No one enjoys rummaging through dark cabinets looking for the right-sized pot. On some days, that very prospect is enough to send you to the freezer for a microwave meal. But life can be better with a wrought-iron pot rack properly hung from a kitchen ceiling joist. Wrought-iron pot racks offer an aesthetically pleasing, space-saving, time-saving solution to kitchen storage and organized cooking. Properly installed, they dangle all your pots and pans, and many utensils, within easy reach. Improperly installed, they can do extensive damage to your ceiling, your tile and you. Use the right tools and procedures to hang a wrought-iron pot rack. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Put on your safety goggles.
2. Find the joists in your ceiling using the ladder and stud finder. Joists are the only structure in the ceiling that can support the weight of a wrought-iron pot rack. Electronic stud finders vary in design and operation, but they all indicate, either by light or sound, the locations of studs or joists beneath drywall or ceilings. Follow the directions for your model. When you find a joist in the area where you want to hang your wrought-iron pot rack, mark the center of the joist with a pencil so that you can remember exactly where it is.
3. Hold the base plate in one hand and put a screw through one of its mounting holes. (Mounting hardware for pot racks can vary widely, but most mounting hardware kits consist of at least a sturdy base plate and wood screws of at least 3 or 4 inches in length.) Then position the point of the screw straight up against the ceiling directly beneath the center of a ceiling joist. Using a screwdriver, turn the screw firmly until the base plate touches the ceiling. Repeat the procedure with all the screws. Make sure that each screw enters the joist. Now tighten the screws until the base plate rests gently against the ceiling.
4. Extend the yardstick to touch the ceiling while standing on the floor. This measures how close to the ceiling you can easily and comfortably reach. This is the approximate distance from the ceiling at which the bottoms of your pots should dangle. Write the measurement on a piece of paper. Then hang one of your smallest pots by a finger. Measure the distance it hangs down from your finger. Subtract this measurement from the first. For example, if the first measurement above was 24 inches, and your pot dangled 10 inches, the difference between the two is 14 inches. That's how far from the ceiling your pot hooks should end up.
5. Adjust the length of the hanging hardware (usually this consists of lengths of chain that ship with your wrought-iron pot rack) so that the hooks of your pot rack will be positioned the correct length from the ceiling.
6. Attach the chains to the base plate.
7. Test the strength of your installation by firmly tugging on each of the chains, and then on all of the chains. If any of the screws give way, you know the base plate is not properly mounted; in that case, remove the base plate and begin all over again.
8. Hang the wrought-iron pot rack by attaching it to the chains.
Tags: base plate, wrought-iron rack, from ceiling, your wrought-iron rack, against ceiling, ceiling joist
