UPDATED: Hanging ceiling light from ceiling rose

[JohnW2]

You do not need to lift the carpet to confirm if there is a joist. If there were none, your ceiling would fall down.

... and the floor above Mind you, if it were just one or two joists which were absent, both ceiling and floor would probably be fine!!

Kind Regards, John

 

[ban-all-sheds]

If the room were small enough, and the boards were thick enough....

 

[sparkwright]

Don't use this electrician. I don't know about London prices, but that's expensive - AND YOU DON'T NEED TO GET THE FLOOR UP TO CONFIRM IF THERE IS A JOIST OR NOGGIN.

When whoever fits the light, if he can screw the bracket nicely into the ceiling, so it holds, that should be good enough.

Your ceiling may be constructed of lath and plaster, though for 1953 I would expect early plasterboard. If it did happen to be lath, screwing into a lath would probably be ok, if it doesn't split. Obviously a joist or noggin is better.

My advice is get an electrician to fit the light, make sure you have a selection of 2, 3 and 3.5 inch long size 8 woodscrews, and let him go for it. Hopefully you can be there (but don't get on his nerves) to see if a good fixing is obtained. If the floor then has to be lifted so a noggin can be fitted, make sure there's no junk in the room above, and keep a piece of 2"x2" wood and a saw handy.