Do you use a living room that could make use of a ceiling fan to cool it down? Its certainly not difficult to install a ceiling fan by yourself if you are considering to replace a light fixture. Every single piece of the wiring will already be around, hence the only obstacle will be replacing the pre-existing workbox with one that is authorized for the weight of a ceiling fan. Hanging your new ceiling fan on an pre-existing box that won’t support the additional weight of the fan could lead to disaster. Before you perform anything, read the guidelines for your fan very carefully and make sure that you have the necessary tools.
If you plan to have the fan over a cathedral ceiling, you must purchase an extension to ensure the fan wont be so high up. When you are ready to put in the fan, be sure that the circuit breaker is off so you wont get electrocuted. When you eliminate the light fixture, check to see if the current workbox can handle the added weight. Usually they aren’t created for a ceiling fan, so you will need to add further support. This could be done rather quickly if you have admittance to the attic, and are capable to get to the location of the new fan.
To be able to extra support, you nail a 2×4 inside the ceiling rafters where it meets the top of the workbox. Be positive that the 2×4 is attached and then screw on the box to the wood. If you did it accurately, the excess weight of the fan should be efficiently supported by the 2×4 wood and screws. If you never have gain access to to the attic, you will have to mount metal cross bracing through the hole in your ceiling. This is tougher to do, and most likely not as protected in the end, but will have to do with no attic admittance.
After you have placed the fan together in accordance with the instructions, you are ready to install the fan to your light fixture. The difficult part is hooking up the wiring while holding the fan. The difficulty is based on the type of fan you have, whether it is a hanging frame or a fan that has a bracket with a J hook. For most fans the wall switch will turn the unit on or off, while the chain will handle the speeds. If you choose to also deploy a light kit with the fan, both can be operated by either chain or wall switch.
Next, just stick to the wiring directions, usually as easy as connecting the two black wires, the two white wires, and also the two ground wires. Once you have finished putting together the fan and cabling, the last step is to attach the fan blades. As soon as that is completed, turn the breaker back on to check out the results.