rwiegand - I found your question ‘Why resurrect it?’ Well - for the simple reason that high winds still exist, as well as the need for outdoor ceiling fans. The discussion is as valid as it was 8 years ago. Like Amy, we have outdoor Minka Aire, (a Slipstream ) and they have held up well for 5 years. The 65 inch version moves a lot of air. Our central Texas house is up on a ridge, and has a nice breeze about 80% of the time, but during summer they’ve been quite useful as a relief to the heat, as well as helping keep mosquitos off.

I thought our 2300 sq ft. house was just perfect for the 3 of us... - then we decided I traveled too much for work and opened up my own business - in the house - then things grew and I added an employee - in the house - Then hubby took early out from the University and expanded his tax & consulting practice - in the house - then his practice grew and he added a part ime employee - in the house - then things really got successful and some parts of the year he can have as many as 3 employees - in the house!!! Net effect is that our 4 bedroom house some days feels like a 1 bedroom office - we no longer have a home. We are building on 20 acres in the country - house with a good sized office wing. I've redesigned about a dozen times and can't seem to get it down below 5000 sq ft. So, for us (and the assorted clients, employees and visiting relatives) I guess the perfect size is 5000 sq ft.

I would pull a sheet of plywood down, remove the old fixture and try to run that wire next to the door. With the ceiling open you can then run a wire from the first light to the second. A new piece of plywood and some paint and the old fixture hole is gone.

So, an update: we decided to skip the ceiling fans after all. The only ones we liked were about $450 a piece, plus installation, and we'd need at least three. And we'd probably only use them about 15 days a year in this climate. So we're going to get a couple of nice stand fans instead. OTOH...we did wind up with can lights on a dimmer switch. Sigh.