Filling in spotlight holes in ceiling- how would you do it?

larry1981

Good morning,

We have recently moved into a house of which the previous owner had a spotlight fetish- they are wired (badly!) into almost every room, and some need replacing.

I’m after some advice as to how I would go about blocking up the circular holes in the ceiling so that they look satisfactory? I can access the lights above from the loft.

I assumed that glueing wood over the holes from above and then filling with something may be the way forward?

Many thanks in advance for your responses.

Sgt_Pepper_2

Plaster board in the loft over the hole. Screw through from below. Filler over. Sand and paint. Hole gone.

larry1981

Thanks for your reply.

What would you 'screw through' from underneath? Would using glue on the plasterboard not be sufficient?

Some of the spotlights are old 'fish eye' ones which are 20cm in diameter- would you recommend just using filler for this hole? That's a lot of filler!

Also, any idea how to make the holes smaller to fit modern smaller fire-rated downlights instead?

Sgt_Pepper_2

Dry wall screws.

larry1981

I see- instead of the glue I presume.

Would you fill the whole with anything other than filler?

julianashcroft

You could stick a small length of wood through the hole and fix either side by screwing up through the plasterboard into it. Cut a disc in a piece of plasterboard and screw that into the piece of wood and fill around the edges.

Buellguy

julianashcroft wrote: »

You could stick a small length of wood through the hole and fix either side by screwing up through the plasterboard into it. Cut a disc in a piece of plasterboard and screw that into the piece of wood and fill around the edges.

What he said - did this in our kitchen - can't see where the holes were now

googler

Place piece of plywood, larger than hole, over hole from above in loft.

Secure this to current plasterboard using drywall screws from below, through plaster board into plywood. Glue between plasterboard and ply is optional.

Cut new pieces of plasterboard to same size as holes. Secure these to plywood cover piece from below with drywall screws. Fill gaps, apply metal primer to screw heads before filling them, fill them with polyfilla or similar, optionally get plasterer to skim coat whole ceiling for even finish all over.

Optionally, cut one piece of plasterboard in a square, just larger than the largest of the holes. Using this as a template, trace round it under each hole and cut out the existing plasterboard to give you an even square of the same size at each former hole. Then cut out more squares of new plasterboard - all the same size now, easier to cut with square edges - and attach them to plywood as above

maninthestreet

Are company reps allowed to tout for business on these forums???

larry1981

Wow, thanks all for your responses!

Googler, this sounds ideal. Many thanks. Just need to source the plywood and see if someone can cut me some discs (I don't have access to the tools for that).
If not, I'll try the square option.

googler wrote: »

Place piece of plywood, larger than hole, over hole from above in loft.

Secure this to current plasterboard using drywall screws from below, through plaster board into plywood. Glue between plasterboard and ply is optional.

Cut new pieces of plasterboard to same size as holes. Secure these to plywood cover piece from below with drywall screws. Fill gaps, apply metal primer to screw heads before filling them, fill them with polyfilla or similar, optionally get plasterer to skim coat whole ceiling for even finish all over.

Optionally, cut one piece of plasterboard in a square, just larger than the largest of the holes. Using this as a template, trace round it under each hole and cut out the existing plasterboard to give you an even square of the same size at each former hole. Then cut out more squares of new plasterboard - all the same size now, easier to cut with square edges - and attach them to plywood as above

securityman

I was going to try and explain like Googler has, but a video speaks a thousand words.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K37G2j0K8BA