ceilingceiling-fanmount
My apartment is newly refurbished with multiple pre-installed spots for lighting fixtures, including ceiling fans.
It would seem to me that a metal beam that can handle a ceiling fan can handle a punching bag. Am I missing something and, if not, any tips on how to pull it off?
My guess is that it's either a sandwich beam (wood sandwiching a steel plate) or simply an i-Beam. When you drill, are you drilling through wood or just sheetrock?
If it's an actual i-Beam, you could hang it with some sort of clamping device.
I wouldn't trust dry-wall anchors for hanging a punching bag. Dry wall anchors can hold quite a bit, but not the active load of a swinging punching bag.
Looking at the geometry, it can only be paint holding it up. I would stay away from any solvents.
I would add a second putty knife, with a stiff blade. Use a slightly larger (wider to distribute the force of the lifting blade) putty knife against the ceiling (and under the lip of the fixture). Put the stiffer, skinny blade between the wide blade and the fixture. Pry up slightly, all around the circumference of the fixture. You will break it loose.
The prybar is overkill (in the photo), but illustrates how to protect the underlying drywall. (Guess what happens if you use the prybar alone. Ask me why I know :-O)
Good plan by Christos regarding leaving the new fixture, though I believe you will succeed removing the original.
Best Answer
Ceiling fan boxes only have to support 35 lbs. ceiling fans (according to NEC), unless they are designed to support more. In which case they will be marked with the amount they can support, up to the maximum of 70 lbs.
So no, I would not recommend hanging a punching bag (assuming a heavy bag) from a ceiling fan bracket.