apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Answered in OT 219.
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/open-threads/open-thread-219-009717

Do CTRL F or Command F for Tapcon for the answer.

funny you ask. i just had an electrition out to my co-op for the same reason. you can crack into the ceiling, but that will need approval and costs a LOT of money. They told me the other option is to get a light weight fan - home depot style - and that can be attached with a runner line to the closest outlet/wires.
good luck.

Yep that cracking of the ceiling will run you $2000 for one fixture.

I'd run the elec. on the wall/ceiling surface w/ metal conduit and just anchor the unit to the conc. w/out penetrating it(other than the nescessary screws of course). The aesthetic problem with this is it will look horrible unless your space has an industrial/loft/converted type of theme, in which case it would be quite fitting I think....

I live in a condo w/ concrete ceilings too. We have track lighting installed like how Pete said... you'd put up a ceiling fan the same way.

I have a semi-industrial feel to my space, and I use conduit anchored to the concrete. My fans are holding up just fine and I like the look.

Oh alright, I'll copy and paste my original reply

Jason, there are two ways of achieving this but both involve not just an electrician but someone (who may be the electrician) to do the anchoring to concrete work:

1. Dig (with a jackhammer) a channel into the concret from the point at which you want to hang the fan to the wall where the switch will be. Where the fan will hang will need a deeper and wider hole to accomodate the electrical box from which the fan will hang and get its power. Box will be secured and set into more concrete as will the bx cable in the ceiling channnel. Total cost for nyc will be in the $2000 range.

2. Use tapcons to secure the box and rigid metal cable housing to the ceiling. You have probably seen this in warehouses. Cost - much cheaper but I don't know how much exactly.

OK, so when I googled for tapcon to give you a link in case you did not know what it was, I came across this discussion which questions whether tapcons could hold a fan box (due to vibrations) for more than a year or two, with suggestions for other concrete fastening hardware and methods:
http://forum.doityourself.com/showthread.php?t=119621

Now for the practical way to do it in a Manhattan rental/coop:
Get yourself a hammer drill and masonary bits, along with anchors (12-14 size)(or you can use tapcons but I havent had much luck with them). Although channeling in the ceiling and wall is preferable, its messy, loud and often needs approval and a licensed electrician. If you are handy or have a super/mr/ms fix it, the following is what you should do.

Buy Wiremold- homedespot or any elctrical house/hardware store will have it. It comes in ivory, can be painted, and get the varoius fittings you'll need, i.e, corners, angles etc (this is a type of conduit, but doesnt look industrial). You mount teh wiremold from an existing pwer source/or switch, anchor it to the ceiling and wall, run 3 conductors thru it to the fan, wire everything up, get yourself a fan remote, cut teh fan housing a little so teh moulding will fit right into teh canopy and VIOLA!

granted, its an all day + project, but worth it

That's "tapcon," not tampon.

lol

How anyone can sleep in the summer in NYC without air conditioning is beyond me...

As far as the view is concerned, it only blocks a small portion of one window, and it can be installed on the top or bottom.

It's just my personal opinion, but the relief of an air conditioned room in the summer far outweighs a partially reduced view.

A somewhat related question. I have a switch in my bedroom that should be associated to one of the outlets in the room. However it seems that the switch is dead, the connection to whichever outlet it was meant to be associated with is invalid.

Does anyone know how hard/expensive it is to fix this? Is it something I can do myself?

If the switch is the only issue you should be able to replace that yourself pretty easily. If you don't want to do it any handyman could do it for you simply.

Maybe my idea will sound crazy but it'll maybe work
I will nail a piece of 2x4x6 long lumber leaving a 2 inches distance from the piece of the wood to the top of the roof, then I will do the same thing in the other side wall,I will get 2 parallel block one facing the other, then I will cut a big long piece of 2x6 and the distance from wall to wall lumber and place that big piece of lumber in the space of 2x4 I got from the piece of lumber I've nailed on every side of my walls and boom! I will have a wood surface hanging on my roof where I can nail an electric box and install a ceiling fan, a light feature or whatever thing without having to make an expensive hole in my roof.

What is the best and most attractive brand of ceiling fan to get?
I'm somewhat overwhelmed by the choices out there. Also - a lot of them look ugly. I' putting a few in a brownstone floorthrough - and I'd like them to look nice - without spending an arm and a leg.
Thanks.

Wiremold also comes in white (and the white is also paintable). It is definitely the easiest to install.

Wiremold also comes in white (and the white is also paintable). It is definitely the easiest thing to install.

Fanimation makes wall mounted fans almost like a sconce light fixture only a fan.

http://www.fanimation.com/products/fitzgerald/

http://www.fanimation.com/products/gallery.html?mode=detail&family_id=27&image_id=1