Electrical Wiring with Plaster Walls
We just recently moved into an old building with plaster walls and are considering hanging a chandelier in the middle of the living room. There is currently no wiring at all there. We of course have plugs on the bottom of the walls, where I guess we could take a feed off, but would we…
We just recently moved into an old building with plaster walls and are considering hanging a chandelier in the middle of the living room. There is currently no wiring at all there. We of course have plugs on the bottom of the walls, where I guess we could take a feed off, but would we have to rip open the entire ceiling and wall to feed it? (There is no access from behind). The building is a 5 story coop…we are on the 3rd floor.
We also would like to hang two paintings on the wall and light each one with a picture light, but do not want to see the wire coming down the wall to plug it in. Ideally have both lights on a dimmer switch. Or use halogen track lighting from the ceiling and light the paintings with a spot light.
Any ideas on how much this would cost? Is this a difficult job? Any recommendations?
Thank you.
Whole cieling? more like a channel, then run a new bx, then plater/paint over it. a licenced electrian may want to run a new circuit.
You will need a painter/plaster person to follow up after the electrician. Most Brooklyn electricians are more than familiar with plaster/lath walls and ceilings. You may need to have a heavy duty rated box in the ceiling to handle the weight of the fixture. This may mean opening up the plaster wide enough to secure the box to the ceiling joists. If the wall plugs are not on an overloaded circuit you can make a straight run (don’t forget the wall switch) from outlet to switch to light with one run of cable. They may have to make some joist jumps which will leave additional holes. Do you have corner plaster moldings? It may be tricky to do without damaging them. Depending on your style you can use a plaster medallion to cover the damage done to the ceiling.
This is not a big deal. The whole ceiling will not have to come down. Some holes will have to be made so the electric lines can run behind the plaster. This is not a “difficult job”. The difficult part will be getting an electrician to come out for a small job. Make some calls.