Hello Folks,
Have been doing upgrade in my bathroom. Replacing some chrome style fixtures (faucet, towel bar, light fixtures, etc) with brushed nickel ones (I prefer them).

I stumbled upon a problem with installing the light fixture. The person who did some electrical work there years ago left the wires ending at fixture slipped away inside the wall and then had to cut an extra opening in the drywall in order to fish the wire. It was ok before because the previous fixture was large enough to cover the whole thing. But that is not the case of my new fixture which has a smaller profile. What would be the best approach to address this situation? Some plastic molding around it, maybe.

Old light fixture and irregular drywall opening around electrical box

New light fixture, test fitting


Any input and insight would be appreciated.

 

I see you have aluminum wiring there. Be very careful in your connections.

That's a pancake box. Typically it's mounted directly on the face of a stud. Can't tell there.
It's usually best to get something like a piece of scrap wood behind the hole and the spackle it.
That would require a screw or two thru the sheetrock into the wood.
You'd also spackle the screw heads too.

 

Not sure if there is enough room to insert a wood backer. What I would do is take a small piece of drywall about an inch or so bigger than the hole, remove the excess drywall from the back [leaving the face paper] and mud that in place. You could just tape and mud it but that wouldn't add any strength although it might be ok.

 

The orange peel splatter texture will make a good invisible repair harder to achieve. The spray can textures aren't great so once you have done what marksr said and you have it coated and sanded down smooth, you would probably want to practice on a scrap of drywall or some cardboard to master your application of the spray texture.

 

Sometimes you can get by with patting thinned down joint compound on with a sponge. It won't be a perfect match but since it's right next to the light fixture it might be good enough.

 

Another option is to use something like a 'goof ring'. There are a couple companies who make them, or you can make something yourself similar out of plastic or a thin wood. It's outside the electrical box, so the material doesn't much matter.

Something like this:

 

Pjmax:
Yeah, I have been careful and using aluminum-copper winged purple wire nuts for the connections. It is irritating because these light fixtures come with high gauge (very thin) stranded wires, not the ideal to connect with much thicker solid aluminum wires by means of wire nuts.

Indeed, the box is right behind a stud. I can cut a small piece of plywood and put behind the drywall as a backer, and have sparkle around and etc. The problem then is the paint; I have had a hard time finding a paint that actually matches (tried lots of samples, etc). Granted it is such a small portion of the wall, so not that much noticeable.

marksr: yeah, it would be dificult to insert a small piece of plywood there. Maybe taking the elect. box out of the way would make things easier. Also, the edge of the cut is very eroded in the back thus very weak at the edges.

XSleeper: I never used that spray texture thing before, so practicing the use the text spray would be required. But I have worked with drywall quite a bit many years ago.

Zorfdt: With wood that would imply cutting two small concentric circles in a small piece wood, maybe 1/4 birch plywood or wood panel. Could be done with a jigsaw or router with some extra jig. But would entail more work and tools, etc. A pre-made thin plastic piece of the right size and shape would be much easier.

 

Looking around I found something that may work out:

Sunco Lighting 12 Pack Goof Rings for 4 Inch Recessed Lights White Can Light Goof Trim Ring, Outer Diameter 6.7-inch, Inner Diameter 4.25-inch, Durable Plastic Design, Matte Finish, Flush Mount - - Amazon.com