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I recently had a new ceiling light fitted which replaced a standard plastic ceiling rose. The new fitting is quite slim and the old fitting was hiding a larger than expected cutout in the plasterboard.

What would be the best way to fill in these gaps around the edge of the new fitting? My current skills in this area extend to Polyfilla but I don't think that will work in this situation, at least not without some type of reinforcement. The fitting can be accessed from above.

New light with holes round edge

Machavity
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FlyingBattery
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    Aside - This is why one should always endeavour to make the smallest hole possible while reasonably able to accomplish the task. – Criggie Oct 22 '20 at 21:56
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    You 'had it fitted'? Why didn't the fitter finish the job? If you couldn't fit it, is it wise to work anywhere near it? – Tim Oct 24 '20 at 15:28

3 Answers3

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You could install a circular ceiling medallion over the hole and run the light fixture through the middle of it. This would avoid having to match the paint of the surrounding ceiling.

wood ceiling medalion

Or here's an even simpler, 10", white trim piece.

Patriot Lighting® 10" Ceiling Medallion

Jon
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    Downside: most of these really need to be installed *before* the light fixture. There's not much clearance between that light and the ceiling. – bta Oct 22 '20 at 21:45
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    @bta : You can get some ornate two piece ceiling medallions, where the "carving" of the medallion hides the seam so it's not so obvious that it was slipped in around the fixture. (and cheap ones that just have a seam, that I guess you could spackle or something) – Joe Oct 23 '20 at 18:39
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    Or a real cheapie - a plastic or paper plate, right way up. – Tim Oct 24 '20 at 15:26
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    @Tim I remember my grandparent's house had a paper plate like that in the kitchen. Was there for many years and many coats of paint. – gnicko Oct 26 '20 at 18:36
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Like any other repair to sheetrock/plasterboard/drywall.

Turn power off (the breaker, not the switch) to the fixture and drop the trim out of your way. Either cut out a larger area and make a large patch, or add some wood strips behind and fit a small patch, then fill the joints (force joint compound into them with a small drywall knife), tape, and mud (apply joint compound to the surface with a drywall knife) - repeat until smooth, don't try to get it perfect the first go, sand off bumps, fill in hollow with the next coat, use harsh lighting from the side to assess the state of the repair, when fully smooth, prime and paint. When paint is done, replace the light fixture trim and restore power.

Ecnerwal
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    Depending on how the patch works out, for big gap filling or even over mesh/tape patches some type of hot mud (ie: durabond, etc) might not be a bad idea for the first bulk coat and regular compound for the finishing passes. – J... Oct 22 '20 at 14:16
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You can use a "Goof Ring" or a ceiling medallion to fix this problem. It seems that ceiling medallions are more for a decorative fix and seem more bulky and harder to install but goof rings are more discreet and a quicker install and fix the problem for much cheaper and easier in my opinion. Some pictures below from a product listing for acrylic goof rings:

enter image description here

Community
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Steven Scheel
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    This is good advice. The way it's written is _almost_ spam-like. I believe it to be an honest "satisfied user review", though. It would be good to [edit] your answer to make that explicit. – FreeMan Nov 08 '21 at 20:47
  • Also, if you'd register your account, you won't have to wait to get your edits to your own questions/answers approved. – FreeMan Nov 09 '21 at 15:19