All About Lights | How to Install a Pendant Light | This Old House
Вставка
- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- This Old House host Kevin O'Connor discovers the proper way to install ceiling-mounted light fixtures. (See below for a shopping list and tools.)
SUBSCRIBE to This Old House: bit.ly/Subscrib...
Shopping List for How to Install a Pendant Light:
nonmetallic electrical cable, for wiring new fixtures and dimmer switch
pancake electrical box"], for attaching new pendant fixture to ceiling
dimmer switch"], for operating new fixtures
three-gang switch box"], for housing the new dimmer and two existing wall switches
Tools for How to Install a Pendant Light:
screwdriver, for removing and tightening screws
pry bar, for removing old switch box
cordless drill, for drilling holes and driving screws
electrical-box hole saw, used to cut holes in ceiling for pancake boxes
drywall saw, for enlarging hole in wall for new switch box
plumb bob, used to transfer fixture locations from countertop to ceiling
fish tape, used to pull cable through wall
caulking gun and fireproof caulk, for sealing hole bored in top wall plate
About This Old House TV:
This Old House is the No. 1 multimedia home enthusiast brand, offering trusted information and expert advice through award-winning television, a highly regarded magazine, and an information-driven website. This Old House and Ask This Old House are produced by This Old House Ventures, LLC and are presented on PBS by WETA Washington, DC.
Follow This Old House and Ask This Old House:
Facebook: bit.ly/ThisOldH...
Twitter: bit.ly/ThisOldH...
bit.ly/AskTOHTw...
Pinterest: bit.ly/ThisOldH...
Instagram: bit.ly/ThisOldH...
bit.ly/AskTOHIG
Tumblr: bit.ly/ThisOldH...
For more on This Old House and Ask This Old House, visit us at: bit.ly/ThisOldH...
All About Lights | How to Install a Pendant Light | This Old House
/ thisoldhouse
This has to be the easiest case scenario. How about without attic access and perfect mounting points?
Tons of holes to patch on walls and ceilings...
Right?
Very incredible I as well retrofit new work boxes as old work. Very helpful 😎👍
Don't let the inspector see it.
Can't legally run screws through the box unless it's designed for them.
But, but, but....
The Evenrued principal.
Another best case scenario job. The common answer to "What's upstairs." is some combination of, two angry cage fighters, 15 badgers, a lice filled flea farm and Chucky.
Lol'd at this, but when I saw "and Chucky" I lost it.
About to move into my own home soon... hoping it's a best case. But then, I dig the Child's Play series and would totally be down for a Good Guy doll up there.
Maxid1 .
Lmao
You forgot the family of angry rabid raccoons.
Looks like Joe Exotic is doing well
😂😂😂
Open attic, nice.
I like the lights he poot in
Thanks for your share .
Awesome video it was done correctly
Easy when you have an open attic. ;)
2:40 that shepherd hook 😳👀😬
Putting 2 14/2's in a pancake is illegal. But I cant say I havent done it. Sometimes you get in a pinch and have no choice. Overload the cubic inches.
Davey28car not illegal everywhere
Definitly against cec
@@denislamarche4656 1000% 😂
@@GlitchedPepsi Where isn't it illegal?
Agreee!! The wires and wire nuts could barley fit and I thought he was a licenced electrician
Perfect
Definitely not to code. You needed to apply the peanut butter BEFORE Jelly to the bread.
how much would you say cost, to have done by an electrician
$$$
500$???
Why wouldn’t this guy get a 3 gang plastic old work box for the switches?! Would be a lot better install.
I have 1 light in my kitchen and want to add 3 pendant lights . Can I use the same switch?
Sure. The circuit is simple. Parallel the hot wire for each additional light to a hot wire going to the load side of the switch, and parallel the neutral of each additional light to a neutral wire that's tied into the neutral of that circuit. If your circuit is grounded, tie in the ground wires as well.
I recommend using fixtures that have dimmable LEDs and use an LED compatible dimming switch.
She should've worried about getting new cabinets and counter tops before getting these installed.
