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I apologize if the term is not "can light", but I don't know what these types of lights are called.

Anyhow, the "can" of one of our lights has fallen out from the drywall ceiling (just a bit), and pushing it back in doesn't help because the hole in the drywall is too big. How do I get the can to stay up?

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A picture would be helpful. It sounds like the ceiling box, which contains the light's wiring and supports the light fixture, might have come loose. It should be mounted on a joist in your ceiling, above the drywall. If it was pulled down or otherwise came loose from the supporting joist, you may need to get into the ceiling to reattach it. – Shimon Rura Jan 18 '11 at 23:18
probably is recessed lighting. is this the style of lighting you are referring to google.com/… ? – mohlsen Jan 20 '11 at 13:07

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up vote 5 down vote

Normally can lights are attached to the joists, so the housing itself wouldn't usually fall out. What is probably falling out is the trim piece that fits inside the housing.

If you remove the bulb, you can usually pull the trim piece out partially. Once you do that, you'll see a couple wires (look like coat hanger wires). If you squeeze those you can pull the trim piece out the rest of the way. Those wires are what hold the trim piece in the light housing. Over time they can lose their "springyness" and slide out a bit.

Just take the trim piece with you to a home store and you should be able to buy a replacement, or you might be able to bend the wires a bit to get them to fit in snugly again.

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you might also be able to find a wider trim piece to cover a larger hole, if the looseness of the fixture has enlarged the hole in the drywall. Of course you may also need to replace the trim on all the other ones, too, if they don't match well enough. – cori Jan 19 '11 at 20:54
I pulled it out, and it turns it actually was the housing that was falling out. It just wasn't attached correctly in the first place. Thanks for the idea anyhow; I'm sure it'll be helpful to someone else. – Esteban Araya Jan 20 '11 at 22:59

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