# Drywall and Ceiling register issue



## shiarua (Feb 5, 2011)

Hello everyone! New to the forums here.. Probably 8 or so years ago, my parents finished a section of our basement. My dad hired one of his friends who was an amateur contractor. Needless to say, some of the stuff that was done in our basement was done half as and is turning into a pain to fix. I'm trying to fix it up because I a) live down here, and b) trying to turn this into a semi-nice man cave lol Anyways, my plans are to paint and fix up some of the issues that the vents have. There are about 6 ceiling registers (Like this) that are 1/2 screwed in. This is because the stud is only on one side and also because the drywall was cut poorly around the vents, so even if there was a stud to screw into, there gap is too wide for the register to cover and open parts of the drywall would still show. Case in point, see the picture below. I took the register off, but it was being help up with a single screw on the left side, where the stud is. The big gaping hole on the right was clearly visible. The register can cover the whole hole but not when it is screwed into the stud on the left. 
 

Is there any kind of adhesive or any way I can get the register to stay up without having to either A) fix the drywall or B) screw into the stud Thanks in advance.


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## Gary in WA (Mar 11, 2009)

Welcome to the forum!

Can you add a *shim material* between the stud/supply to even the gap out? Or install a bigger resister cover?

Gary


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## shiarua (Feb 5, 2011)

Well, if I even the gap out, I think the register will be too far away from the stud to be screwed in. The first thing I thought of was getting bigger registers, but the underside of the register would have to fit the vent, with only the surrounding "fins" if thats what you want to call them (sorry, Im not very technical) being larger. That was I could put an anchor through the drywall and screw it in that way.


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## boman47k (Aug 25, 2006)

Not sure why one end of the vent is screwed to a ceiling joist. Remove the register and look at the metal housing it attaches to. In the middle of the narrow ends, there should be small ears/flanges with threads in them. Use properly threaded screws to attach the register to these flanges. I am trying to describe what I have seen as far as registers are concerned.

Carefully mud and tape any gaps around the perimeter of the register. Prime and paint.


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## bjbatlanta (Jul 16, 2008)

Take some sort of trim (door casing perhaps) and "frame" around the opening allowing the trim to hang inside the opening enough to make the opening the size you need. You'll have to glue the trim with Liquid Nails or something similar. If you have, or have access to, a trim nailer you can shoot a nail or two through the trim into the drywall to hold it until the glue sets. Once the glue dries you can attach your register to the trim...


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## shiarua (Feb 5, 2011)

Thanks for the responses everyone. I will give that a try. I think Im going to seal up the gaps with some shim material, mud up around the vents to cover the gaps/shim material and do what you suggested and use some liquid nails with some trim or something.


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## bear74 (Feb 3, 2014)

I make an ear out of corner bead, flashing, scrap vent material bent to fit. A couple of self tappers on the inside of the register and then drill tap the ear to fit the register screw. I just did this this weekend at a handyman job and it works great, the crew that installed the sheetrock in this house must have had a liquid lunch cause they all had gaps and no ears.


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## Colbyt (Jan 27, 2014)

Bear might have said the same I am going to say. 

Usually the metal on the boot is bent 90 degrees to the sides to provide a lip to screw to. The same thing can be done retro using some scrap sheet metal bent to 90 degrees and screw or pop riveted to the sides of the boot. You can bend you own or tin shingles that are used for flashing can be bought and cut down to fit.


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## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

Can you sister a piece of 2x into the existing joist then screw into the sister piece. That should move it over 1 1/2".


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