spacer for receptacles/switches?

[Nate Nagel]

Got a unique situation in my house... in the basement, there is a double gang box sunk into a masonry wall, to control the lighting. Unfortunately, it was apparently either installed badly or else installed assuming that the wall would be finished with drywall and not the thin wood paneling that it was finished with. Eventually I'd like to redecorate, but until then, the cover plate that doesn't fit flush to the wall bothers me slightly. Is there a product made to take up this gap, or is my best hope to knock something together with thin pieces of hardwood molding?

thanks,

nate

(getting rid of the wiring nastiness, one small project at a time... just finished wiring the troffers in the one room today, but I still need to pull new wire to the light at the bottom of the stairs, as whenever I knock one of the pieces of BX it turns the light off, which I ASSume is probably not a Good Thing...)

[John Grabowski]

If there is a mud ring on a square box in your wall, you can replace it with a mud ring that has less depth. Also Mulberry makes deep wall plates. You can order them through an electrical supply company. My father used to use shallow depth Wiremold boxes to cover an extreme anomaly. I don't think the real shallow ones are available anymore since they stopped making the 200 series.

[Kevin Ricks]

You may have some of the old mercury switches. Bang on the wall or slam a door and the lights flicker. I had some in a house I owned that was built in the '50's. I took one apart and found it contained a glass tube of mercury or I assume it was mercury. When the switch is moved the ball of mercury would roll to the contacts and complete the circuit much the same as the old round thermostats. I believe they were designed that way as 'quiet' switches. Kevin

[mm]

I think John's answer was better than mine will be, but here it is just in case.

They make foam sheets cut to fit around lightswitches, etc, cut to keep the cold air from leaking into the house, and one or two of them would probaby fill the gap you have.

In my case, I put a floodlight on the outside above my bed, and the switch for it on the inside above my bed. I didn't want to turn the light on or off with my head so I used oen of those big rocker switches and to further protect it, I used the foam layers to bring the plate out as far as the rocker part is. Works very well.

P&M