Forum Discussion

myredracer's avatar
myredracer
Explorer II
Jan 27, 2014

Patching screw holes in ceiling?

I'm wondering if I were to remove the commonplace pancake style light fixtures from the ceiling to install recessed lights, can the screw holes be patched somehow so you can't see them afterwards? Not sure what the finish coating usually is over the luan plywood. Is it a type of paint or plastic coating? I'd want to make the screw holes invisible and the patch lasting. The alternative would be to make some wood discs that go over the holes and the light would be recessed into that but the screw holes are 10" apart and it'd be a large disc.

14 Replies

  • A few times, I've used a dab of caulk to fill a screw hole. Others, I've just put in a finish washer and screw. Depends on where it is and if it's gonna really be noticed.
  • westend wrote:

    I have my reservations about a recessed fixture for RV applications. It will need to be rated for heat transmission and might give up a lot of insulation space. If it's too deep, it might make an area prime for condensation because of the temp differential from the fixture to the roof skin.


    I was thinking about the possibility of installing recessed LED puck lights which are only about an inch deep. Our 2013 KZ TT had them. We are getting a new 2014 KZ shortly and for 2014 they now have arched ceilings. We wanted the puck lights in the arched ceiling but they said they couldn't because it had something to do with how their units go down the assembly line and the ceiling panels are glued to the trusses and they can't install anything recessed into the ceiling. Seems a bit odd since there will be recessed speakers. I used to design lighting systems as an engineer. The interior of the TT looks really nice but the old style of pancake lights seem so "yesterday" and out of place and it will bug me forever... :(
  • I had a ding in one of my cabinets.
    I called the mfg of my Fifth wheel, and gave them the serial number.
    They sent me some wood look tape to match the cabinets. filled the ding and taped over, and it looked as good as new.

    There is probably some seam tape available to match your ceiling.
  • The covering on a lot of the RV interior panels is a thin vinyl sheet. There are an abundance of filling products made for wall repair that would fill the holes. You may have to touch up the filled holes with some paint to match the color of the covering on the panels.

    For walls that are somewhat "off-white", I use a Sherwin-Williams resin based filler to match. In most cases I'm going to be painting over the filler so color isn't an issue. The resin based filler tends to shrink less and is waterproof so can be used on exterior applications.

    I have my reservations about a recessed fixture for RV applications. It will need to be rated for heat transmission and might give up a lot of insulation space. If it's too deep, it might make an area prime for condensation because of the temp differential from the fixture to the roof skin.

    FWIW, here's what I came up with for fixtures for the LED panels that are commonly retrofitted for RV use. The fixture is a card display frame from which I replaced the easel back with a piece of aluminum sheet. The LED panel is mounted to the aluminum sheet and the frame slides onto the sheet.