Installing a swag light/hook in ceiling boards-how deep?
I just bought a swag style lamp - the kind the hangs from the ceiling on a hook and plugs into the wall. Mounting requires us to screw one hook in the ceiling to hang the lamp. The mounting screw is 7/8 long, and it would need to go into the ceiling board, not a beam, bc there are no beams where we need the light to be.
Anyway, I worry about poking or drilling holes in the ceiling boards w/o knowing how thick they are and/if doing this will cause any damage, such as creating leaks in our foam roof. Randy? renman? anybody know if doing this will cause trouble down the road? I do not know how thick the boards are nor exactly what is between them and our foam roof.
Oops. I may have just answered my own question, since Randy and company did our roof, which included 1.5" of insulation, so maybe we are OK and I am worrying needlessly.
I should mention that we have low voltage halogen tracks throughout the house, and they were screwed into the ceiling boards. The contractor that installed them was a long time Eichler owner but has since moved away. I guess I could remove one of the screws to see how long it is, but would rather not.
Any concerns out there, or am I making much ado about nothing?
Cathye
The redwood ceiling planking in our Eichler is nominal 2 inch material meaning that the finished thickness is 1.5 inches. The screw you are talking about is shorter than that so it won't even get out of the plank into the roofing
Hi Cathye,
When it comes to putting screws, fasteners or screw-in hooks into you Eichler ceiling boards only use fasteners that are less than 1.5" long no matter how thick your roof insulation is. Larger diameter screws are available to hang heavier items.
Remember that much of your house's wiring is running over the top side of your ceiling boards. Building code requires that your across the roof wiring be protected from damage from above with minimum 1/16" thick steel. Apparently, the code committees didn't think of what a homeowner with a long screw or fastener could do to their wiring from below. :shock:
So keep the fastners less than 1.5" and let there be light.
Adam
To resuscitate this old thread:
Do folks have a sense of how heavy an object suspended from the ceiling can be?
I'm trying to find a place to install this TRX mount for a stretching/exercise device. It comes with robust 3/8" x 3" lag bolts that I'd have to get 1.5" versions of. There won't be anything hanging from it permanently, nor will it be subject to sudden pulling forces, but it'll be used as an anchor for stretching / light exercise sessions.
The alternative would be to install it horizontally onto a beam, but I'm hoping I can avoid that for placement + aesthetic reasons.
link to the TRX mount
https://www.trxtraining.com/products/xmount?variant=40006818988172
thank you for any insight!
TRX Mount
We installed the TRX mount in our garage/workout space into the bottom of a beam. I'm guessing that you may not have a beam high enough to provide room for TRX workouts as we do in our room. Mounting the mount to the bottom of the beam has worked well, and allows the use of the large lag bolts. Given the bolt size, I did tap the holes so that I could get the bolts in, but they still required a medium-sized ratchet to get them in tight. I also looked into installing in the side of the beam. It appeared that the design of the TRX mount when mounted sideways may be cause the apparatus to contact the beam when moving around. I hope our mount example will work for you!
