Electrical boxes on a 2x2 wall?

Question

I'm planning to finish a part of my basement. My DIY book suggests nailing 2x2 walls on the foundation instead of assembling a real 2x4 wall. That's easier to do and it increases living space.

However, having electrified a room here that was done that exact same way by the previous owner, I discovered that standard size electrical boxes are too deep to fit in this kind of wall. The only ones that I found that were short enough were 4" boxes. So last time I had to use a 4" metal box, put an adapter/fitter on it to house a duplex receptacle and plaster over what was left around the outlet. That is probably not up to code.

Are there any solutions to this kind of problem? Or is using 2x3s the easiest way?

Thanks

Calvin Henry-Cotnam · Accepted Answer

That is perfectly acceptable under code (CEC, though I suspect the NEC is similar in this respect).

I was using this for phone/LAN/TV outlets as I had a supply of 4" square boxes and "outlet rings" (the piece that fits on a 4" box and provides a single-outlet opening 1/2" out from the surface of the box).

When my electrical rough-in was inspected, the inspector said that they wanted more room for GFCI outlets than was provided by the 3" deep boxes we were using. He suggested either using a 3.5" deep box OR using the 4" square boxes with the outlet ring on them.

Frank in-toronto · Answer

...the answer is to use 2X4s.  not only will everything be standardand easy to find, but a shallow box reduces the amount of "fill"allowed.  so, draw your proposed circuit layout and see if youcan do it within code.  if you can't, that's that....thehick

Max Voltaire · Answer

Thanks to Calvin, Frank and Jack.

I'll use shallow 2" boxes for anything that doesn't need too much wire spare (switches for example). For anything else that has two or more cables coming in, Calvin mentioned that the technique I used of putting a ring over a 4" box and plastering over the ring should be okay per the CEC. I'm in Quebec and we are technically not allowed to do our own wiring here, so I won't be able to have it inspected anyway.

Interior walls will be 2x4 so they will have standard boxes. I'll plan my circuits to go through these walls first so that a GFCI can be installed upstream if needed.

Thanks everyone!

Electrical boxes on a 2x2 wall?

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