Replastered the pool....now lights won't screw into niches

[davidyal]

The palaster folks are outside trying to figure this out...but maybe TFP will be faster

My pool was replastered. The Hayward lights were pulled out of their niche and left on surface. Now that paster is done it seems like there is debris in the threaded screw hole of niche preventing the light from screwing in.

Anyone experience this and have a way to solve? I've tried to clean with a pipe cleaner but no luck...

 

[Bigpaws]

If the plaster was inside the screw whole I am not
sure that a pipe cleaner would work.

You could also find another screw to test the hole
to make sure it is clean.

-Bigpaws

 

[liddown]

Run a tap in the threads (chasing the threads) that will clean and correct any issues with the threads in the niche..

 

[davidyal]

the Tap set did the trick. Thanks! Used new screws that match the set.

Now, however I may have a bigger problem. On one of the niche's the top screw (12 o'clock) fits fine, but the hook on bottom (6 o'clock) doesn't latch on. It may be because new plaster is on top of old plaster so now 1/4 inch further away. It doesn't look terrible and gap to plaster is less than an inch. Is it a problem to rely on top screw only? changing entire niche would be expensive and set us back several days....

 

[ajw22]

Chisel out some of the new plaster around the light niche to get it to fit.