I'm having recessed lights installed and want to know the best method to plug the holes left by the electrician. I was thinking of something like paint stirring sticks and construction adhesive to secure to back of drywall. Then plugs could be glued or screwed to the wood. Or I could use screws to secure the wood plank. Is this ok? Better ideas?
In hindsight I should have asked the electrician if he uses a flex bit (he didn't) and if he uses a hole saw to cut the holes for the lights (he didn't).
Best Answer
Wow, I'm surprised to see that an electrician did this to run wires! That number of holes certainly looks excessive.
While the method you suggested will work just fine, it seems like it would be quite repetitive. It might just be easier to cut out a rectangular strip and replace it with a new piece of drywall - then tape, mud, sand (and repeat) and paint. You might have to paint your entire ceiling in order for it to blend well.
If I were doing this (and I installed 30 of them in my house without cutting any extra holes in the ceiling), I would have cut the holes for the can locations and then fished the wire using a 6' flexible drill bit and an extension bit if necessary. An inspection camera comes in handy here too to help you see what's going on. If I was really stuck, I'd start by cutting a small hole only for the inspection camera (maybe 1" max - easy to patch), and if it really required a large hole, only then would cut a large hole so I could determine where the problem is.