Years ago a handyman installed a ceiling medallion and fan for me, making the hole in the medallion smaller than the fan's canopy so the canopy covered the hole completely. It looked attractive.

I just had an electrician install a new fan with new ceiling medallion, and he made the hole larger than the canopy, with the medallion's roughly circular edges showing. He said the fan could not work the other way, and it will look fine with caulking, which someone else will do.

Is that a correct way to do it?

 

Could you please post a picture of the fan and medallion. Did he explain why the fan wouldn't work?

 

I can just imagine what that looks like. I don't think it's a matter of if it's correct. The normal way to install a fan in a medallion is like the first way you had it done. Maybe there wasn't enough room to attach the canopy over the medallion.

 

The NORMAL way is to fix the ceiling and avoid a bandaid like a medallion, unless it is there for decorative purposes. Aside from that, the second guy goofed, period.

 

Lose that electrician, keep the fan and medallion, you'll be better off. For a long list of reasons, caulking is never done around a fan canopy. The ceiling needs to be closed to within 1/8" of the edge of the fan-rated outlet box. Closing the gap entirely is the better option, and that may be where he meant caulk could be used.

Regardless, the fan is mounted against the face of the outlet box and the finished face of the ceiling, which should be the same.

 

Here's a picture of the canopy inside the cut hole in the medallion, and another of a fan the electrician cut the hole for and left the assistant to manage, only the assistant apparently couldn't fit the medallion over the canopy.

I sent the electrician a link to written instructions at A Step by Step Guide on Installing a Ceiling Medallion and video at How to Install a Ceiling Medallion - YouTube.

He had thought he wouldn't be able to attach the bolts to the fan box if the medallion came between the box and the canopy. After seeing how it's done, he stopped telling me how good the caulking would look and agreed to do it right when I get new medallions.

What are some reasons for not caulking around fan boxes?

 

It prevents you from having access to the electrical connections in the future, and it is UGLY. If he was an "electrician" he would have installed a box extender or plaster ring to make up for the additional space the medallion took up and placed the bell of the fan OVER a smaller hole in the medallion. He cut the medallion, why are you buying a new one? Why doesn't he since he messed this one up??

 

Chandler has pretty well covered it. A job done with incompetence or laziness. His mistakes should be done on his dime. If the check hasn't cleared or you used a credit card you may have some leverage.

It may not even have requires an extension (or plaster ring) on the box as most medallions are only an eighth inch thick at the center hole and the box was probably flush with the ceiling.