First time here, hopefully first of many.
I have an older home, built in the early 1900s that I just purchased about a year ago. Okay in shape, but a lot of outdated items.
Currently, I am attempting to install ceiling fans into the three bedrooms upstairs, and I’m looking for some guidance/help.
Currently, the only lighting I have in each room is one wall sconce per room.
No light switches, nothing. The switch to turn the sconce on is attached to the sconce.
With it being an older home, there is no ground wire-simply a white and black.
I would like to install a ceiling fan and two switches(one for fan, one for light) into each room.
I have already prepped everything (holes, brackets, etc.) just need help with the wiring.
How do I go about it not being grounded? Is a metal box fine, or do I need a plastic one?
Also I imagine I can tap into what is in the sconce and use this to power the switches and fan? I’m existing black and white to switches, back up to fan? I imagine I would have to splice new wire in.
Forgive me if my vernacular is not the best, I’m just getting my feet wet lol
Thank you guys for all your help!
Best Answer
I can't speak to the issue of ground requirements - one of the pros will have to answer that. Note that references below to /2, /3, /4 refer to the number of wires in each cable, excluding ground.
But I can answer the rest:
You will need two cables for each fan. In the old days, you could use a /2 from power (the sconce) to the ceiling and a /3 from the ceiling to the switches. However, due to the requirement for neutral at switches (relatively new requirement), you would need a /4 - which is a more unusual cable - in order to provide neutral. So I would recommend the alternative setup: /2 from power to the switches and /3 from the switches to the fan.