

Once the hole is cut in the wall for the box, feed the cable (or cables) out through the wall opening.īefore feeding the cable into the old work box, use a cable stripper to remove about 6 inches of the outer vinyl sheathing from the NM-B cable, exposing the conductors and the ground wire. If the cable is already connected on the source side of the circuit, make sure the circuit breaker supplying power to it has been shut off at the main service panel. At this point, the new cable should be unattached to any electrical devices. There should be 8 to 12 inches of excess cable at the new wall opening. Make sure the new lengths of cable are sized appropriately for the amperage of the circuit. More complicated wiring scenarios may call for two cables. If the new outlet is a simple circuit extension, there will likely be just one cable running from the last outlet location to the new box location. The Spruce Home Improvement Review Boardīefore the old work box is installed, one or more NM-B electrical cables will need to be run to the wall cutout.You can put on two thin coats rather than one thick coat if you need to. When it's dry spread multi-finish plaster over the patch to bring it level with the rest of the ceiling. Step 3įill the join with bonding undercoat plaster. Fix it in place with plasterboard nails along the joists and noggins. Using plasterboard that's slightly thinner than the depth of your ceiling, cut a piece the same size as the hole. Step 2ĭrive nails into the noggins at an angle to secure them to the joists. Half the thickness of the noggins should project into the exposed area. C-fix Liners are a secondary product designed to reinforce new undamaged downlighter cut outs in plasterboard. Then cut two noggins from 100mm x 50mm of sawn softwood to fit between the joists and form the other two sides of the opening. ceilings from damage caused by downlighters. Step 1Ĭut away the laths and plaster or plasterboard inside the marked area with a pad saw, and remove any protruding nails in the joists with a claw hammer. Then join them up to mark a square or rectangle around the damaged area. Next draw a line along each joist, half-way across its width, with a straightedge and pencil.

Locate the joists each side of the hole with a stud detector. Panels can be decorative and translucent, or they might have soundproofing and/or thermal properties. Wires fixed to angle brackets that are attached to the original ceiling hold the framework in place. This is fixed to the walls, a main bearer section spanning the width of the room and a cross-bearer section which fits between the main bearers. Panels or tiles are fitted to a lightweight framework that consists of an outer frame (called the angle section). I brought the cable into the box using a duplex clamp and am left with wiring that is too short. The wiring is old (1920s) and inside armored cable coming through the stud. I replaced the old mount with a pan ceiling support box. Very high ceilings can sometimes be lowered by fitting a suspended ceiling. Im in the process of replacing a light fixture with a ceiling fan. The floor of the room above a plasterboard ceiling may well be laid with floorboards or chipboard. Wet plaster is then added, or the ceiling is finished with jointing tape and compound - which seals the joints and creates a surface ready for decorating. These joints are taped with scrim - a very open-weave, self-adhesive tape.

Most modern ceilings are built from sheets of plasterboard nailed to the joists. The room above would traditionally have had floorboards. The plaster was squeezed between the laths so that 'nibs' formed - ridges of plaster that squeezed through the laths and set hard, holding the ceiling plaster in place. This was a time-consuming method of building walls and ceilings, as individual laths (thin strips of wood) had to be nailed to the joists and then covered with layers of plaster. The depth of the joists will vary depending on the age of the building (older ones are often deeper than modern ones) and their length. Both, lath-and-plaster and plasterboard ceilings are fixed to the joists that support the floor above.
