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Just had a ceiling fan install go sideways in a 1950s house
Honestly, I was doing a simple swap in this old place in Cincinnati, pulling out a light fixture to put in a fan. The box looked fine at first, but when I got the old fixture down, I saw the wires were that old cloth stuff and the box was just nailed to a joist, no bracket. I thought 'no big deal, I'll just swap the box'. Ngl, the second I touched the joist to put in a new brace, the whole thing crumbled like wet cardboard from termite damage. I had to cut a bigger hole in the drywall, sister in a new piece of wood, and mount a whole new pancake box. What should have been a 90 minute job turned into almost 5 hours. Has anyone else had an old house just fall apart on them like that when you barely touch it?
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campbell.logan13d agoMost Upvoted
Tbh the worst part is the dust. That old wood and plaster turns into a fine powder that gets in your lungs and covers everything. Makes the cleanup take longer than the actual repair sometimes.
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Ugh, that's the worst kind of surprise. My last place was a 1920s bungalow and the plaster just turned to dust if you looked at it wrong. I ended up using one of those old-work fan boxes with the metal brace that spans between the joists, the kind you twist to tighten. It saved me from having to open up the ceiling even more when the original wood was shot. Those old houses really keep you on your toes.
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coleman.karen13d ago
That sounds like a total nightmare, honestly. Finding hidden damage is the worst part of working on old homes. At least you got it fixed right in the end.
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