Removing lights
Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 10:40 am
Not sure if this belongs in here or in Decorating, but as it's a bit of electrical kit I'm worrying about I'll try here first
We have a brand new kitchen with a bare plaster ceiling. As far as I know it's a plaster skim over plasterboard. Because the ceiling is extremely low (it's a converted garage) the lights are GU10 LED bulbs in flush mounted fittings held in by spring loaded clamps. It looks from below as if the fittings have a cylindrical enclosure behind them
The problem is painting the ceiling. In an ideal world we'd remove the fittings and paint behind them. But every time I try to g-e-n-t-l-y pull one out I can feel the spring tension increasing until it seems as if the plasterboard will break away rather than the light pulling through.
Am I being over cautious? Should the lights pull through without breaking the plasterboard? Incidentally, there's no prospect of reaching them from the other side. There's a laminate floor on the room above which is not coming up any time soon.
We have a brand new kitchen with a bare plaster ceiling. As far as I know it's a plaster skim over plasterboard. Because the ceiling is extremely low (it's a converted garage) the lights are GU10 LED bulbs in flush mounted fittings held in by spring loaded clamps. It looks from below as if the fittings have a cylindrical enclosure behind them
The problem is painting the ceiling. In an ideal world we'd remove the fittings and paint behind them. But every time I try to g-e-n-t-l-y pull one out I can feel the spring tension increasing until it seems as if the plasterboard will break away rather than the light pulling through.
Am I being over cautious? Should the lights pull through without breaking the plasterboard? Incidentally, there's no prospect of reaching them from the other side. There's a laminate floor on the room above which is not coming up any time soon.