Recessed spots - hole too big!

[Paul D Smith]

Precis - the idiot who installed the halogen spots in my bathroom cut the holes too big. The main body of the light literally "springs" into the hole and the entire fitting only stays put because the "bulb holder" section with the "nice trim" is slightly larger than the hole.

Any ideas how do I make the hole smaller?

Options I've considered so far...

1. Insulation tape around the fitting - NO! The fitting gets far too hot and in any place the holes are so much too large, the tape would show in places.

1. Replace the large plasterboard section and redrill correct size holes - would rather not.

2. Replace a foot square or so of plasterboard and redrill holes - how do I ensure it fixes well and could I really get a nice smooth, "joint free" ceiling?

1. Buy slightly bigger light fittings - giving this some serious thought. But are these fittings a standard size?

2. Some how "fill" the existing holes and redrill, perhaps moving them a fraction? Not convinced I could get a good finish.

6.

Thanks, Paul DS.

[Andrew Gabriel]

No. The eyeball ones use larger holes. There are also MR16 lamps designed to retrofit into R63 holes.

Fill the holes, and install proper lighting instead. You don't want holes punched through ceilings, particularly bathrooms and kitchens, and both these rooms need high quality lighting, which is impossible with downlighters.

[robgraham]

I presume Andrew's comment about downlighters in bathroom and kitchen ceilings is due to the potential problem of water vapour passing into the cavity above.

In terms of his concern over the lighting quality I disagree with him in that in both rooms, the activities occur in defined places and the lighting can be placed accordingly and results in shadow free situations. Apart from over the table, my low ceilinged kitchen uses only downlighters. The north facing bathroom does have an uplighter above the bath but otherwise uses downlighters. It's 25 years since all this lot went in and I'm not detecting any water vapour condensation problems and have always found the lighting excellent.

I know that doesn't help your problem. The technique I've used for plasterboard holes in the past is a suitable patch screwed onto short battens bridging the hole on the inside. I imagine I would fasten both with grab adhesive now. The quality of finishing is up to you small area plastering skills.

Rob

[David WE Roberts]

As long as the fittings have the reach for slightly thicker plaster board, you might consider a plate made from thin ply with the correct sized hole fixed above the current plasterboard. Not sure what temperatures are achieved around the fitting so other less flammable material might be better? Ah yes - I have a spare asbestos cement sheet you could have ;-)

[Jonathan]

When I had this problem when I was replacing some existing downlighters. I glued strips of cardboard with PVA round the edge of the hole to make it the right size. The lip of the light fittings hid the cardboard. they were like that for about ten years without any problems.

Jonathan

[Paul D Smith]

Umm, liking that idea, apart from the asbestos of course. Might have to do two "half strips" though because I need to insert the ply through the existing holes - there's no access to the roof space because we have a flat (1920s) roof and no crawl space. Just realised that most of you were probably expecting to nip up into the loft to put stuff in place :-(.

Paul DS.

[Tim Watts]

If you only need a few mm to make a difference, how about some flat ali strip (thickish), cut and bent into a circle and glued inside the hole? You can always repeat for an extra few mm off. PVA the inside edge of the hole and use something that doesn't mind the heat to stick it.

[GB]

I'm looking at doing this. Do you make the holes square first with say a reciprocating tool, or do you attempt to make a round patch of plasterboard?

[F Murtz]

Large stainless (or other decorative material) washers with the right internal size and outer big enough to cover hole ?

[Paul D Smith]

Umm, interesting thought. Wonder is one of the local sheds has some suitable plate? Cutting it into a washer could be interested.

Paul DS

[Jules Richardson]

Brace it on the reverse-side with wood battens, screwed securely to the ceiling and repair piece, then fill the screw holes afterwards. Notch the join, tape and fill.

It's a headache - and as it's a ceiling rather than a wall I'd be worried about flexing damaging the joins, too; personally I'd rule out other possible approaches first.

(if you do go this route, cutting the holes for the lights in the repair pieces before you attach them would seem like a good plan)

cheers

Jules

[D.M.Chapman]

I did pretty much this a while back (only one, might drive you mad if you have loads to do :-) )

Assuming the lamps will fit in a thicker bit of board, I cut the correct sized hole in a spare bit of plasterboard, then hacked it up so it was in two bits - sort of crescent shaped I guess.

Smear a load of no nails type glue up through the hole onto the top of the ceiling around the hole, and then poke the two pieces of "hole" up through and stick to the ceiling so you end up with the correct sized hole albeit inset by the thickness of the original board. Go to pub.

Next day, fill the recess around the edge of the hole with polyfilla that's fairly thick. Once dry, it was easy enough to scrape around the edge of the hole to make the lamp fit, and to sand flat with a sander that was large enough to cover the entire hole.

Worked well, and wasn't as much faffing as I've made it sound. Sucks if you've got 20 to do though :-)

Darren

[andrew]

Fittings are available in a wide range of sizes - you will be able to find some to fit your holes. Alternatively it's fairly easy to redrill the holes to make them bigger, so go for lights bigger than the existing holes. What size are your current holes?

A

[ARWadsworth]

So you would put me out of a job then:-)

I guess that I have fitted about 10,000 downlights.

The customer is always right when they are paying me.

[Andrew Gabriel]

That would be half a megawatt of extremely low efficiency lighting...

[Gareth]

How about fixing a bit of wood to the ceiling and, rather than trying to hide it, make it look like an ornamental feature? e.g. paint it to match the bath or bath panel or something?

Depending on the style of your bathroom and how much effort you want to put in, it could look good or it could look like some idiot cut the holes for the lights too big and you tried to hide it with a big bit of wood :)

[John Miller]

Precis - the idiot who installed the halogen spots in my bathroom cut the holes too big. The main body of the light literally "springs" into the hole and the entire fitting only stays put because the "bulb holder" section with the "nice trim" is slightly larger than the hole.

Any ideas how do I make the hole smaller?

Options I've considered so far...

1. Insulation tape around the fitting - NO! The fitting gets far too hot and in any place the holes are so much too large, the tape would show in places.

1. Replace the large plasterboard section and redrill correct size holes - would rather not.

2. Replace a foot square or so of plasterboard and redrill holes - how do I ensure it fixes well and could I really get a nice smooth, "joint free" ceiling?

1. Buy slightly bigger light fittings - giving this some serious thought. But are these fittings a standard size?

2. Some how "fill" the existing holes and redrill, perhaps moving them a fraction? Not convinced I could get a good finish.

6.

Thanks, Paul DS.

-----------------------------------------

TLC do a convertor kit which might help

M

[Paul D Smith]

...snip...

> John M

Liking that idea. Off to find out more and discuss with SWMBO.

Paul DS.

[ARWadsworth]

The last 1000 were 4W LEDs:-)

I have only got 4 35W spots in my house. One straight above the computer keyboard and 3 in the bathroom (thats one above the shower and two for general lighting, I have a mirror light for proper use.

[ARWadsworth]

Get the pillock back to fix it or buy larger light fittings.

What size are the holes?