Repair gaps in drywall

[icenfire01]

Just got done painting fresh drywall this weekend and noticed 2 of my 19 can lights the trim ring doesn't cover up all of a couple of the cutouts (rotor zip got a little wild on a few of them) so I have about 1/4 to 3/8" gap to fill. Is there a putty or something that can be put between the can and the drywall that will allow me to paint to match to fill these couple of imperfections. I really don't want to remud and tape a couple of lights just to take care of 2 pretty small imperfections but at the same time I hate to leave it looking chopped up.

 

[astroracer]

Your best bet is to pull the lights and make a piece to fit. Taper the edges enough so you can fill the void with mud and sand it down smooth. Use the mud to "glue" the filler piece in place.
Mark

 

[landlord30]

That sounds like a pain in the *** repair to me. I'd buy bigger trim rings if you can find ones to work.

 

[icenfire01]

Your best bet is to pull the lights and make a piece to fit. Taper the edges enough so you can fill the void with mud and sand it down smooth. Use the mud to "glue" the filler piece in place.
Mark

I'm not 100% sure what you are trying to get at? the distance between the edge of the can and drywall is only 1/2-5/8" so it would be hard to "cut" a piece of drywall and "glue" it in place.

 

[icenfire01]

That sounds like a pain in the *** repair to me. I'd buy bigger trim rings if you can find ones to work.

I agree, normally I would just do this however I invest in a lot of fairly expensive led light/trim ring combos so swaping the ring is not an option. I read on the install instuctions this light can be used with either 5" or 6" can, I should have used the 5" can as then the built in ring would have covered more.

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/...RvoMB0uC3ne9RxIZqLYP99-v1MKZfT1ITjWxT9fhwgS_g

Here is a link to the type of light Im using.

 

[dutchgray]

Remove light, fill hole with drywall and filler, once set recut hole and refit light. This is why I always cut lighting holes with a holesaw as its harder to get it wrong.

 

[icenfire01]

Remove light, fill hole with drywall and filler, once set recut hole and refit light. This is why I always cut lighting holes with a holesaw as its harder to get it wrong.

I see what your saying but its a new construction fixture attached to the floor joists so there is no taking it out with out taking down a 12 piece of sheetrock that is textured and painted. I normally use a hand saw for light fixtures but being I had 19 to do the rotozip was much faster.

They make a wood filler but nothing to fill gaps in drywall? Im half temped to fill with clay and paint to match but don't know if clay will accept paint.

 

[SteveeP]

I would remove the trim ring and use Fast and Final lightweight spackle(link attached below) to fill in the gap you are talking about. This stuff is easy to work with, dries fast and you can paint over if pretty quickly.....

http://www.dap.com/product_details.aspx?BrandID=136&SubcatID=23

 

[-Brent-]

Joint compound the gaps, if they aren't too huge. Without pics it's hard for me to advise but if it's a 1/4" inch the trim would usually cover it.

Me, personally, and I'm pretty OCD about this stuff, I'd buy some pre-mixed joint compound, and some mesh tape and compound the gaps using the mesh as a substrate to hold the compound more securely into the gap, if that makes sense.

Then, sand, prime, paint and install the trim. It's overkill, but you'll never have anything crack or come loose. It's a DIY-type fix, for sure, but I think it'd meet your standards.

 

[JCfreak]

Just use Drydex to fill the cuts. Work it deep in there. A little quick sand to smoothness and paint. Quick and easy.

 

[Boomer343]

I'd use a product like this from HD
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbranded-18-lb-Easy-Sand-45-Setting-Type-Joint-Compound-169009/204290142

It will mix easily and setup with minimal shrinkage and it sticks far better than light duty products. It comes in different setting times and you can easily get two coats on in a couple of hours. I use it as the first coat when taping but don't over do it as it is much harder to sand.

 

[woodzy]

Depending on where and what finish you have on the drywall, they have what is called "GOOF RINGS" to just add a larger ring under the can light. I am thinking about these for my outside soffit lights since a blind guy cut the soffit and did a terrible job.

http://www.amazon.com/Progress-Lighting-P8585-01-Recessed-6-Inch/dp/B001BQC7TE

 

[bzinsky]

<landlord, welcome to my life

As someone who puts time as priority number one, and has learned all the little time saving tricks over the years, there is no filler you can put in there without a mesh or a backing. If I was making this thread, I wouldn't believe me, and I would try it on my own as it seems so simple. It will likely work but it will look like ****, you will notice it constantly and you will always wish you took another route.

The correct way, and believe it or not when all said and done might be the easiest way. You won't believe me until you try it, I know it lol. Is to cut out a section of the sheetrock as wide as the joist and just put a new piece in.

The way that might be less time consuming, is to take a piece of aluminum mesh for hole patching, cut out a circular hole the size of your can, carefully making sure not to bend the piece at all, and then apply it to the hole, then compound over the mesh.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BQSEQA/?tag=atomicindus08-20



Or - an idea I just came up with because of your particular situation. Take the cover off, put some compound in there, put something flat like a shim against it so the compound doesn't droop, put the cover back on so that springs of the cover hold the shim on. That's assuming the cover attaches with springs. Cover the shim in wax paper or something so compound doesn't stick to it. This should give you a flat enough surface to apply a skim coat on afterwards. Just be careful sanding as it won't be very strong.

