I was about to hang a ceiling fan yesterday. I removed the light fixture. The box was metal and screwed to a cj. I went in the attic and added a block and screwed the box firmly to it. Then I noticed that the fixture screws turned strangely. It seems that the light fixture was screwed to a plaster ring that was not attached to the box above it. It was held in place only by 3/8″ drywall and mud. I moved the screws to the box and attached the fan where it should be.
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Replies
Some years ago I was installing a box for an overhead light in Puerto Rico. Given the position of the fixture, it occurred to me that someone was apt to replace it with a fan some time in the future. So I make sure to use a good, strong steel box, and attached it to the framng above with four stout screws.
Dan,
Years ago we hung some steel boxes for the elctrcian with Torx deck screws. He raised bloody hell and replaced our screws with sheet rock screws. Figured he had been shocked too many times.
KK
Why would a dry wall screw be better than a deck screw? Deck screws are thicker. A fine thread dry wall screw would fall out of a hole made by a deck screw.. The code is silent on the whole issue. I prefer #10 hex head sheet metal screws but that might just be me.
Greg,
He said no electrcians would have torx bits if they needed to move the box later. I love these torx deck scvrews and have even started to screw concrete forms together with them. Makes breakdown easy and you get to reuse them.
KK