Suspending My Luminaire

[N1z]

Hey, as u might know just got a new skimmer but cannot fit it due to my light, so im gunna need to suspend the light unit.
Now my dad is worried that the plasterboard ceiling wont be enough to hold it, so the next option was wall mouting brackets, i though thats fine but i looked at the price and they cost 40 quid! plus another 14 quid for the wires.... Is there any otherway to get hold of wall brackets to do the same job safely?

Cheers

 

[AK77]

Hi Niz,

With regard to hanging them from the ceiling, you ideally want to pick up the joists in the ceiling and drill into those, not the plasterboard. These should be reasonably simple to find by tapping on the ceiling. The sound will not be hollow or as hollow when you tap above a joist.

However, It'll be a lot of messing about and potentially dangerous as you would have to drill and be standing/leaning above the tank. You could slip or drop the drill or anything of that nature, the fittings could also come loose too if done incorrectly. Wall mounting would be a simpler solution. Why not construct your own wall mounts?

I've done a basic design for you. If you make the horizontal bar slightly less that the space in the plastic feet, you can fit the luminare securely in place. The block at the front will stop it accidentally moving forward. Although it looks somewhat precariously balanced, the lights aren't that heavy and will more than be supported by the framework.

I'd suggest you use some corner clamps when constructing, to keep everything in square. Anyhoo... here's my idea.

 

[N1z]

Ah cheers, yer my dad has said about buying the wire kit instead but still doing the bracket mounting.

 

[rictheredneck]

there is another way but it involves a lil bit of messing around. basically you cut a hole in the ceiling near where you want to fix up to, you want the hole to be about 4" x 4" cut with a pad saw and you should get it quite neat. then you want to cut a piece of board about 3 1/2" x 6" anything really will do i use chipboard. place the piece of board up inside the hole you cut in the ceiling and position and fix the bracket but leave the board sticking over the hole you just made. re fix the piece of plaster board with a screw and poly fill over.


you might get away with plaster board fixing although i'd suggest trying one out on an off cut of plaster board they will hold it but stumbling in the dark drunk trying to turn them on and pulling them down might be a problem. or like AK77 say try and get the joists but you may have a ceiling looking like a colander and still have no luck but they usually have 16" centers so if you come out from the wall 16" you might just strike it lucky... but the joists could be running the either way ie front to back or left to right, you might know which way they run.

the fixing on the left are what im talking about this is before the plaster board gets screwed back in place. the fixings on the right are plasterboard fixings. im a kitchen fitter we use a mixture of the 2 the hole cut out version can hold my 18st beer gut hanging off a wall unit. i wouldn't chance that on a plaster board fixing

 

[SkiFletch]

I say cheat... Use brackets designed for closet space. The kind of things that hold up those white racks for closet shelves. Simple, comes with instructions, cheap, and common

 

[N1z]

Done it now, what we did in the end was a tiny hole in the plaster borad then screwed it into the roof joists. Holds well tbh. Now i can fit my deltec yay!

 

[AK77]

So long as you hit the joists then you should be ok.