[jkeck]

Hello,

I am new to the forums, but really hoping someone can offer some advice for a new home owner/DIY'er. I just purchased a home built in 1980 which has never been updated. I am in the process of doing some renovations before moving in. I am very handy, but this one has me stumped.

The home is a two-story flat roof home with no attic access. I guess when it was built in 1980, switch controlled outlets and exposed wires (http://i45.tinypic.com/107qijl.jpg) must have been the in-thing... but alas, they are just not my taste. Because the home has a flat roof, there is no attic access. I would love to run wiring behind the ceiling, but don't want the work of tearing the ceiling out. Is my only option to open a hole in the wall/celing and fish the wire then patch the drywall? This would not be a problem, but I think the ceiling texture would be hard to match.

Also, I would like to add can lighting to the living room on the 1st floor, but there is no existing wiring in the ceiling of that room either. I have the carpet torn up in the room above the living room. I was thinking I could tear the floor up in the 2nd floor room to run electrical in the ceiling of the first floor, but the subfloor is tongue and groove 3/4" plywood. Anyone have any experience pulling this up? Any suggestions?

Thank you in advance for any help/advice,
Jon

 

[J. V.]

This job will be difficult and may be to much for a beginner. I know several contractors that do this type work and are very good at it. Little drywall damage, if any. But they are not cheap. I have seen them install several can fixtures in ceilings with no crawl space. No patching at all. They are experts and they did not learn how to do this overnight. Can only imagine all the drywall they messed up before figuring out how to do it.
Where are you located?

 

[jbfan]

Got to love the ceiling fan hung like a swag lamp.
No doubt that house is from the 80's with no overhead lighting.