Ceiling Fan , Medallion And Extension Box

joejack

We have a situation for which we need some help really bad.

During construction, for ceiling fans we had ceiling fan boxes
installed. After sheetrocking, we installed ceiling medallions where
the fans will be mounted with a center hole. The ceiling medallions,
are about 3" thick in the center where the hole is. Now we are trying to
install the fans and they come with a ceiling plate which is supposed to
be mounted on to the fan box in the ceiling and the fan canopy attaches to the fan's ceiling plate. The electrical contractor says that we cannot install
regular extension box to extend the fan box to clear the 3" ceiling medallion so we can mount the fan's ceiling plate. Also it may not pass the code he says. The right way it should have been done is not install medallion till the fan is installed with a downrod 3" long and then install the medallion which comes in 2 halves. But it is too late now and it will be impossible to remove the medallions without destroying them totally.

So we to find a way to extend the fan boxes. We want help from experts here if you know of any way to extend the fan boxes. Is there a fan box extension box available ?

mdshunk

I think you're screwed. You should have told the electrician you intended to use a medallion that thick so he could let the fan box stick out to accomodate it. Sorry about your poor planning.

joejack

The medallions were so pretty so were added later in trim design after the electric rough and sheetrock. These changes are unavoidable in custom homes.

I came up with a solution and it is going to be resolved this week.
We are going to remove the fan boxes and add framing attachments
to the bottom of the TJI like a block of lumber in medallion holes area
so that the framing inside the medallion holes are 1 1/2" above the bottom of the medallion and then run the wire through the hole and mount
the 1 1/2" fan box to the block of lumber which is secured to the bottom of the TJI. After the fan box is installed the bottom of the fan box will be flush
with the bottom of the medallion.

By code as long as the fan box is attached to framing we will have no problems.

If anyone thinks this is not a good solution. Give me a shout.

Electricmanscot

I Love it when somebody screws up and then it is up to the electrician to deal with it. Makes for a good time.

That aside I might try a standard extension box and some looong screws that will go into the joist above the existing box. The box does not necessarily have to be supported by the structure, only the fan does.

Assuming this a a 4" rnd fan box.

the catfish

Try short peices of unistrut attached to the joist to fur down and then reinstall the fan box. This will hold better and not split like using short sections of wood.