socket boxes in walls

[Paul Williams]

Hi guys

I recently, at the request of SWMBO, replaced a surface mounted double plug socket with a recessed one. The wall is solid brick. I used a template, so had a few mm around the box when I finished. I filled this with polyfiller, left it a few days, then screwed the facia back on.

However last night I pulled a plug out of this socket and a load of filler cracked and fell out.....

Did I use the wrong thing? Is thetre not enough adhesion in the filler to bond to both the wall and the box to hold it all in place? Is there something better I can use?

I'm resigned to taking the whole thing out and replacing it en mass, so any suggestions would be most appreciated....

ta

[troubleinstore]

Did you not screw the backbox to the wall. ...?

-- troubleinstore

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[Paul Williams]

I naively thought that filling around it would be enough....plus the fact that its solid brick kinda put me off....thats my evening work arranged then.....

[Dave Plowman (News)]

For a start, Pollyfilla in any thickness takes ages to dry - if ever. You'd have been better using a one coat patching plaster which is cheaper, and sets by a chemical reaction.

But you did fix the box to the bricks first with wall plugs and screws?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Heh heh. Didn't the screw holes in the box give you a clue?

[usenet]

Just what I was going to ask.

Pushing in and pulling out plugs will always flex the back box a bit and it will gradually break away from the Polyfilla. (Of course if you actually *want* the back box to come out it won't!)

[John Laird]

Oops ;-) Yes, it should be screwed to the wall. Use a flexible acrylic filler rather than a plaster-based one in places where some movement is expected. Dirt cheap from the likes of Wickes.

[Paul Williams]

;)

In hindsight, yes....

I think that after spending nigh on two hours chipping through solid brickwork a millimetre at a time I just wanted to get it finished....

oh well, out with the drill then....

[David]

more than enough justification to buy an SDS drill, 10 mins with one of these and your job would have been done.

cheers

David

[:::Jerry::::]

And some people wonder why some people in the trades would like to stop people doing DIY on safety related systems....

[Ric]

I am considering getting an SDS drill for this very reason - I also need to get (at some point) a regular drill as my dad will probably want his back eventually. I was wondering if people would recommend getting one expensive drill for everything or getting a cheap SDS drill (I won't need it for much) and then a semi-decent drill for doing other stuff?

Thanks, Ric.

[Paul Williams]

Indeed...I can see why they'd hate to see their labour charges go missing....

[Tony Bryer]

The crucial thing is to buy one with rotary stop so you can use it with chisel bits as a mini Kango for chasing, box cutting etc. All the very cheap SDS drills have this, but some of the cheaper models from quality makes don't.

[vortex2]

If there's a good reason not to use screws then use Pinkgrip. It's "the dogs".

[Dave Plowman (News)]

A socket coming loose like this is hardly a safety related item - especially if attended to immediately, as Paul is doing.

I only wish having such things done by the 'trades' would guarantee adequate standards. However, many will bodge such things for the sake of a quick buck whereas most DIYers won't.

Most DIYers recognise their own limitations and seek advice if doing something new. This approach is foreign to many tradesmen...

[Paul Williams]

Indeed....and its not the wiring thats loose...its just the (earthed) wall box....

[David]

My own preference is a half decent SDS (£90-100) and a half decent cordless drill/driver

the SDS is abosutely supreb for drilling into brick /concrete and has done a nice job of removing a lot of wall and floor tiles. The 14.4V cordless drill I've got does the job for light weight drilling, gose through joists OK, and drives screws well.

there should be few threads along the lines of which SDS should I buy that you can look, that will throw up a couple of different opinions on the matter

cheers

David

[Lurch]

On Wed, 18 Aug 2004 12:58:30 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)" strung together this:

In that case then I'll stop buying fixings and not attach electrical items to the wall, should save a bit of time on site.

Er, you're mentioning this in a thread about a incompetent diyer making a very basic, and daft, error.

It is also foreign to most diyers. You can't apply a blanket rule like that to every pro and diyer in the UK. I go to many jobs where idiotic tradesmen have hashed the job up, I go to a lot of jobs where idiotic diyers have hashed the job up.

[Owain]

But I've seen electrical boxed fitted by professionals in exactly the same way.

Owain

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Provided it's attended to promptly, as I continued to say before you snipped it.

It's not terribly clever changing the meaning of something by snipping it, you know.

In response to a comment from Jerry about the trades wanting to ban DIY in many things so called safety related.

The difference is a DIYer is doing so in his own property at no labour cost to himself. Paying for a pro's labour to bodge things up is a different matter. I'm surprised you can't see that.