Big pendant lights onto a decorative ceiling rose

[Ookltd]

Hi, long time lurker, first time poster.

My wife has bought some large - very large - pendant lights. They weigh over 5kg each and I'm looking for advice on how to approach the problems they've presented.

Presently there are two decorative ceiling roses. I can't see any screws, so think they are attached to the ceiling by plaster or glue. The ceiling above is airtex. The house as a whole is lath and plaster but I'm unsure if this ceiling is, as the previous owners may have done some work.

The lights come complete with their own (non-decorative) plastic roses, which are set up to support the lights with three supporting wires. I'm guessing I should aim to screw these into the ceiling joists to make things super strong.

However, given the decorative ceing roses, it isn't possible to screw directly into the ceiling - only into the decorative roses themselves. In the middle of the roses, which are convex, there is a gap of about 2-3cm between it and the ceiling. That makes it nearly impossible to screw into the ceiling - I wouldn't know what I was screwing into - joist or nothing else.

Is there any way to attach the pendant lights without removing the decorative roses, which would be a messy job. I'm presuming attaching directly to the decorative roses wouldn't be string enough?

Grateful for any thoughts.

 

[terryplumb]

If you remove the existing pendant ,you should be able to establish if it is screwed to a joist ,and how you can secure your new fitting. Failing that it's lifting flooring above ,assuming you have access.

 

[Ookltd]

thanks, terryplumb. The existing pendant isn't even screwed on (previous owners did a lot of funny things). There is a metal hook screwed into the ceiling, and the wire from the existing pendant disappears behind that.

 

[terryplumb]

Remove the two screw's that hold the bracket ,and establish if they are into solid timber. If they are the screw's would be indicative of the line of the joist

 

[Ookltd]

Will do, though I'm not sure it's possible given the small opening of the rose.

If it is the joist, would you Suggest screwing through the rose into the joist?

 

[terryplumb]

Yes, drill pilot holes through the decorative rose ( is it plaster ?)and screw through into joist ,don't overtighten the screw's.
What's not possible by the way ??

 

[Ookltd]

Yeah think it is plaster. Thanks for advice!

 

[Taylortwocities]

That hook will be screwed to something solid. It probably held a heavy light in the past.
Find a way to suspend your new light from that, or remove the hook and have a prod around to determine if there’s a substantial bit of wood up there.
Better, access the ceiling space from above and miss out the guesswork!

 

[ericmark]

I found to lift the lights and wire in far from easy, so I used one of these it allowed me to do all the wiring then lift up the chandelier and plug in. but they are rated at 5 kg, so over that weight would need some other ways to attach as well. With no weight however while I wired up the light and screwed in the ceiling rose I was able to ensure the rose was firmly attached to a beam.

My problem is a very large room with only one light point, even with the old 100 watt light bulbs I don't think the lighting would have been enough, so with LED bulbs only real way is multi-bulbs to get the extra light required.

 

[Ookltd]

Interesting, thank you. I'm going to hang a 5kg weight on there to see if it holds.

 

[bernardgreen]

The 5kg is the static weight.

Do not overlook the possibility of dynamic loading if the ceiling is affected by people bouncing / jumping on the floor above.