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Need advice on a strange light instalation.

1835 Views 6 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  Atroxx
So my Grandmother wants me to put a new light fixture in her kitchen, here's the situation.

There is an old light light fixture above her sink. It is pull chain operated so obviously always hot. In front of the sink is a window. Slightly below and in front of the light is a weird piece of wood I can only describe as a "floating board". It runs between her cabinets and is only anchored down at the two points where it meets the cabinets. It sits about 6 to 8 inches away from the wall, obscuring the light from the old fixture, hence the need for a new light.

She wants me to install the new fixture on the actual piece of wood if possible. However, I'm not sure if code would allow that since I won't be able to put the wiring in a box, not including the fixture's housing of course, I would have to drill a hole and run the wiring through it.

The new fixture does not have a pull chain by the way, so I will either have to jump off the old fixture or run a switch leg, however, I believe the window will make it too difficult to run a switch leg because I'm sure there is a stud or two in there somewhere. There is a crawlspace in the ceiling, but no attic, so I don't think I will be able to fit in there to run wires above the studs.

So uhh, any ideas? I may be able to provide pictures in a couple of days, I need to get back out there soon to look at a few switches she says aren't working right.
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Think outside the box (pun intended) :jester:

1) Remove the existing fixture.
2) Connect a short piece of wire (romex if local codes allow)
3) Place a blank cover plate over the existing ceiling box, with a center knockout removed. Run your short jumper wire through that knockout with an appropriate connector.
4) Cut a hole in the center of your board, using a "pop-in" box or even a "Pancake" box for your new fixture.
5) Run your jumper wire to this new box.
6) Install another wire from this new box as your switch loop, fish it down the wall and install a wall switch.
7) Make up your new ceiling box, and mount your new fixture :whistling2:
That's pretty much what I had in mind, except I was going to leave the old light fixture in place and jumper off the pullchain so that it will turn on both lights. I'm just not to certain if mounting the light to the board would be any sort of code infraction.

I even had in mind to crimp some push-in connectors on the jumper wires in case the board fell or someone comes after me and pulls the board down without realizing it has hot wires run to it. That way the connectors will pull apart and cut the power to the new fixture.
I should be able to get some pics posted tomorow, I think I might go see what's going on with those switches she told me about.
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