What to use to fill holes in hardcore door?

[KATY]

Trying to install lights in my buildings. Electrical work is certainly not my specialty so I just bought some white LED Christmas lights that will be good enough for me. Have a hollow core door and 1" of foam to drill through and have to come up through the bottom since I glued all my structures down. Always learning!

However, the problem is the lights won't fit tight and there is a lot of cord hanging down which tends to pull the light down also. I'd like to put some kind of filler in the hole to help hold the cord/light in place. Thought about that spray foam, but then don't think I'd ever be able to get the light back out. Next thought is just stuff it with paper toweling, but while the possibility is very slim, concerned about heat and a fire hazard.

If anyone has any thoughts or ideas on what I could use it would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jack (KATY)

 

[webmaster]

Use a matchstick or wooden tooth pick or something similar with a slight dab of wood glue to hold the wire in place. If you ever need to take the wire out, the wood glue will be quite easy to pick off.

 

[N Gauger]

Tie a "loose knot" in the wire... in other words -make a loop of wire, when you stuff it inside the door, the "loop" will take the weight off, but you can still "pull harder" and the wire will easily come back out.

 

[N Gauger]

Just thought of another one....

Where the wire comes out of the bottom of the door, staple the wire to the bottom of the door, this will not only take the weight off - - it will also make it semi-permanant so you can connect up the wires to your power leads...

 

[ezdays]

If you can't see the bottom of the door without crawling underneith, I'd use duct tape. I'm putting structures in place right now and on some, I've drilled holes throught the foam and the hollow-core door. I made sure I can get a soda straw through the hole, and plan on going back and feeding the light up through the straw. I will probably hold the wire in place with duct tape so I can pull the light out easily later if need be.

 

[TrainClown]

Duct tape ove the wire/hole.

 

[KATY]

Hey, guys, thanks for the ideas, but I gotta say I really like that coat hanger idea. Would never have thought of that. Think a combo of wrapping the light wire on something stiff like that AND using duct tape on the bottom of the hole should solve my problem.

Jack (KATY)

 

[Herc Driver]

One more thing

If you need to cut away a piece of that hollow door but want to add back some rigidity to the door itself, get a standard yard stick from any home depot or lowes (there're free!) and cut it to the correct size, attach with liquid nails. The yard stick fits perfectly inside the hollow door and is rigid enough to cut cleanly. I had to cut the end (the strongest part) off my hollow door and placed the yardstick in its place...haven't had a problem with flex or bending and the door seems just as strong. Also, the wooden yardstick is paintable. You can also use paint stirs if you're using a slightly thinner than standard door.

 

[Tap]

you mentionned using an LED light, these do not produce heat. If we are talking about the right thing, the chances that you heat up something to the point of making it catch on fire with an LED are close to impossible.

i am not responsible if anything catches on fire after this statement