Electrical sockets recessed into wall

Lewis_Benson

Hi,
Has anyone ever come across this before?
My kitchen sockets are not flush to the plasterboard, the kitchen was dry lined long before I bought the house with insulated plasterboard, and the sockets were left on the original surface.

How woukd I bring the sockets out to sit flush do I could put a surround plate around the socket.?

awec

That is one of the most half arsed things I have ever seen

If you take the faceplate off the plug, what is the back box secured to? You can buy deeper back boxes so check if you can find one for the depth you need, but you may have to come up with a way to make the hole less deep I think, but others may be more knowledgeable on here.

Your other problem is the hole in the plasterboard is now too big, so even if you do manage to get the backbox out and flush with the wall, the faceplate isn't going to cover the hole. You can try those surround plates, but they look a bit crap IMO.

If it were me I'd repair the plasterboard.

LenWoods

Lewis_Benson wrote: »

Hi,
Has anyone ever come across this before?
My kitchen sockets are not flush to the plasterboard, the kitchen was dry lined long before I bought the house with insulated plasterboard, and the sockets were left on the original surface.

How woukd I bring the sockets out to sit flush do I could put a surround plate around the socket.?

There are 2 Gang extension box's available to resolve this issue,
I've used one myself when fitting insulated plasterboard to a neighbouring wall in a bedroom of my semi detached house; the extension box screws in to your existing box instead of the original socket and creates a deeper box for the socket to then be fitted flush,
see link here for where I did mine in this thread: https://www.fordownersclub.com/forums/topic/80864-living-room-project/?do=findComment&comment=716250

Hopefully the wires at the rear of the socket are long enough to extend through: otherwise you will need a short length of cable and connectors.
Item to purchase: https://www.electricalwholesaler.ie/products/switchgearfuses/switchgeardistribution/cablejointboxes/2gang35mmextensionboxgalvanisedsb68210224?utm_source=FordOwnersClub&utm_medium=ForumLinks&utm_campaign=referrals

jack of all

Even with changing the back box/ putting rough grounds behind etc there still a lot of work required to make good around the opening- lots of cutting back, PVA, repair tape and filler/ to do a decent job. All doable but still hard to believe it was left like that in the first instance.

LenWoods

jack of all wrote: »

Even with changing the back box/ putting rough grounds behind etc there still a lot of work required to make good around the opening- lots of cutting back, PVA, repair tape and filler/ to do a decent job. All doable but still hard to believe it was left like that in the first instance.

+1
Also the cable looks to be stretching out of the plug top there from scuffing off the plaster,
Perhaps a case of the plasterer being allergic to anything electrical, the owner of the time not being familiar with with any tools other than a keyboard or pen,
And the job in hand being too small for an electrician to attend; had they been contacted atall.

Ronseal ready mixed Gap & Crack filler is easy to apply and sands away like sugar when dry.
Hardens like nails then when painted, Available in woodies

AnRothar

Depending on how "square" the opening in the plasterboard is and the length of the current wiring is an option could be to use a plasterboard box.


The link is to the 47mm version on the screwfix website but any electrical retailer should have them.

awec

LenWoods wrote: »

+1
Also the cable looks to be stretching out of the plug top there from scuffing off the plaster,
Perhaps a case of the plasterer being allergic to anything electrical, the owner of the time not being familiar with with any tools other than a keyboard or pen,
And the job in hand being too small for an electrician to attend; had they been contacted atall.

Ronseal ready mixed Gap & Crack filler is easy to apply and sands away like sugar when dry.
Hardens like nails then when painted, Available in woodies

I'm not sure you'd get away with just using filler there. I think you'd need some sort of anchor for it.

I think I'd cut away an area around the hole and put in a decent sized patch using actual plasterboard, rather than trying to make that current hole tidier with filler.

Bass Reeves

As LenWood says you can get extension boxes to bring sockets out further. However I expect that the wires are not long enough to reach and this is why it was not done originally. You will need to use strip connectors and electric wire to reconnect the sockets. Unless you are very proficient at electric it is not a job you can tackle yourself. Legally you should not either. If you.intend tiling the kitchen you should do it now as well. This will save a lot of work making good around sockets.

You would need to isolate the electricity to these sockets by turning off the trip switches to them. Next job would be to disconnect all sockets and terminate wires onto strip connectors. Install extension boxes. Fill around boxes(even if tiling). Sand down or tile around boxes. If wires are not long enough use new wire to connect sockets. Test all sockets are working. Fix to new extension sockets. You can get different screw lengths for attaching sockets to boxes if tiling you will need longer ones than may be there at present

LenWoods

AnRothar wrote: »

Depending on how "square" the opening in the plasterboard is and the length of the current wiring is an option could be to use a plasterboard box.


The link is to the 47mm version on the screwfix website but any electrical retailer should have them.

Mr.price also stocks them if theres a store near too.

jack of all

I think filler or a combination of bonding and skim/ filler would work but there would some cutting/ feathering back of the existing plaster required and some use of fibre repair tape to reinforce the joint. Labour intensive and some skill required.

Bass Reeves

jack of all wrote: »

I think filler or a combination of bonding and skim/ filler would work but there would some cutting/ feathering back of the existing plaster required and some use of fibre repair tape to reinforce the joint. Labour intensive and some skill required.

If it an area around worktops a d presses I would like it. The rest of the kitchen as you say a mix of bonding and filler. Uses the powder filler as opposed to the premixed. Powder filler is easier to sand. Buy fine and medium sand paper. Make your self a few sanding blocks( pieces of wood) about the size and half the size of larges matchboxes. These will make the sanding easier.

jack of all

I've had to do a lot of repairs to plasterboard ceilings on a current decorating job in my own house- nail popping, burst board/ damaged skim and paper liner etc. Lots of filling, sanding and making good- I used open mesh silicon carbide roll for sanding, far superior to sandpaper (it's what good drywallers use), quicker and more economical (a "square" of the open mesh will do a lot of sanding work before it's worn out. I used a pole sander, but you could use a sanding block in this situation.

keithdub

I would but a half sheet of the insulated board. cut out a square foot of the slab in your kitchen then remove the socket and see witch way the wires are comeing, break out some plaster behind the insulated wall and that will give you your slack on the cable. When cutting out for the new socket in the patch square rase or lower it depending on witch way the cables are travelling. It's not easy or fun but you will get a dry liner and socket neatly on the wall.

Bass Reeves

keithdub wrote: »

I would but a half sheet of the insulated board. cut out a square foot of the slab in your kitchen then remove the socket and see witch way the wires are comeing, break out some plaster behind the insulated wall and that will give you your slack on the cable. When cutting out for the new socket in the patch square rase or lower it depending on witch way the cables are travelling. It's not easy or fun but you will get a dry liner and socket neatly on the wall.

In 99%of cases they will be coming from above. You will have to raise your socket's 50-100mm. It's a lot of work compared to the extension box fix.

awec

It'd also look a bit daft to have the sockets too high on the wall.

keithdub

Using a skeleton box he will have to extend the wires. Witch may need reci and trying to sit the socket properly on the plaster board is impossible

Lewis_Benson

Thanks all, I'm going to look into the extention box idea, as it will only be a temporary solution for a while.
I'm happy to DIY this as I've done tonnes of other jobs and comfortable with it.