slomatt
Well-known member
My wife and I have been remodeling our "new to us" house for the last several months, and this upcoming weekend she is hosting a dinner party. The gotcha is that currently we do not have a light over the dining room table, so I'm trying to get one setup during the next week.
Luckily there was previously a chandelier in that spot, so there is a feed to the ceiling. On a whim I purchased a track lighting system from Lowes today so we can hang some pendents, and I planned to simply hook up the floating power feed to the recessed junction box and be good to go.
http://www.lowes.com/pd_242364-4784...les_dollar|1&page=1&facetInfo=White|Portfolio
The existing chandelier cap is mounted on to the tongue-and-groove ceiling. When I pulled the cap I discovered they had run romex through the tongue-and-groove and into a surface mounted pancake box. This screws my plan of using the floating power feed because it needs a recessed box.
So, I'm hoping the GJ community can help me find a way to get this ready for the weekend. Questions....
- Is it to code, and more importantly safe, to run romex into a surface mounted pancake box? It comes directly in through a rear punch out with no strain relief or clamp.
- Any suggestions for ways to get the track lighting hooked up? One option would be to use a hole saw and install a new recessed 3" pancake box, but it would be nice not to cut a larger hole in the ceiling. Alternatively they sell another type of power connector for the track, this would work if I could find a decent looking cap for the pancake box (see below).
http://www.lowes.com/pd_225668-38269-P38WH_0__?productId=1062577
- Alternatively I could return all the track lighting stuff and buy two normal pendant lights, mount one to to the existing pancake box, and then fish another wire through and mount the other to a new pancake box. But, this is a bit of a hassle.
Any other suggestions? Your input is very much appreciated.
- Matt
Luckily there was previously a chandelier in that spot, so there is a feed to the ceiling. On a whim I purchased a track lighting system from Lowes today so we can hang some pendents, and I planned to simply hook up the floating power feed to the recessed junction box and be good to go.
http://www.lowes.com/pd_242364-4784...les_dollar|1&page=1&facetInfo=White|Portfolio
The existing chandelier cap is mounted on to the tongue-and-groove ceiling. When I pulled the cap I discovered they had run romex through the tongue-and-groove and into a surface mounted pancake box. This screws my plan of using the floating power feed because it needs a recessed box.
So, I'm hoping the GJ community can help me find a way to get this ready for the weekend. Questions....
- Is it to code, and more importantly safe, to run romex into a surface mounted pancake box? It comes directly in through a rear punch out with no strain relief or clamp.
- Any suggestions for ways to get the track lighting hooked up? One option would be to use a hole saw and install a new recessed 3" pancake box, but it would be nice not to cut a larger hole in the ceiling. Alternatively they sell another type of power connector for the track, this would work if I could find a decent looking cap for the pancake box (see below).
http://www.lowes.com/pd_225668-38269-P38WH_0__?productId=1062577
- Alternatively I could return all the track lighting stuff and buy two normal pendant lights, mount one to to the existing pancake box, and then fish another wire through and mount the other to a new pancake box. But, this is a bit of a hassle.
Any other suggestions? Your input is very much appreciated.
- Matt