Wiring by Joe Exotic
I LOVE HOW THEY DONT SHOW YOU THE LITTLE PROBLEMS THEY RUN INTO...I.E. FIRE BLOCKING WHEN RUNNING WIRE IN THE WALL...SCREWING THE BOX INTO THE STUD WITH A SCREW AT A SLANT SO YOUR BOX ENDS UP CROOKED AS DO YOUR OUTLETS AND COVER PLATE....C'MON
They never show things like that,that's why DIY'ers screw up there houses and end up calling us,real electricians.
Ok well if I’m correct, that box is no longer UL listed because he drilled through the box into the stud. He also cut off those 45 degree tabs for the nails. He should have used an old work box.
He should have went for an old work box with the tabs that flip out. Would have also been more secure and less floppy
he cant use the nail tabs without cutting off more wall. It worked for the situation.
Where did you find the electrical box which is very shallow? Most of the boxes are very thick and if they are installed under the wood just like you did, the box will be pop out of the ceiling. So they have to nail it beside the wood which is not as good as beneath it. Where I can find the shallow electrical box? Thanks!
Pancake or ceiling boxes. The big box stores or hardware stores.
I have questions i need answered
My new home is not prewired for pendants...if you could give me an average price of how much it costs to install the lights of the home isn’t prewired for pendant....my lights will be about $100 a light..may you just estimate cost of labor and cost of it not being pre wired for the lights
😂😂😂
@@slappadabass3290 u laughin but it’s already compete lol
Go look at the videos 💁🏽♀️💁🏽♀️
You were asking TOH to give you an estimate 😂😂
@@slappadabass3290 Chile anyway ….
if that outlet next to the switch is that close to the sink should it not be GFI?
+altecdarpa21 It's most likely a split receptacle and I have never seen a split GFI. So you would have to make it 2 switches each a GFI. Anyways the electrical was most likely done before the GFI code was instituted, and it is not retroactive.
Yes
All receptacles serving counter surfaces in the kitchen must be GFCI protected, as well as the dishwasher circuit.
A regular outlet can be GFCI protected by the most upstream outlet being a GFI or having the entire circuit on a GFCI breaker in the panel.
Ohhhh so that's how you use a plumb bob#chiggycheck
That's not code. You can't put screws through the box should have used a 3 gang old work box
if you look closely at the 3 gang box he used, all he did was take a 3 gang new work box and cut the brackets off of it.
I don't think the sheetrock srews are likely to become energized
If the screws are in the back 1/4 of the box it's okay or if it's a listed box with built in screws (smart box makes some) this guy didn't have an old work box so he hacked off the wings of a new work box.
That is to code.
This is definitely not code compliant. Once he cut the brackets off and screwed through the box, he voided the UL listing.
5:39
Is the red wire a 2nd hot wire?
it's acting as a switch leg
The electrician's ear rings clash with his outfit...
That's how he tests foe live wires, he just hooks on each earring.
Porsche924Tim is
How long should it take
About an hour if you don't stop working and everything goes according to plan, but if not maybe 2h-3h.
Did anybody else notice that he used 14/2 on a circuit that has 12/2? i hope thats not a 20A circuit because 14AWG wire is not rated for 20A.
It’s a light the wire probably came from a 20 amp circuit somewhere else like the outlet next to it the lights not gonna draw 20 Amps it’s gonna draw less that 5 amps
Safeman4202 technically it is rated for it(via the table) but they have a special code for small wires and that’s where they don’t allow it. For some reason....
SomeRandomGuyWithAChannelOnUA-cam that doesn’t mean it’s ok
I did notice that. I figured they wanted to make it a "combo light and heater". Ha
#14 thhn is rated at 25 amps but has overcurrent protection limitations
I never seen this video ether too
What would have happened if there didn't happen to be a ceiling joist to screw the pendant mounts into? My luck i'd plumb bob up to the ceiling and there would just be drywall there.
Use an old work light fixture box, those won't hold a fan but will be plenty for a pendant light.
Use a fan bracket. It's basically a threaded rod that wedges into the ceiling joist on either side and once it's there you clamp the ceiling box to it. Installed probably they'll hold anything you want to hang on it
looking at the K.O. spacing on those pancake boxes, they sure look like 3 1/4" pancake boxes. Those are only acceptable as a "end of the line" outlet (one romex only) because of their conductor fill capacity. Even than, # 12 overfills the box but it's commonly overlooked. Two romex's in each pancake "overfills" the boxes even with #14 romex. Also, did all three boxes land on a ceiling joist?? Why not move them over 1 1/2" and use a standard 1 1/2" deep box or use a junction box in the attic with a single romex to each pancake box???
