Ceiling Fans Hung on a Box That Can Actually Hold Them
Fan installs for the ranch houses south of LCCC and the rentals near campus, starting with the question most people skip: whether the box in your ceiling was ever meant to carry more than a light fixture.
What Is Holding Up the Old Fixture
Take the globe off a bedroom or hallway light in a lot of the 1960s through 1990s houses in Fox Farm-College and you will find a shallow round box, sometimes plastic and sometimes metal, fastened to the side of one joist or hung from a thin bar nobody expected to carry weight. It held a small fixture for decades without a complaint. A ceiling fan asks far more of it. The fan weighs several times as much, and once the blades turn it pulls and twists on that box every minute it runs.
That motion is the whole problem. A fan on the wrong box rarely comes down the first week. It starts with a wobble, then a tick at the canopy, then a slow backing out of the screws that hold the mounting bracket, and the people sleeping underneath are the last ones to notice. The box has to be listed for fan support, and it has to be anchored to framing that can take the load.
So Isaac pulls the old fixture down before he talks about fan models at all. If the box is fan-rated and solidly fastened, the install is short and simple. If it is not, we replace it, and in most single-story houses south of the campus that work happens from the attic. Call (307) 757-5553 or tell us which rooms you have in mind on our contact page.
Bracing It From Above Instead of Patching From Below
Ranch houses are kind to this work. Most have an attic directly over the rooms that want fans, so instead of fishing a retrofit bar through the hole in the drywall and hoping it bites, we can climb up, see the joists, and set a brace that spans between them. The new box screws to that brace, the fan bracket screws to the box, and the weight ends up in the framing of the house rather than in a square of ceiling board.
Up there we also look at the cable feeding the old light. Original insulation on wiring in houses this age can turn brittle around a fixture that ran warm for years, and a fan install is the easiest moment to find that out, since the ceiling is open and the circuit is already off. If the wire is sound, it gets reused. If the jacket crumbles when it is handled, a short new run to the box becomes part of the job and goes on the written cost before we start.
Where there is no attic over the room, such as a vaulted section or a room under finished space, we use a brace made to install through the ceiling opening. It takes a little longer, and we tell you that up front. Our ceiling fan installation page covers fan work in general, and the Fox Farm-College page covers everything else we do in the neighborhood.
Six Things We Settle Before the Fan Goes Up
One switch, two jobs
Many rooms in these houses have a single switch leg running to the ceiling, which means one wall switch for whatever hangs there. A fan with a light kit then lives on pull chains, or the switch kills both at once. Since we are in the attic anyway, we can often drop a new cable to the switch box so the fan and the light each get their own control.
Speed control is not a dimmer
A standard light dimmer on a fan motor makes it hum and run hot. If you want to change speed from the wall, the control has to be one built for fan motors, with a separate dimmer for the light if the kit allows it. Some fans ship with a remote and a receiver in the canopy, which gets the same result without new wire.
Rentals near campus
Tenants in the rentals around College Drive ask for bedroom fans more than anything else. For landlords it is a sensible upgrade to schedule between tenants, because the fan-rated box and the brace stay with the building and the next person inherits a fixture that will not work itself loose. We take the go-ahead from the owner, not from a tenant’s request alone.
Height and clearance
Before choosing a downrod or a flush mount, we check how far the blades will sit from the floor, the walls, and anything tall in the room, like a bunk bed or a tall dresser. Low ceilings in some ranch bedrooms call for a hugger style fan. Getting this right is the difference between a fan you forget about and one you duck under.
Porch and patio fans
A covered patio or porch fan has to be listed for damp locations at minimum, and wet-rated if rain can reach it. Outdoors we fasten to real framing and keep the downrod short.
Balancing after the hang
Every fan gets run through all its speeds before we pack up, and if it wobbles we find out why. Usually it is a blade bracket or a blade that needs a balancing weight, occasionally it is the mount itself, and the fix is never to crank on a screw until the shaking hides. A quiet fan on high is how the visit ends.
Which Way It Should Turn in January
Most people treat a ceiling fan as a summer appliance, which wastes half of it in a place with Laramie County winters. Heat from the furnace rises and sits against the ceiling, especially in rooms with any height to them. Flip the direction switch on the motor housing so the blades turn clockwise when you look up at them, run the fan on its lowest speed, and it pushes that warm layer gently back down along the walls without a draft you can feel from the couch.
When the hot stretch of summer arrives, switch it back to counterclockwise. Now the fan blows straight down, and the moving air feels cooler on your skin even though the thermometer on the wall has not moved. That is also why a fan spinning in an empty room helps nobody. The effect lands on the people sitting under it, so turning it off when you leave the room costs you nothing.
We show you where the direction switch is before we leave, and if your fan has a remote that reverses it, we show you that too. It is a small thing, and it is the question we hear most often a few months after an install. If the fan sits inside a longer list, such as an older panel or tired wiring, the other Fox Farm-College pages below cover that work, and photographs of finished jobs are in our gallery.
Fan Questions From the Houses South of Campus
Can I hang a fan where my old light was?
Often, yes, once the box is right. Most light-only boxes are not listed to carry a fan, so we check what is there first. If it is not fan-rated or not anchored to framing, we replace it with a fan-rated box on a brace before the fan goes up.
Do you need to get into my attic?
In most single-story houses south of LCCC, yes, and it makes the job better. From above we can see the joists, set a brace across them, and look at the cable feeding the box. Where there is no attic over the room, we use a brace that installs through the ceiling opening instead.
Can the fan and the light have separate switches?
Usually. Many older rooms have one switch leg to the ceiling, so one switch runs everything. We can often run a new cable from the attic down to the switch box for two wall controls, or use a fan with a remote and receiver if new wire is not practical.
Can I put the fan on my existing dimmer?
No. A standard light dimmer is not made for a fan motor and can make it hum or run hot. If you want speed control on the wall, we install a control built for fans, plus a separate dimmer for the light kit if that kit is dimmable.
Do you install fans in rental houses?
Yes, with the property owner’s approval in writing first. On rentals we work for the owner, and many landlords near campus are glad to add bedroom fans during turnover, since the bracing and the fan-rated box stay with the building after the tenant moves on.
Which direction should my fan spin in winter?
Clockwise when you look up at it, on the lowest speed. That pushes warm air collected at the ceiling back down along the walls without a noticeable draft. In summer, switch it to counterclockwise so it blows straight down on the people in the room.
What kind of fan goes on a covered porch?
One listed for damp locations at the least, and wet-rated if rain or snow can reach it. On open lots near the edge of the prairie we also mount it to solid framing and keep the downrod short, because wind across a porch stresses a fan more than still indoor air does.
Do you supply the fan or install the one I bought?
Either. If you already have one, we check that it suits the room and the location before we hang it. If you have not picked one, tell us the room size and ceiling height and we will suggest what fits, then write up the cost for the fan, the box, and the labor.
More Electrical Work in Fox Farm-College
Getting a Fan Visit on the Calendar
Our Cheyenne shop sits a few minutes north of the LCCC neighborhood, and we cover the rest of Laramie County as well, with more of the map on the service areas page. Send the address and the rooms through the contact page and we will pick a day to come look at the ceiling.