Today I installed a ceiling fan. Anything heavy like this should not be hung from plasterboard ceilings as the ceiling could crack dropping the fan or light on your head.

In many cases the plasterboard is screwed to metal lath that looks something like this

It is normally ok to hang the fan or light from one of these, but the trick is finding it.

There are electronic devices that can find wood or metal behind the plasterboard, but if you don’t happen to have one of these you can use a magnet.

Find the strongest magnet you have or can borrow and move it along the ceiling until it pulls itself to one of the steel lath.

Next, gently move it side to side so you can find the edges of the lath and the direction it’s running.

Mark the edges, and center your bracket on the lath.

The green line in the above picture is a construction laser to mark the center of the room. If you don’t happen to have access to one, simply use a tape measure from the walls.

The silver bar is a strong magnet and as you can see it’s hanging from the ceiling. I’ve marked the edges of the lath and will now install the bracket.

Drill small pilot holes through the plaster and the metal then use appropriately sized sheet metal screws. If you have self-drilling construction screws, then you do not need to drill the pilot holes.

In the first picture you can see the wire isn’t in the right place. I made a new hole and moved the wire over to it. Luckily there was enough spare in the attic.

Plaster over the holes, and while that’s drying continue connecting the fan/light.

Here’s the fan installed, tested and balanced. The hood that covers the wires and mounting bracket isn’t installed yet as the plaster isn’t dry. I’ll do that tomorrow.

The hood is the round part laying at an angle on top of the motor. The wires and mounting pipe go through it so be sure to put it on before installing.

In the background you can see a light bulb dangling from the ceiling. I’ll be replacing that with an LED fixture.