trying to hang my new T5s

cmc0814

cmc0814

New member
Hey guys,
I'm having a problem with hanging my new Tek T5 lights. I live in a two story apartment complex on the first floor. I have tried and tried to find the ceiling joists in the room, and I can't find any. Can an apartment building have something besides wood for the joists? I know Paul Thompson has done something similar with his 47 gal. I'm just wondering if I can get those butterfly hooks that let you hang stuff without a stud, or if I need to find something else. FYI, they are the 48" 6 lamp fixture. Any ideas would be awesome. Thanks guys.
 
you would be amazed at what a good set of butterfly hooks will hold up. The chances of those joist being where you need them is a million to one anyway lol. Just go to Lowes or HD and buy a good set of cieling hooks. Don't try and use the cheapo hooks, they are not made to handle the weight.
 
I'm say try to use some good sized butterfly hooks. If it looks like it will hurt the ceiling build a rack/stand out of 2x4's.

Kyle
 
The Zipits holding power is rated for walls not ceilings. There is a HUGE difference. It is best to use large butterfly hooks.

If you don't have wood joists you would have concrete ceilings. If that were so you could use almost any type of plug in a drilled hole.

If you are using a stud finder and have popcorn ceilings, they won't work unless you have a very high quality one.
 
Don't worry about the holes. When you move or need to remove the hooks for some reason just slap some spackle in it and go. Actually white toothe paste makes great cieling filler in a pinch lol. Every apartment i ever lived in has a toothe paste plug or two hiding in all that popcorn lol.
 
I agree that the butterfly style hooks are a better choice. Here is a picture of everything that I used to hang the pendants, at least as far as basically attaching them to the ceiling is concerned:



The butterflys are sold in a package called "Toggle Bolts" and are 3/16 iinch toggles. They are sold in many different lengths. However, I didn't really care how long the bolt was as I needed to be able to hang something from them from the ceiling.

So that brings me to the eye bolt in the bottom middle and the fender washer on the bottom left.

So I got the packages of toggle bolts, found matching eye bolts and fender washers, and then that was good.

A couple extra tips, the second to avoid a problem I had:

1. To install the 3/16 inch toggle bolts, drill a 5/8 inch hole. Or drill a 1/2 inch hole and then wiggle the drill around a bit to make the hole a little bit bigger. Then you can get the bolt through the hole. (I didn't have a 5/8 inch drill bit and didn't really want to buy one to drill 6 holes in drywall.

2. If you go for the eye bolt option, make sure you get ones that are long enough. At first I got 2 inch eye bolts. Well, those didn't stick far enough through the ceiling drywall to allow the toggle to open. Darn! So I went back and got some 2.5 or 3 inch eye bolts. I am not sure which and I don't have the package anymore. Just be careful about that.

3. Fender washers can be hard to find. But they are important. Seek and ye shall find.

And the laptop on the left, well, that's what I am typing on right now. :)
 
I have a 6 bulb teklight t-5 fixture hangin' from my ceiling with a couple cheapo walmart butterfly hooks. Hasn't fallen down yet.
 
I have never used a drill to hang toggle bolts. I take the appropriate sized screwdriver and punch it into the ceiling.

In case anyone wonders the placement of the fender washer. The lowest center bolt pictured is what you use and then place the fender washer and then the toggle bolt. Once you have the bolt through the ceiling abd opened, you screw the eye bolt to the distance you want it from the drywall and then use the nut to squeeze the fender bolt to the ceiling.

DO NOT tighten it very much. You want the toggle bolt to just seat against the drywall inside the ceiling. The more you tighten it the LESS weight it will hold because it will tear into the drywall and if you are wrench happy you can actually pull the toggle bolt back through the drywall.

(More info than the typical person would need)
 
Man guys, that is awesome. Thank you so much for helping me out. I spent like 3 hours last night punching holes in my ceiling with finishing nails trying to find a stud. I will go to Home Depot tonight and get the stuff you guys mentioned. Thanks again!!
 
Alright, so last night I finished it. I will post pictures, but I haven't had the time yet. Probably tomorrow. So I drilled into the ceiling, which had a convenient 1/8 in. thick piece of metal covering the drywall. I say that with a hint of sarcasm, because it was a pain. But also with seriousness because now it has metal reinforcement. I hung it and it looks good. The only problem is that the wire I used is so thin, I can't raise it easily. Thank you all for your help.

-Chris
 
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