Panasonic bathroom fan grill not flushed to ceiling.

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Bjferri

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This may sound petty but this is an aesthetic question, perhaps. After busting my butt...making sure I do things the correct way as far as installing the Panasonic bathroom vent (running the electrical, cutting the hole, correctly installing the box, etc...), the grill on one corner does not sit flushed against the ceiling...off by 1/4 inch. The main unit is flushed - the way it is supposed to be but when I screwed in the light housing into the unit, one corner appears to be stiking out further than the other corners and this may be what the grill is getting caught on, hard ot tell. The three corners of the light housing that appear fine are the corners that have screws in them. If there was a 4th screw hole for the other corner this may solve my problem but there isn't...I'm baffled.

Is this another case of using caulk to hide a slight imperfection? This stinks.
 

Statjunk

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The easiest fix is likely to be to drywall that corner and bring it to level with the rest of the ceiling. The alternative is to dismount the fan and mount it higher up the joist.

Caulk isn't going to work on a 1/4" gap.

Tom
 

Jadnashua

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If you unscrew the grill, is there anything obvious that is holding it out? Is the ceiling flat there? Is the frame even all the way around the opening prior to installing the cover? Did you call Panasonic? It could be something as simple that the corner of the frame is very slightly bent. If you set the cover on a flat surface, does it sit flat, or is it warped?
 

Bjferri

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I took the grill off and it does sit flat against the ceiling when I first thought it was warped. There is something stopping it from being fully flushed but I can’t see it…through the cover. I called Panasonic and I’m waiting for their call back. In the meantime I'll see if I can see what's blocking it but I really think the light housing unit just sags a bit more than it should.

I don’t know about drilling a hole.

thanks for the feedback...

This is an update: I called Panasonic again and they are sending me another light unit and grill to see if this solves the problem - this is great Customer Service!
 
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George R

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Brian, I don't know if this is relevant or not. I had a Broan/Nutone unit that did exactly what yours did, flush on 3 corners and a big gap on the 4th corner (about 1/4 in).

By careful observation I was able to determine that there was a very small portion of the raised area of the grill (on the back side) "hitting" a portion of the metal frame of the housing. By grinding no more than a 1/16th of an inch (horizontal)out of the housing, with a dremel, the grill sat flush. Look carefully to see what is holding the grill out.
 

Bjferri

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George,

I still think what you say is the case, but I can't see the portion of the raised area to grind down - is there a trick to locate it? I tried to find it by sound or vibration when setting that corner in but I can't seem to locate it. Any tricks up your sleeve?
 

Bob V.

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Have you tried rotating the grill 180 degrees to see if the obstruction is on the back side of the grill. Maybe some type of plastic molding is slightly proud and not letting the grill retension springs pull the grill up to ceiling fully.
 
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