My husband and I are hardly DIY experts, unlike Mark and Theresa, but when we do set out to tackle a home improvement job, we like to do it right. We do our research, plan our attack, and if the job is too big we call in the experts—or at least the more experienced.
So it’s really frustrating to us when we have to take two steps back and fix a problem caused by the previous inexperienced homeowners before we can take one step forward with our project. Take for example our recent project: replacing an ugly, old ceiling fan with a brand new, shiny one with light. Simple, right? Take down old, put up new?
Not so simple when the old fan is improperly—and unsafely—installed. The old ceiling fan was secured to the ceiling joists with two types of wire: thin steel wire and orange plastic cord from—wait for it…a string trimmer! We knew this when we bought the house. The inspector caught it and we were assured at closing that it had been fixed. Apparently this was not the case. No wonder that flush mount fan wobbled when it was on—the electrical box that was supposed to secure it to the ceiling joists had broken screw holes.
After cutting down the old fan, and some minor trial and error, we managed to install our shiny, new fan—properly: with a steel electric box rated for the weight of a ceiling fan fastened securely to a joist.
- Shiney and new–and installed properly, too!
Yes, it took us all day to undo past mistakes and install our new fan. Was it worth it? You bet! Now we have peace of mind that our new fan won’t come crashing down in the middle of a hot August night when we’ve got it running on high. Oh, and it looks much nicer, too.
—Jessica, Producer for MyFixitUpLife
I have a terrible looking ceiling fan in my living room. I have been wanting to get rid of it for years, but I didn’t know how to install a new one, so I never replaced it. Now I can replace it with a modern looking one! http://fancfans.com/Lighting-Fixtures