Also if you use compound just for the purpose of repair, I prefer the self mix quick dry stuff. Not because it's quick dry though. It's a different compound from the pre-mixed kind and is considerably stronger and more resilient. It also does well with water prone areas because it doesn't not absorb water like regular compound. Regular compound waits for the water evaporate to become hard, quick dry compound goes through a chemical change with the water, similar to a cement. After the chemical change has taken place, it's not going to react to water again. I mean it's easy to figure this out just when you go to clean your tools after the stuff has dried. Fully dried regular compound will just turn soft and comes off easily with water, the quick dry compound stays pretty hard.

 

[icenfire01]

<landlord, welcome to my life

As someone who puts time as priority number one, and has learned all the little time saving tricks over the years, there is no filler you can put in there without a mesh or a backing. If I was making this thread, I wouldn't believe me, and I would try it on my own as it seems so simple. It will likely work but it will look like ****, you will notice it constantly and you will always wish you took another route.

The correct way, and believe it or not when all said and done might be the easiest way. You won't believe me until you try it, I know it lol. Is to cut out a section of the sheetrock as wide as the joist and just put a new piece in.

The way that might be less time consuming, is to take a piece of aluminum mesh for hole patching, cut out a circular hole the size of your can, carefully making sure not to bend the piece at all, and then apply it to the hole, then compound over the mesh.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BQSEQA/?tag=atomicindus08-20



Or - an idea I just came up with because of your particular situation. Take the cover off, put some compound in there, put something flat like a shim against it so the compound doesn't droop, put the cover back on so that springs of the cover hold the shim on. That's assuming the cover attaches with springs. Cover the shim in wax paper or something so compound doesn't stick to it. This should give you a flat enough surface to apply a skim coat on afterwards. Just be careful sanding as it won't be very strong.

Also if you use compound just for the purpose of repair, I prefer the self mix quick dry stuff. Not because it's quick dry though. It's a different compound from the pre-mixed kind and is considerably stronger and more resilient. It also does well with water prone areas because it doesn't not absorb water like regular compound. Regular compound waits for the water evaporate to become hard, quick dry compound goes through a chemical change with the water, similar to a cement. After the chemical change has taken place, it's not going to react to water again. I mean it's easy to figure this out just when you go to clean your tools after the stuff has dried. Fully dried regular compound will just turn soft and comes off easily with water, the quick dry compound stays pretty hard.

I like the idea of putting the compound up and using the light to hold it in place. Could a guy insert a couple of tooth picks in the side of the drywall to give the compound something to "hold on" to when it dries? Otherwise the dried glob will just fall out when it shrinks and dries?

 

[icenfire01]

Depending on where and what finish you have on the drywall, they have what is called "GOOF RINGS" to just add a larger ring under the can light. I am thinking about these for my outside soffit lights since a blind guy cut the soffit and did a terrible job.

http://www.amazon.com/Progress-Lighting-P8585-01-Recessed-6-Inch/dp/B001BQC7TE

This is a good idea and a last ditch if I cant find something that will "fill" the void. Ill try and take some pics when I get home tonight.

 

[Hpozzuoli]

Get the fast dry, drywall powder you mix yourself. Fill the gaps with it. It will take a few tries to get the hang of filling gaps with mud, buts it's the easiest way to do what you need.

 

[icenfire01]

Here are the two problem areas I am referring to.

 

[Morrison]

Those are small and you could easily hide them with a little mud and sanding. Don't make a bigger mess out of it by cutting a bigger piece out like others suggested.

 

[56rpm]

Those are small and you could easily hide them with a little mud and sanding. Don't make a bigger mess out of it by cutting a bigger piece out like others suggested.

^^^ This is your answer.

 

[Architorture]

use durabond to roughly fill the gap, then a little spackle to smooth it out...might have to buy a can of the texture repair to totally conceal it.

 

[fury9]

Just fill it with some durabond 20 sand and paint. Done. ^ beat me to it!

 

[kluckfab]

Could use a little foam and then mud over. Done that many times

 

[benjamintmiller]

I agree, take off the trim ring and fill with durabond. It may take a few coats to get the gap filled.

After the durabond sets, I like to apply paper tape over the top with all-purpose, and then feather it out about 12" with a few coats. The paper tape will add tensile strength, whereas the durabond and all-purpose primarily add compressive strength.

 

[icenfire01]

What is durabond 20? You have to bear with me, this my absolute fist time mudding. Also I live in the sticks, I have a Menards about 90 miles away and a Home Depot / Lowes 120 miles away so I would like to source local if I can.

 

[icenfire01]

Those are small and you could easily hide them with a little mud and sanding. Don't make a bigger mess out of it by cutting a bigger piece out like others suggested.

I definitely was not going to cut out a 5' piece to try and fix these imperfections, lol! I was just thinking there HAD to be something used to fill voids like this in drywall.

 

[icenfire01]

The trouble with just dabbing some mud up there is there is nothing for it grab ahold of and stay. The foam is a good idea that way you have something for the mud to stick to. Do you glue it in?

 

[Architorture]

durabond is a name brand of setting-type joint compound...you can get it in 20, 45 and 90 varieties which is supposed to indicate the number of minutes that the material is workable. you buy it dry in bags and mix it up yourself. if you go with 20, don't over mix it or it will be a brick in your bucket before you get a chance to use it.

it dries very hard and isn't as easy to sand as regular joint compound so it is best used for rough work. since it is relatively fast drying, low shrink and strong it isn't as susceptible to sagging or cracking.