another picture

Not acceptable. Even if the ceiling will be popcorned.

Specifically, the repair does not blend with the rest of the ceiling. Edges should be feathered.

Thank you both for commenting. The team working on the kitchen did the electrical work. I am assuming the wires are no longer live but now that you bring it up I will ask.

Should I tell them to take out the box and cut a square and start again?

It's not enough to just deactivate the wires in the junction box. It's against code to have any junction boxes with unterminated wires covered by drywall. The wires need to be completely removed.

If that's a thick glob of mud that can be sanded flush with the rest of the ceiling, that would be fine. But if it sticks out that much because there's something hanging below the ceiling (i.e., the junction box), then they need to remove that, patch in a new piece of drywall, and mud/tape/sand from there.

OK...now I am getting nervous. Is it likely this box cannot be removed because there are wires running through it to the rest of the lighting in the kitchen? If so, the kitchen decorator should never have told us it would be easy to just take the light fixture down. If I find out this is the case, I am not going to be happy. Ugly is bad enough, but dangerous is making my blood boil.

I think there is a high probability that you have live wires in there. If the box contains only a switch wire, it can be disconnected at the switch and the box can be removed. But there are other ways to wire a light fixture that would be less easy to decomission, and there could be other live wires running through or to the box. You have two options: 1) if the wires can be completely disconnected at both ends, you can remove the box, or 2) if it's not feasible to deal properly with all the wires, you need to leave the box, which you can cover with a decorative plate. I'm betting you have a wiring situation that would have involved tracing circuits and tearing out sheetrock, so the easy and illegal solution was chosen.

Aside from that, that's an incompetent and unacceptable patch..even without the box issue.

This post was edited by kudzu9 on Mon, Oct 27, 14 at 20:51

I second what kudzu says.
Most likely there are live wires under that patch.
It's probably a good thing that they did such a bad job with the patch because now you are aware that they probably screwed up something else that is more than just cosmetic.

I third what kudzu says.

Yikes! That is a pretty awful patching job! Did he do it with his feet, or what?

I continue to be amazed at the quality (lack of) of work I see on these forums.

that is a HORRID job. I could do that well (and have done so, which is why I pay professionals to finish drywall).

that is a total hack job, someone with any drywall experience at ALL can do way better than that.

Either that guy is drunk, is a "general handyman" who has no experience in finishing drywall, or needs to see a doctor because he's had a stroke and it's affecting his vision.

Looks like he covered the plate with compound.

Seems to be a consensus on the mud work, electrical line, etc. I'm curious, what about the quality of the rest of the remodel?

I have to follow up and say this part of the project was not through when I took the photos. I was jumping the gun. The box was left in but without any live wires and it was, thankfully, sanded down to the point of not being seen at all.

Now that's funny! My first impression was that you were judging the job before it was complete. I do floors and that happens quite often.

mays802-
How do you know there are no live wires inside? Given the incompetence of the patch, I would not believe what I was told by the person responsible for it being done like that. If there were no live wires present, the box could and should have been removed prior to the patch (wires disconnected at both ends can simply be abandoned inside walls/ceilings). And, regardless of whether there are wires inside the box, I'm guessing that the patch is simply some paper tape that was globbed over with joint compound, which could result in cracking around the box outline some time in the future.

Don't electricians/contractors cap off wires no longer in use and tuck them back in the wall, as an acceptable method to stop using something? Seems this is how I've seen things done around here. I will be having the electrician check what the drywall man disconnected and covered over with sheetrock. I was hoping he bothered to cap the wires off!

snookums2-
It's only acceptable if they are disconnected at the source, in which case they don't have to be capped off. Capping off live wires and tucking them into the wall is both dangerous and not allowed by code.

I don't know what they did so can't comment on the stuff in the ceiling whether it's there, live or whatever. BUT the patching? I've had a few things patched like this too and have done some ourselves in walls. Sometimes, you can't get perfection (if you have plaster textured walls/ceiling etc) but your patch on this type of flat ceiling should be like it was never there.

With that said, when did they do this? It doesn't look like the plaster is dry. When I had a HUGE old fashioned fan moved from my flat ceiling in the kitchen, a guy patched a huge round hole. Then he had to let the plaster dry half a day. Then he came back and sanded. He replastered dents or whatever and then came back day two and sanded again. Then we painted everything (the entire ceiling) because we apparently could not figure out what exact white was up there. LOL You can't even tell there was a patch! It's like new.

Now we had a second patch when our roof leaked. That was on a textured ceiling (some sort of fan swirly effect). They patched it well but the fan texture isn't perfect. It's close but it's near impossible to match that. Even for the pros.

Remember, they let it dry, sand and come back and may come back up to three or four times to achieve perfection. Give him time.

Well that is perplexing. I'm sure I've seen that done. I can imagine someone renovating and not knowing it is there (if no plate cover) would be a problem, but what other hazards are there?

I was not around when this project was done, but he definitely did not disconnect the wiring from the source on his own. His drywall work was abominable so I'm sure he didn't give anything a second thought. I guess he'd cap them for his own safety while working though.

With a plate cover, capping is to code?

snookums-
If the wire ends in the box are wire-nutted, then putting a plate cover in place is to code...just as long as the plate cover remains visible. Trusting someone who is a poor/sloppy craftsman to do something safe, sensible, or to code -- especially when electricity isn't his specialty -- is a bet I wouldn't take.

Just because you have seen people abandoning live wires in a wall before only means that some people are stupid and incompetent, not that it's an accepted practice. How many safety reasons do you want besides the danger to someone remodeling in the future and maybe cutting into wires just behind the sheetrock? Totally aside from that, if there are electrical problems on the circuit in the future, a diagnosis might be nearly impossible with live, hidden wire ends. That's why the wires ends we're discussing can only be abandoned inside the wall with no box and cover plate if they are also disconnected at the end where power is provided to them. And that is a job for an electrician if the person messing with the wires is incapable of figuring out where those wires run and how their disconnection affects other parts of that circuit.

"How many safety reasons do you want besides the danger to someone remodeling in the future and maybe cutting into wires just behind the sheetrock? "

I noted I am going to have it checked, even before reading this thread. Other reasons, is a matter of urgency. I plan to have the electrician check to see what was done. There is no plate. I would not want any hazards, electrical or otherwise, in my house, for future remodelers or any other reasons. I was wondering if something could somehow catch fire. This person demonstrated no competency or ethics in his work, so no, I don't trust his judgment even one little bit to not have it checked. You'd think he would care about his own fellow tradesmen though.

I think the capping I've seen was behind plates. Although one guy did tuck old phone or cable wires back in the wall. I don't believe they are an issue.

snookums-
Glad to hear it's being checked out. You're right about phone and cable wires...they're not a safety issue.