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Can I hang a pendant from a structural beam?

15 years ago

Thanks in advance for your help. Our kitchen plan involves replacing a load bearing wall with a 14" high, 4"wide LVL beam (with an 8 ft ceiling) The beam runs over the center of our peninsula/bar. I would like to hang short pendant lights from the bottom of the beam, without building the beam out much widthwise or heightwise. Can I accomplish this? Does the light canopy have to attach directly to a junction box, or can we attach the canopy directly to the beam, and cut a shallow groove to run the wires up the face of the beam (and then camoflage the wiring) and into a ceiling outlet box? Or do I have to attach a shallow old-work box to the beam bottom, and attach the canopy to that?

I am so confused because I have a picture of what I would like (it's on Better homes & G) which I will try to post, but I'm no good at this yet.

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Comments (5)

evilbunnie
Original Author
15 years ago
this should be the link

Here is a link that might be useful: pendant hanging from beam
evilbunnie
Original Author
15 years ago
Lastly, I should mention that I'm not doing this work myself, there will be a licensed electrician involved, but I have to give the electrician a lighting plan this week. If I can't hang pendants from the beam, I'll either have to specify hanging them from the ceiling on either side (which DH thinks is doofy) or build out the beam creating a space in which to put in narrow recessed low voltage lights (which DH wants, but I think it'll make the beam look massive -- and hate it when he gets his way!) Anyway, thanks in advance for the electrical advice and any marital counseling you might choose to send my way!
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I'm midway through rebuilding a flooded house and need some suggestions for lighting. I've taken out a wall separating the kitchen from great room and I'm in the process of replacign it with a 6' two-level bar. I'd planned on installing pendant lights above the bar. The wall I removed was a support wall, so I went back in with a 12' beam to span the opening. My issue now is that I'm struggling with how to hang pendants from the beam. I'd like to keep the beam as inobtrusive as possible, so building in a space around it to mount fixtures isn't ideal. Is there such a thing as a pendant light that would work with its base above the beam, a wire hanging through, and a trim piece of some sort where the wire comes out the bottom of the beam? If I could keep everything but the bulb and a thin wire above the beam I'd have my current headache solved.
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My suggestion would be to suspend your pendants centered on the upper glass window approx 24" or so down from ceiling. Sometimes, with a pitched ceiling, the light will suspend slightly to the downside of the j box even though the box is centered in the space. I would go for a round shaped pendant under 12" diameter each. My preference would be to illuminate wall and ceiling as well as down. Keep it simple because there will be a lot of them in a line. Will there be artwork on the walls or anything that might want a more focused light?
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percip
15 years ago
You can attach 1/2"x1" furring strips in parallel along the underside of the beam to create a ~2" channel for electrical wiring that is pulled from the wall. The drywall is attached over the strips to hide the wiring.

If you do not like the look of the beam that is dropped below the ceiling, you should consider recessing the entire beam flush to the ceiling. We removed two load bearing walls in our kitchen, one with a dropped beam (to separate the kitchen from the dining area) and one with the flush beam, and we far and away prefer the flush beam and regret not doing both the same way.
evilbunnie
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks for your response! I wish I'd known about the flush beam option, but the dropped beam is what the GC did, and what I have to live with. But I'm making lemonade.

Thanks for your insight, I think that helps me understand--We just need to pull the wiring from the wall, don't need boxes on the beam. Thanks!
percip
15 years ago
You should make sure that the pendant has a built-in junction box in the base for hardwiring. You should not join the wires and leave them bare in the 2" channel. Your electrician should be able to guide you on how to do this properly.

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