How should I repair drywall around a new smaller bath fan?

chef_carol

I'm replacing an old fixture that had a larger hole than the new fixture in the drywall ceiling. I wonder, is there a best practice for shrinking drywall holes for purposes like this? Is there a specific tool or method or something that I should search for? If there's a generic reducer ring, that would solve the problem, but I don't know what it would be called. The trim will cover the difference, but the hole itself is the concern. Obviously I...

Originally asked by KJ7LNW on Stack Exchange (diy) (CC BY-SA 4.0).

uphilltech

Great question — answering as the UphillTech team:

The fan cover should give you a fair bit of flexibility in ceiling thickness, so you really have two options. Either glue something like a plastic frame over the hole with a cutout for the new fan, or repair the drywall. I don't consider a drywall repair like this challenging, and I don't like non-standard solutions unless necessary, so that's the way I would go. I don't know of any ready-made plastic frames, so you'd have to buy a sheet and cut it using carpentry techniques. How you fill the gaps with drywall depends on the backing situation. You can simply screw some strips of 1/2" plywood to the existing drywall and glue in some strips of drywall, or even just more of the plywood, or you...

Full answer by isherwood: https://diy.stackexchange.com/a/329931 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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