When we are delivered a newly finished house, probably we will not find any hooks on the ceiling to hang the chandelier and then it will be our care to fix one.
If an electrical system has been taken care of in detail, on the ceiling the lighting cables are housed in a dedicated junction box.
In reality, there are not many cases in which we find ourselves in these conditions.
In most cases we will simply see a corrugated pipe sticking out of the ceiling and the whole surrounding area plastered.
How do you hang a chandelier on a hook?
It is true that a chandelier stud of a slightly larger size is required to cover the ceiling junction box, but it is also true that the cables are kept neater.
At the center of the junction box must obviously be a threaded hook to which anchor the chandelier with a special bracket.
Fixing the chandelier to the ceiling, then, starts with firmly fixing a sturdy dowel, after having made a hole of adequate size with the drill.
And here would open another chapter, because the choice of the plug depends very much on the material that we will face.
Almost always, after the first centimeter of plaster, we are faced with a hollow brick table and this does not allow a normal expansion plug to anchor properly.
In these cases, it is necessary to use butterfly dowels or anchors, whose fins expand in the void of the board or plasterboard.
The steps to follow to install a chandelier on the ceiling are therefore these:
- Check the direction of the corrugated pipe coming out of the ceiling to avoid going to drill holes in that direction.
- Probe with a small drill the type of material, if full and if empty.
- Choose a suitable dowel based on the type of material and the weight of the chandelier.
- Drill a hole with an appropriately sized drill bit and place the dowel.
After these four steps things get easier, because it's just a matter of hooking up the chandelier and connecting the wires.
In the case where the junction box was present we have already said you need a threaded hook, but in other cases?
Much depends on the type of chandelier, as we have anticipated.
If the chandelier is light, it can be hung from the ceiling simply using the electric cable.
By electrical cable, we basically mean the sheath that groups the ground, phase, and neutral wires.
A special three-hole cable holder is then hung from the dowel fixed to the ceiling.
The first hole of this special cable holder is used to anchor the chandelier to the hook, the other two, lower down, are used to pass the cable by embedding it in such a way that it can not slip out.
This system is used for light chandeliers that do not require strong metal chains to be anchored to the ceiling.
This type of installation is particularly used when you make DIY chandeliers that, by their nature, almost never use glass or at least do not use it in an elaborate way as we see for Murano chandeliers and chandeliers with crystal drops.
In all other cases, however, you buy a chandelier already equipped with everything you need to fix it to the ceiling: lamp holder, ring chain and so on.
Remember that the wires must be connected to each other using caps or mammouth, always better not to use connections "on the fly" fixed with tape.
Finally, there is also a third way: the spiral pull pendulum light, also called rolly pull lamps, to adjust the height of the chandelier.
Even in this case, the chandelier will be sold with this type of support installed, you will hardly buy a light pendulum to match a lamp.
These are often chandeliers that are put in the kitchen or study area and can be useful to better illuminate a table or desk.
The pull mechanism (which once installed the chandelier is hidden inside the cap) consists of a casing inside which there is a pulley with a clutch that regulates the rise and fall.
In order to ensure the movement of lengthening and shortening of the steel cable that supports the chandelier, the electric cable must also follow this movement and, consequently, this is why it is wound in a spiral just around the steel cable.