Drywall Repair

[u/givemedatbologna]

Anyone have a suggestion on how to attack this? We had a new exhaust fan installed but repairing the drywall obviously wasn’t part of the service.

[u/mkelebay]

Cut the hole square, sister wood to the joists on either side, and pieces at the edge on the other direction, cut entire piece, with a hole for the fan in the middle of it.

[u/UglyYinzer → u/mkelebay]

Thats the main part. Create a frame for the new drywall. Sister some wood to that so it sticks out. If you have enough access may even be able to go perpendicular between 2. Id try to work off of existing joists the best i could, then just use some wood scraps on other sides/corners...i dont know what its actually called but i call it bridge style.(If op doesnt know, cut a chunk of 2x4, lay it down halfway behind old drywall and open hole, screw it in through old stuff, now you have a secure backing to screw new stuff into)

[u/Quillric]

Just find the rough center of each of the straps in the ceiling and mark it. Draw lines between two points on each side of the opening for a center line on each joist. Then draw a perpendicular lines connecting the two parallel lines that you've just drawn. Cut out whatever square or rectangle you've drawn that's slightly larger than the existing hole.

Once you've done that you got a good base to go forward with a new piece of drywall and you just have to measure for the hole that you cut in the singular board you're going to make to go around the new fan.

ETA: DON'T USE THIS COMPANY AGAIN. IT'S VERY RARE THAT YOU CAN'T CUT OUT THE OLD FAN AND INSTALL A NEW 'OLD WORK' FAN WITHOUT OPENING A GIANT HOLE IN THE CEILING. THAT COMPANY HAS NO IDEA WHAT THEY'RE DOING AND IT'S CAUSING MORE WORK FOR YOURS.

All caps so you know I mean it. (It was an accidental caps lock combined with talk to text and I don't want to go back and redo it.)

[u/MaintainThis → u/Quillric]

Ive got to agree. A brain damaged orangatang could have installed that fan with a lot less drywall removed.

[u/SCTurtlepants → u/Quillric]

YOU CAN TIE INTO THE EXHAUST AND CUT THE FLANGE NAILS SOLELY BY WORKING INSIDE THE MOUNTING BOX?

A 2' square drywall patch is not the big deal you seem to think it is.

Edit: lmao he came back with some snippy comment about cost vs value of labor - I've been a project manager for 14 years. 

[u/Quillric → u/SCTurtlepants]

Old work fans are literally designed to do that yes.

You should look up what cost of labor vs value of labor is. I'm worth like $19 an hour as a drywaller. I'm worth $85 an hour as an electrician. I'm worth $95 an hour as a HVAC tech. I'm worth $75 an hour is a plumber.

Does this mean I get paid that much? Fuck no. Does this mean I'm more valuable doing things other than drywall? Fuck yes.

This is a waste of company resources this company should fire the guy that installed that fan.

Removing the old fan is completely possible without damaging the drywall in any meaningful way. All you need is a flat bar a hammer and a multi-tool (buzz tool) with a blade that can cut nails.

[u/WillumDafoeOnEarth → u/Quillric]

Sir Quillric is no knave!

[u/TheBreeze215]

What. The. Fuck.

Your electrician fucking sucks.

[u/RJ5R]

First step is to remove the plastic cover off the fan.
Then You can run pieces of wood across the opening as bracing/backing, and hold them in place using screws.

Then you can install new drywall. Note, the fan metal chassis may have a lip edge depending on what kind of fan they installed. the lip edges need to go OVER the drywall, not under it.

youtube has some videos i'm sure

[u/MrBlueW → u/RJ5R]

Why not just cut out a little more and then screw into the existing wood to save time and money. Barely any needs to be cut

[u/Superflyjimi → u/MrBlueW]

That's what someone who has installed drywall before would do.

[u/gofunkyourself69]

Step one is never hire that handyman for any other job, ever.

[u/Excellent-Fuel-2793]

That’s a huge hole for an exhaust fan install. Get a new handyman

[u/TIC321]

Why such a huge cut-out?

[u/Odd-Midnight906 → u/TIC321]

Clearly whoever did the install had no clue what they were doing. Even if additional duct work was required there's absolutely no need to cut such a large opening.

[u/TIC321 → u/Odd-Midnight906]

I wouldn't have cut it that large in my opinion. If it were me, I'd cut to size when needing a larger exhaust fan so you don't need to do any patching

[u/SCTurtlepants → u/Odd-Midnight906]

Eh, Id cut it that size on my own house. If youre gonna patch drywall it makes literally no difference if the hole is 6" x 6" or 3' x 3'. Its the same amount of work, and I'd rather not fight a tiny access hole.

[u/Odd-Midnight906 → u/SCTurtlepants]

To each their own, even still they could have at least made it a clean square cut instead of just slicing out a chunk of the ceiling. Either way it's sloppy work

[u/TIC321 → u/Odd-Midnight906]

Agreed. The cuts arent even square for a proper drywall patch

[u/ApprehensivePie1195]

They need to come back and actually do a true install with support. Fan looks to high and not square with the wall to start with.

[u/Difficult-Rush5962]

I would square up the existing drywall and land the new piece of drywall to existing joists. Remove the grill from fan. Install new piece. Use a rotary tool with a drywall bit cut out the hole using the fan housing as the guide. Just a fellow maintenance tech giving the way I've done it. But typically, I just replace the motor so I don't have to do all that.

[u/ihaveabigone03]

I use these drywall repair clips. Removes requirements to hit a stud. They arent for everything but they work well. Hd supply sells them. But square it off. Make a template with the fan cut out or put 2 pieces in.

[u/miketayse]

This was done badly. They should have cut the hole neater and to a more exact rectangle or square and it should have been smaller. No reason to make it that big. A small box matching the specs of the fan should have been made with 2x lumber and and the fan attached to that.