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Lighting Design Dilemma

how long does a chain need to be on a 30 inch light in a 2 story foyer

4 years ago

The pendant light I want to order is 30 inches long. We have 10 ft ceilings on first floor, 9 ft on second floor. How long does my chain/wire need to be? This light only has 6'.

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Comments (5)

Nicki
4 years ago
Not sure I completely understand your set up. Six feet of chain/wire is pretty much the standard for a light fixture. Is there an existing hanging light already? We have very high ceilings in our townhouse and it was going to cost a fortune to replace an outdated chandelier on a chain at the ceiling level. I ended up choosing a new light fixture that also hangs by a chain and had our electrician splice the new light into the existing chain. In a previous house with high ceilings, I bought the light I wanted and had it rewired (it was not cheap) by the electrician before it was installed to hang at the right height.
bmanddm
Original Author
4 years ago
Thank you Nicki. I could do that.
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Nicki
4 years ago
Here's a Before and After just to help with the visual. The angles are different, but you get the idea. If you look at the After, you will see a bit of black electrical tape just above the black fixture where the new light got spliced on to the old light cord (the chain supports the weight of the light). The splice is barely noticeable, and this trick saved me hundreds of dollars on the install!
PRO
BeverlyFLADeziner
4 years ago
It's likely that 6 ft will not be enough. Are you sure you have sized your chandelier correctly? We see lots of light fixtures in foyers that are way too small for a 2 store space.
PRO
JAN MOYER
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
You have a 228 inches ( 19' ) entry floor to second floor ceiling. You have a fixture totaling 107 inches with the mount and chain with 5" in that number for the mounting attachment, . You'd never want it less than eight feet off the floor to fixture bottom. Right ? So 11 inches is the ABSOLUTE MOST extra chain you could need or use..

My bet is you WON'T need another darn inch of chain !! The fixture bottom will simply hang with 108 inches "open" beneath it at entry foyer. And possibly more than that when it is held up for a visual using the whole six feet of chain : ) and the electrician actually REMOVES a few links.

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