Pappa Bob Thanks for adding this comment, now I know exactly what to do.
+Pappa Bob It's different codes in different states/provinces. In Ontario you can put 2 romex wires in a pancake and use the pancake box wherever you want.
When you hooked that wire onto the screw terminal, why didn’t the electrician clamped it down with the piers to close the loop around the screw then tighten the screw? That’s pure laziness what the electrician did.
Not really its clockwise so its fine
In Canada you can't splice in a pancake box.
it's pretty much code anywhere since they are are about 7 Cubic inches and 14/2 is 6 cubic inches.
@Jupp Schlabutt What's to worry about with wire nuts? Bad/loose connections only occur when installed wrong.
@Jupp Schlabutt North America has both push in and lever wago connectors available. Lever wago's are gaining popularity, but a lot of people are hesitant about using the push in wago's because of a similar design used on older outlets/switches. They were an inferior design, which in a short period of time became apparent that the connections were loosening as the springs became weak. It's my understanding that several European countries had wire nuts. They fell out of favor because they were poorly designed, and in a short period of time often cracked and became loose. Some designs in the past may have been inferior to their Continental counterparts, but that doesn't mean their methods of termination are unsafe today. With modern designs, no one type is better than the other when it comes to long term durability and operation.
He could have kept the same smaller box. You can fit four switches in a standard two switch box if you really wanted to.
sure, but it's definitely not code and would not pass inspection!
Makes it much easier for fishing wires with the box removed
Traffic Control Freak stack switch is code and UL listed.
What would an electrician charge for a job like that?
I would have charged close to 300-400 usd
Ryan Simmons LOL
I have a problem with a dimmer switch?
Kevin Herrera hammer fixes 99 percent of all problems
Burn the house down
you guys did an electrical code violation. you can not run 2 pcs of Romex wire in a pancake box. instead you can install a 4s box to run 2 romex wires
Of course they have attic access 😤. Show us an example where they don’t, like in most houses
2:39 CODE VIOLATION!!! ⚠️ You can’t drill through a box- you buy a retrofitted box with tabs that go on the back of the Sheetrock
2:27
2:39 is incorrect too. Should have tightened the loop before screwing it down.
His earrings look hip
Not only did he overload the pancake but you're only allowed 1 romex in each of the plastic tabs in the 3 gang box. Unless it's a single gang only 1 wire per tab. This animal also decided not to use a drop cloth or an old work box. He also cut the hole like he had zero pride in his work.
Your only allowed to put one one romex wire to each metal pancake box 💯
Not up to code !
An inspector wouldn’t allow to romex wires in 1 metal pancake box.
Am I right or wrong ?
The fill for #14 AWG conductors is 2.00 cu inches for each wire entering the box to be spliced, plus one (1) count for all grounds entering, plus one (1) count for any internal cable clamps or hickeys (of which there are zero in this case). So (4) current carrying conductors x 2.00 cu in = 8 cu. in plus one ground count of 2.00 cu in = 10.00 cu in required. That appears to be a Raco 293 pancake box; the manufacturer indicates the volume of the box is only 6.00 cu. in. Splices of this nature cannot be made. If the electrician were committed to the pendant location mounted at the joist, he should have brought a single 14/2 cable up from each pancake to the attic and terminated in a 4-square junction box with adequate volume to make an appropriate splice.
Steve I was thinking he was going to run to a 4 square when I was watching. I was very surprised when I seen two box connectors in the pancake. I’m not sure where they found this electrician but he needs to be trained on the code.
Oh that's such a shame you edited out the most important part to see how you do is to thread a second wire through beside the original one and to see how it could be pulled down through the wall was crucial! could you please please add a video to show how to do that?
There's an open vertical cavity in the wall, and the new wire was simply fed through it by first dropping a fish from above, tying the new wire to it, and then pulling it up, which they showed being done.
Two drywall screws for a three-gang box huh?
💩
it is for mommy mmy
Amateur hour
Hack
seriously wtf do yall make your houses out of a big bad wolf would be able to huff n puff yo asses
what is your address