I just upgraded our electric panel. But there are quite a few holes around the new panel (see the picture below) .
How can I fix the upper and lower holes around the panel? Thanks.
Best Answer
Frame it with wood. Make it removable.
The Victorians had a brilliant sensibility. When they built bathrooms, they would build a small, attractive cabinet door in the wall on the other side of the tub spigot. You need access to the plumbing guts? Open the door. It has proven indispensable.
What looks like ugliness is in fact a godsend. You have access to the exterior of the panel for adding more circuits. That said, you still want fire protection.
Since this is a utility space anyway, I would build a simple, attractive wood frame of 1x4's around the panel, bridging over those holes. I would make the top and bottom easily removable. Also set it back just enough the service panel cover is easily removed without removing the top and bottom.
For fire protection, I would cut drywall pieces to fill those ugly holes top and bottom, and attach them to the back of the 1x4 framing. That way the framing holds the drywall in place. Want to add a circuit? Remove two screws and the 1x4 comes off, voila.
Since it is a utility space that gets dirty fingerprints, I would attractively stain the wood.
Thanks for the idea. I don't often embed service panels in drywall, but now I'll find a way to fit access points above and below, Victorian style.
I wouldn't start cutting out chunks of drywall to fix a small area like that.
Take off the wall plate and remove any loose or crumbling drywall. Apply a piece of fiberglass tape over the area, mud, sand and repeat as necessary to get a blended finish. Then prime and paint to match.
The fiberglass tape is nice for repairs like this because you can stick it to the wall and then mud on top of, unlike paper tape which you need to apply on top of mud. I've fixed a bunch of similar defects like this and several years later there are no cracks and they look great.
If there is a space behind the plaster board and the brick wall it is most likely that there have been wooden strips mounted to the brick and then the plaster board has been in turn mounted to those wood strips.
I would expect you to find a strip vertical right next to the window, one on each side of the corner in from the window and then some under the inside wall area. You will learn more simply by proceeding to remove the existing damaged materials. It is possible that some of the stripping was damaged as well and may also require replacement.
As for the installation of the replacement plaster board you would cut pieces of material to fit and then use plaster board screws to mount the pieces to the strips on the wall. The outside corner by the window is normally handled by installing a plasterboard cornice piece (made of metal or plastic) to the corner (with some more screws) and then the plaster board mud is applied at the corner up to this material to produce the finished corner.
Best Answer
Frame it with wood. Make it removable.
The Victorians had a brilliant sensibility. When they built bathrooms, they would build a small, attractive cabinet door in the wall on the other side of the tub spigot. You need access to the plumbing guts? Open the door. It has proven indispensable.
What looks like ugliness is in fact a godsend. You have access to the exterior of the panel for adding more circuits. That said, you still want fire protection.
Since this is a utility space anyway, I would build a simple, attractive wood frame of 1x4's around the panel, bridging over those holes. I would make the top and bottom easily removable. Also set it back just enough the service panel cover is easily removed without removing the top and bottom.
For fire protection, I would cut drywall pieces to fill those ugly holes top and bottom, and attach them to the back of the 1x4 framing. That way the framing holds the drywall in place. Want to add a circuit? Remove two screws and the 1x4 comes off, voila.
Since it is a utility space that gets dirty fingerprints, I would attractively stain the wood.
Thanks for the idea. I don't often embed service panels in drywall, but now I'll find a way to fit access points above and below, Victorian style.