Want to mount a sconce on the wall where there is a stud

pdp76

Yep, I'm hoping the pancake box will overhang the studs, that would result in only having to cut out enough drywall for the pancake box itself for mounting the sconces and not require any patching.

The wire will be coming from the outlets below the mounting locations. For the left sconce, the outlet is literally directly below so I'm hoping fishing the wire for that case will be easy. The outlet for the right sconce is about 2.5 feet away from directly below so I'm less optimistic about not hitting any other studs while running that wire. If there are any methods that will allow me to do that without cutting more drywall, that would be ideal. Also, this is on the 2nd floor of a 3 floor house so there won't be options to run the wire from an attic. The switches will be on the sconce themselves, no need to wire a switch.

pdp76

It turns out there is a horizontal 2x4 between the location of the sconces and the outlets below. Looks like I'll have to punch through them somehow. Any advice on how to do something like that with minimal drywall cutting?

Saturday Cowboy

The trick is to use a long flex drill bit. They can be found in the electrical tool section of you local big box. Be sure to pick up one of the directional tools also.

__________________
Ragged Trousered Philanthropist


Please follow the code - its there for your safety no matter how inconvenient.

pdp76

It's just over 4 feet above the floor. But remember, this is the 2nd floor of our home, just in case it makes a difference.

sharpsport

A 1/2" thick pancake box is the way to go in this situation. But forget about spending the time trying to carve out the studs. Instead, use a paddle bit (or auger bit if the paddle bit isn't long enough) and drill at an angle through the studs where you want to center of the sconce to be. Not only will this provide a path for your wire, but it will also give you a hole with which to terminate the wire in the box. This is the easy part. The hard part is going to be fishing the wire. Good luck!

Rick
http://myhandyadvice.blogspot.com/

sharpsport

My apologies Powerup 26. In the case of a cross brace you will have to use a a long flex bit as saturday cowboy suggested, or cut some drywall. Plan B: Pull power from overhead outlets on the 3rd floor. Remove the base board on the 3rd floor and drill through the bottom plate. Without seeing the situation it's hard to say.

pdp76

Thanks again for all the replies. The horizontal stud is just a few inches below where the sconce is located. If you look at the original picture I posted, the stud is where the top of the headboard is. Anyway, I was thinking about using the idea of drilling a series of holes in the drywall/stud to run the wire through (mentioned several posts back), but instead of doing it behind the pancake box, I'd do it across the horizontal stud. This would however mean that whatever I use to patch up the drywall will come in direct contact with the wire. Would this violate any building codes?

pdp76

My point was to minimize the amount of drywall I'd have to rip out. It seems like if I were to drill a hole through the middle of the stud, the amount of drywall I need to remove would be substantial to fit a drill in, or are there special drills or drill bits that can minimize the hole in the drywall? I mentioned the "carve a channel" method because I figure if I did that, the amount of drywall torn out would only be as big as the size of the "channel".

I of course would like to do it the right way, but if the hole in the drywall created by drilling through the middle of the beam is significantly larger than the size of a "channel"... and if there is nothing against code to do it the "channelmethod", then I'd still opt for the latter.

p.s. Here is a link to the post with a picture of the "channel method" Want to mount a sconce on the wall where there is a stud

pdp76

There unfortunately is no hole for the light box, it is directly in front of the window frame studs. I'd have to carve out more drywall to the side of the light box to get any sort of drill bit in there.

Oh wait, I just read your post previous to this one about the bit extender. I did drill through the edges of the window frame studs a little bit to create an opening to wiggle the wire through. Are you suggesting I use the opening in the edge of the windows studs and fit an extended drill bit through it to drill through the horizontal stud below? This might require me to carve out more of the window studs, not sure how easy that will be but I'll consider it since it does seem less kludgy than the "channel" method.

But my question still stands, are there any codes I'd be violating if I did do the channel method? Or any dangers of patching the drywall directly on top of the wiring?

pdp76

Thanks for everyone's help, especially Powerup26. I now feel like I have enough information to get the job finished! Maybe I'll post a picture of the final product when I'm done.