New lamp in very old ceiling - first attempt caused a hole

[pert_]

Hi,

we moved into a new apartment in an older building (built in 1762) and have made good progress in getting it the way we want it.

Among other things, we wanted to put up a lamp model 2356 (here) which has a somewhat tricky mounting mechanism in my opinion. But it's nice.

Anyway, I started removing the ceiling rose which was plastic, removed the old ceiling hook which was attached to a metal plate (about 5 cm in diameter), drilled and inserted plugs that I gave a dose of glue at the bottom to be on the safe side.

When I was about to attach the mounting mechanism, I noticed one of the screws behaving a bit strangely, almost like when you drill into drywall and the screw just spins without catching. I paused, checked and noticed that the plug had completely released, and that a large amount of ceiling around the hole *also* had come loose.

So now I'm left with an extremely old ceiling with a large hole in it and have no idea how the heck I'm going to solve this.

Pictures:


My first thought is to remove all the loose debris, then fill the whole hole and redo the drilling and insert even thicker plugs but I'm not quite sure if that's the right idea.

In order from the outer layer: drywall, some form of plaster or similar, reed, and then wood joists.

 

[jonaserik]

How deep to the joist? Long screw with hook if available or splice (weld) a long screw onto a hook

 

[pert_]

3 cm approximately.

We won't be able to put a hook at all for that lamp.

It is attached by screwing a wooden board directly to the ceiling, then a metal piece that you attach the lamp to.

 

[falkn]

Take longer wood screws and screw into the wooden planking above the reed mat and the plaster. No plugs are needed.

 

[pert_]

Take longer wood screws and screw into the wood planking above the reed matting and plaster. No plugs needed.

Is it that simple? Because that would be faaaaantastic

 

[hsd]

An old tip that works in wood
Clear out bad material, carve a suitable wooden dowel, cut to the right length and dip in wood glue, tap in the dowel with a hammer
Wait an hour and then it's ready to screw (possibly pre-drill)

 

[pert_]

I tested the quick and dirty suggestion by falkn - and it works great.

One (I) should do it more properly but we completely renovated the apartment in 5 weeks without help (apart from electrical wiring) so I also feel a bit... done with doing everything properly.

 

[falkn]

I tested the quick and dirty suggestion by falkn - and it works great.

One (I) should do it more properly but we completely renovated the apartment in 5 weeks without help (except for electrical work) so I also feel a bit ...done with doing everything properly.

That's as proper as it gets.

 

[pert_]

That's as proper as it gets.

Absolutely, not what I meant. The crap sticks like a rock.