Patching a ceiling

[blowboat]

I need to run some electrical wire in a ceiling for a fan. (currently it is simply stapled to the ceiling and plugged into the wall.) The technique, as I have seen it described, is to cut two holes--one in the wall and one in the ceiling--where the wall meets the ceiling. This will allow access to both drill the necessary hole for the wire and pull the wire. Patching the hole in the wall seems pretty straight forward. But what about patching the hole in the ceiling? It is a textured type of ceiling. Can I simply use the existing piece that will be cut out for a patch?

Thanks for you help.

[kwgeorge]

Normally I would just say go up in the attic and drill a 1” hole through the top plate and fish the wire through the wall. I am going to assume however that this is not an option for you. Cutting a hole through the drywall and hoping to keep a heavy texture in place is problematic to say the least. You will defiantly loose some but you can buy spray cans of different textures and do a fairly good repair job. Consider you also have to tape the joint and float it in so plan on replacing texture.

[blowboat]

I like your first thought, but...

I do like your first thought, but...as you suspected it is not an option. This is a room on the bottom floor of a two story house. I suppose I could go upstairs, pull up the carpet, cut through the floor, and access it from the top. But it might just be simpler to proceed in the manner you suggest last. Thanks for the help. I guess I need to go shopping for some things before I put that hole in the ceiling.

[JimD]

If this is for a ceiling fan, you also have to support the box the fan attaches to. There are special mounts that you can insert through a hole in the drywall where the box will be and screws out into the floor joists for support. I would locate the floor (ceiling) joists and make sure they run the way you think they do. They probably run the same direction as the upper level if you can look in the attic. You can use a stud dectector to be sure.

Patching a textured ceiling will be a bit of a pain. There is blown on texture (kind of little puff balls) and thinned down drywall compound applied with a sponge or brush. If you can figure out what was done originally you can duplicate it, at least sort of. You have to remove the texture around the edges of the patch to tape the opening and then texture over the tape.

Is locating the holes at the edge and then putting up crown moulding an option?

Jim

[blowboat]

Possible

Crown moulding is an option we have talked about. It may end up being the best option. The ceiling fan is actually already up so I assume it is properly supported--it has been there for several years--but will check that for sure.

[jhart]

As we found out in our 115 year old house, after we were just going to replace an existing fan, that who ever installed it did not put in the proper support in the ceiling, not even a box. Lucky it didn't come down on top of somebody.