Feeling stupid trying to solve a simple problem

[jseklund]

As many of you know, I have been working for the past few months renovating a home that was built in 1880 and has MANY issues. I am nearing the end of this project and have the bathroom together. I've overcome many problems which seemed more difficult than this....But I can't think of a way to fix this (I may just be extremely exhausted)...

I have a vanity that I plan to put a medicine cabinet and 4 light fixture over. It seems that I have positioned the vanity in such a way that there is a stud just to the left of dead center (maybe about 1/2" off). I figured I'd hang the light bar yesterday and realized this is a problem.

The light bar has a bracket on it that has holes in the center to mount to the box. This means, I need to put an electrical box at the center point of the vanity if I want to light up to the vanity. There is no electrical box, just a wire - so I can throw the box in anywhere I want. Except for that dang stud.

Has anyone run into this before? What solutions did you think of?

This wall is finished, so I can't nail to the stud in a typical fashion - but that would put the box off center anyway. The 'old work' clamping electrical boxes will push the light too far to the right...

Any thoughts/help are appreciated. I can't believe I can't solve this simple problem...feeling a bit dumb about it

[chopnhack]

I have had this problem before and my solution was to cut the offending stud and frame out a "box" like when framing for a window and then continue. Obviously easier said than done, especially in your case where the plaster and lathe strips will make it hard to separate the stud from the wall. You may have to run the reciprocating blade down the side to cut the nails or staples to release the stud from the wall. And yes, you may have some drywalling to do to hide the mess. You can of course offset and the items will be slightly off center, if you can live with that

[cabinetman]

Maybe a couple of solutions. Without seeing the light assembly, some are just a bracket and the housing is just a shell. If there is a back to the housing, can the bracket be removed and reinstalled to the housing and aligned to the stud?

If the housing has a back, maybe using toggle bolts to hold to the wall will be sufficient. I would rather find an alternative to cutting the stud.

.

[frumper64]

I ran into this trying to mount a ceiling light. Finally asked an old electrician and he pointed me at a very shallow round electrical box that I could mount on the outside and the fixture hid it. It was only about 1/2 inch deep - just enough to get the wires into and did indeed solve the problem.

[jseklund]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

The good news here, that I didn't mention, is that this bathroom was added on in the 1950's or so...and it's drywall, so that's a big help.

The bad news is, this is an exterior wall, so I'd like to avoid cutting the stud.

The light is a "bar" with a full length metal plate in the back. The plate goes to the box, and then you put the shroud over the plate to hide it.

Right now there is just a wire in the wall and I'm sure that's been that way for many years...but I'd like to put it in a box so that I don't have a wire hanging around....

Google MAY have provided a solution - it's called a pancake box and it's 1/2" deep...it'll be just enough to fit the wire in, and it can be mounted to the front of the stud without cutting it...then the fixture goes over it...

[jseklund]

Frumper - sorry - missed your post - I think that is the avenue I am going to look into. Thanks!

[woodturner]

Right now there is just a wire in the wall and I'm sure that's been that way for many years...but I'd like to put it in a box so that I don't have a wire hanging around

Many light fixtures include the "box" as part of the fixture. If your fixture encloses the wires and meets NEC requirements, you may not need an additional box.

If you go with the shallow box, make sure you are not exceeding the wire fill allowance for the box.

[jseklund]

Woodturner - thanks for the input.

I got the light up last night using a shallow 1/2" box on the stud. It wasn't too bad at all. The box I found was actually in Lowes by the ceiling fan section - not in the electrical section...I just happened to see it as I walked by, I could have been looking in electrical forever, haha.

I was worried about the wire/box size and allowances. My research indicates that you need about 2 cu. in. per conductor for 14 guage wire.

I just have 1 14# romex ....so 3 conductors, and this box is between 6-8 cu. in. it appears. So it's about all it can handle, but it's all it needs to handle.

Thanks for the help guys!

[Slik Geek]

Had a similar challenge in my bathroom recently. The fixture selected by SWMBO didn't even accommodate the shallow box depth sufficiently.

My solution was to machine a board upon which the lamp fixture was mounted (made slightly fancy, of course to hide the fact that it was added out of necessity). The shallow electrical box was inset within the board, so even though the box was surface mounted onto the wall, the box was flush to the board's front surface.

[Rand]

I had a similar situation where the box was already installed off center of the sink. Rather than using the pre-drilled hole in the fixture backing plate I simply drilled a new hole to line up with the electrical box.