Hi all,
I recently moved into a new place. Took the Electrical Panel cover off, and the immediate surround around it basically crumbled to pieces.
The previous owner, &/or their electrician, had done a sloppy job on the install, leaving large, uneven gaps around the panel enclosure.
Then they filled it with balls of masking tape and spackle. Seriously ... :-(
Anyway, I got rid of the most questionable stuff, and this is what I'm looking at now:
I want to repair/fill the wall gaps to the outside edges of the panel.
If the gaps were small & uniform, I'd likely stuff some ClosedCall Backing rod, seal with an acrylic caulk, then fill in to wall edges with drywall compound.
With THAT^^ -- an uneven mess, with the largest gaps top & left @ ~ 1 1/8" -- I'm not sure what the right approach is here.
Should I first somehow 'plug' those large gaps with cut-to-fit pieces of plywood or drywall? Then rod+caulk+compound after?
Or get very large backing rod? Perhaps OpenCell (compressible) so as to better handle the variations? (not sure if acrylic caulk + open cell rod is an OK combo ...)
Or, some other approach? E.g., cutting out a larger, clean square hole, then measuring and fitting a cockeyed drywall frame to fit the hold, and the edges of the cabinet ...
Would appreciate any advice on doing this right, getting to a sealed surround, and clean paintable edges!
Thanks,
Rob
I recently moved into a new place. Took the Electrical Panel cover off, and the immediate surround around it basically crumbled to pieces.
The previous owner, &/or their electrician, had done a sloppy job on the install, leaving large, uneven gaps around the panel enclosure.
Then they filled it with balls of masking tape and spackle. Seriously ... :-(
Anyway, I got rid of the most questionable stuff, and this is what I'm looking at now:
I want to repair/fill the wall gaps to the outside edges of the panel.
If the gaps were small & uniform, I'd likely stuff some ClosedCall Backing rod, seal with an acrylic caulk, then fill in to wall edges with drywall compound.
With THAT^^ -- an uneven mess, with the largest gaps top & left @ ~ 1 1/8" -- I'm not sure what the right approach is here.
Should I first somehow 'plug' those large gaps with cut-to-fit pieces of plywood or drywall? Then rod+caulk+compound after?
Or get very large backing rod? Perhaps OpenCell (compressible) so as to better handle the variations? (not sure if acrylic caulk + open cell rod is an OK combo ...)
Or, some other approach? E.g., cutting out a larger, clean square hole, then measuring and fitting a cockeyed drywall frame to fit the hold, and the edges of the cabinet ...
Would appreciate any advice on doing this right, getting to a sealed surround, and clean paintable edges!
Thanks,
Rob
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