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bronzefloor

Hi people,

This is my first time using this service. I am not an electrician so you will have to excuse the inaccurate technical terms or the complete absence of them.

As you can tell from the title of this post I am replacing old light fixtures. I bought the new fixtures from Ikea and below is a list of the names of the fixtures. I include these as somebody may have experience fitting them.

1) Tral.
2) Melodi.
3) Lock.
4) Kulla.
5) Gasgrund.

I have attached photos to this post so anyone who thinks they can help can better understand my problems.

A problem I am consistently having with replacing the light fixtures is there appears to be nothing for screws to screw into. If you look at the first photo it shows what is there at the moment in almost all the holes in the ceiling but I do not think I can attach the new fixtures to it. If you look at the second photo it shows the bracket (?) for the Kulla fixture. The two holes where the screws go are too far apart to fit into the screw-holes in the existing anchor. If I screw them into the ceiling the only thing holding the fixture up is the plaster! Obviously not good, especially when the Kulla fixture is heavy. If someone can suggest a solution that would be great.

I'm having a similar problem with the Lock fixture so a solution to the above would possibly be a solution to the problem with the Lock fixture. The third photo shows the part of the Lock fixture that has to be fitted to the ceiling. There are three holes which screws have to pass through therefore a bit different to the Kulla fixture but it is not as heavy.

Regarding the Melodi fixture, it is a pendant fixture. The fourth photo shows where I am trying to install it. I can put a cup screw into one of the existing screw-holes but it them does not allow me to cover the hole. Also, I want to have the shade as close to the ceiling as possible. I want to avoid cutting the cord/flex (whatever it is called) as I can loop it into the 'cup' shown in photo 4, a solution to that problem would be great. Correct me if I am wrong but I think I need some bracket fitted that will allow me to screw in a cup screw which I can hang the Melodi fixture from.

I haven't tackled fitting the Gasgrund fixture yet but I think the I will have the same problem as I had with the Kulla and Lock fixtures. If I have any problems I'll be back onto this :).Replacing old light fixtures. 022 - EletriciansForums.net

Regarding the Tral fixture I think I have installed that one successfully. I have a query about it but I will leave that for later. Thanks if you read all the above and looked at the photos.

For some reason I can not upload my photos but I am going to post this problem anyway. I think one photo is in this text - it was supposed to be the first photo. It may be of some help.
 
Unfortunately IKEA light fittings have fixing dimensions that are to European/Scandinavian standards which are different to the UK. Yes, the fixings can be utilised but do not marry-up with our 2 point fixing conduit boxes etc. Where typical household lighting is concerned, if the existing lighting position is at the side of a beam you should be fine, find the run of the beam and fix to that. Not sure how your existing lighting points rely only on plaster/plasterboard for support. But if that's the case, you'll have lift a floor board or two and support/reinforce the ceiling fixings, with wooden battens or the like...
 
A plasterboard ceiling will support a reasonable weight if you use plasterboard fixings, however for extra strength then you would need to drill through the plasterboard and into the concrete ceiling above, which can be difficult and depending on the design of the concrete may be impossible.
Unfortunately the stronger plasterboard fixings need a significant gap behind the plasterboard which you do not have. The spiral self drill fixings should support a weight of about 5kg.
 
If the plastic conduit box shown in your photo is itself securely fixed to the ceiling, you could try drilling some extra holes in the light bracket to line up with the threads in the box. You will need a couple of M4 machine screws to fix the bracket to the conduit box. (I'm sure that someone will correct me if I have the thread size wrong.)
 
yep. re drill 1 or mnore holes in the bracket to line up with the screw holes in the conduit boxes. 4mm brass screws from local electrical wholesaler, or use the old ones.
 

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