metal plate with the ends bent at 90 degrees, which is fixed to the ceiling. Machine screws go through the holes in the side into threads in the metal plate.

[anyoneanywhere]

Poole Lighting 'phoned me this morning in response to my fax and are posting me a strap and screws gratis . Result!!!...although I'd have been happy to pay . Stuart