Volex flat plate sockets/switches

[Gogs]

Do these look ok when fitted in a kitchen in amongst the tiles, do they not go too far in, making it look silly?

[Owain]

You don't fit them or any other electrical accessory "in amongst" the tiles - you take the accessory off the wall and continue the tile a few mm underneath (inside) the perimiter of the accessory, then put the accessory back on the surface of the tile.

(a) a little bit of clear silicone is useful to stop condensation/muck running down the tiles into the back of the socket

(b) you can't do this with wood panelling - only non-combustible wall finishes. For wood panelling you would have to bring the backing box forward.

Owain

[Gogs]

Thanks for the info.

Would you recommend this flat place ones or would it be better going for the ones that protrude slighty

[Guy King]

The message from Owain contains these words:

And doesn't it look vile when some lazy bugger has retiled over the top of old tiles (which is bad enough on its own) and not bothered to lift the sockets and switches out. Uuuurghlenarsty.

[Christian McArdle]

I'd go for flat plate, provided the tiling is done well. Bumpy unevenly laid tiles would look horrible with flat plate.

Christian.

[Gogs]

I agree they would look better but after reading the instructions and some posts on the screwfix forum, I am a bit concerned about how easy they are to fit.

One leccy said 'Lugs on the boxes need to be below the plaster considerably or the fittings do not sit flush. In my opinion, they look unfinished and really tacky.

i do always fit 35mm boxes just below the surface from now on though, just incase they decide at the last minute that they want them. But touch wood, just one mad lady wanted them so far'

I read the fitting instuctions from the site and they do state boxes must be mounted 5mm below the wall surface.

This might be a bit of a work up would it not?

Perhaps safer just to go with the vloex ones but not the flat plate ones?

[Christian McArdle]

Less of a problem with tiled walls, as you don't typically install the boxes anywhere near the surface of the tiles. If anything, they generally only protrude from the plaster a couple of mm if at all, leaving a good 10mm or so to the tile surface.

Christian.

[Gogs]

Thanks for the info, as you can tell I'm no leccy ;)

I was hoping to use the existing boxes which come up flush with the visible edge of the plaster, and are screwed onto noggings.

Would this pose a problem in any shape or form or liek you say becasue of the tile depth, its not an issue

Also here are a couple singles I want to convert to doubles.

[Gogs]

Oops meant to say want to use same sockets throughout and this means on non tiled surfaces so them the box depth may become an issue?

[Christian McArdle]

Yes. If they are already flush, you may need to remove the boxes and dig some more. If you are really lucky, you already have 35mm boxes and can just replace them with 25mm boxes.

Christian.

[Andy Hall]

It's also worth saying that sometimes the boxes end up being quite deep because of mounting position and depth of tiles. Longer screws for the wiring accessories are available if that happens.

[Christian McArdle]

And obviously that this is only acceptable if the wall material is non-combustible. Obviously, tiles and adhesive are fire resistant, so a 10mm gap between accessory and box is fine. I'd want to be a lot more careful if the surrounding material is wood.

Christian.

[Andy Hall]

Yes of course. I was thinking more about a box in an existing wall, then addition of a thick layer of tiles. That can easily exceed a standard screw length.

[Owain]

But sometimes may not be available colour-matched to the accessory, if the designer accessory uses designer screws.

Although some of these designer accessories do look nice personally I think that good honest Crabtree is a safe bet pretty much anywhere.

Owain

[Andy Hall]

You can get them for all of MK's range (I've done it), and if not one can always add in a hex bush with male one end female the other to add the spacing. I've done that as well.

Mmm... don't like Crabtree stuff...

[Steven Briggs]

In message , Gogs writes

I've done the kitchen with the Volex black nickel flat stuff. Looks very smart, but the lugs on the box need to be at least 1/4" below the surface of the tiles / wall. The plastic gubbins of the accessory is riveted to the metal front plate through the fixing holes. Generally not to much of a problem if boxes were flush with the plaster, which has then been tiled on top of. But then the screws can be too short if the box is really deep, and they're colour matched screws. On a plastered only wall, I think it would be wise to sink the boxes

2-3mm below flush.

[Gogs]

Cheers for that Steve, so by the sounds of this I would get away with fitting them on the tiled areas of the kitchen but with regards to the rest it would seem a lot of hassle sinking the boxes deeper in, especially with so many sockets and switches to replace, what do you reckon.

Just go with the other Volex ones as opposed to the flat plate ones

[Steven Briggs]

In message , Gogs writes

Just measured a spur switch-fuse thats yet to be fitted. Box lug would need to be >=6.5mmm below surface, and 35mm boxes for stuff to fit.