Replies

1. 
   rez | Dec 24, 2003 08:44pm | #1

   Well, since it's just your workshop...

   You can go try to hunt down the 'appropiate' extension ring and purchase them.

   Or you can try spacing out the recep's from the work box with nuts, outlet tab ears, little washers, wrapping #12 or #14 wire around the screw, or go swipe some copper tubing off your icemaker line to the fridge and cut your own thick washers to fit and incur the ire of an electrician for leaving an open gap between the box and the drywall.

   Or you can just go to the local big box and buy some cheap .19 cent plastic outlet boxes, measure and cut the faces off of them on your miter saw to fit. If the outlets are really way back in there and the recep screws wont be able to reach into the work box thru your custom made extension ring to get a tight fit, then you have to go to your stash and find some same dia/thread but longer screws that will be able to reach into the workbox.

   Caution: Resist the urge to wreck your workbox threads by using long drywall screws to accomplish this. Piffin will hunt you down to correct this travesty.

   Also resist the urge to scorn the drywall guy who put that new layer over the old plaster lath. At least he didn't cover the outlet up.

   But maybe in your case you're the one who put the outlet boxes in too far and now you're paying the cost of your own negligence of precision.

   Big deal. Go put the extension rings on there or if it's only an 1/16 or so inch you need to get it pretty, put a washer in there and go on. It's the Christmas season and a time to make merry. 

   cheers

   roar        roar        roar       roar        roar        roar      

    

    

2. 
   bake | Dec 24, 2003 08:45pm | #2

   You should buy extension rings and longer screws. There was a post about this just days ago.

   bake

3. 
   Paularado | Dec 24, 2003 09:08pm | #3

   Here is the thread I started yesterday about something similar.

   http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages/?msg=38098.1

   They showed me something else at the hardware store that might work for your application. It kind of pushed the outlet out away from the box a little, but I know it wouldn't have worked for us.

   Paula

1. 
   milanuk | Dec 24, 2003 09:15pm | #4

   Well, thanks for the quick responses, everyone. Sorry about resurrecting a recent thread like that. I have been away from the forum for a while, and really had no idea of a good way to phrase the syntax of what I wanted to the search engine, so I just asked and hoped for the best.

   Now I'm off to see if btwn HD, Lowes, and the various Ace hardware stores, I can find a box extender.

   Thanks,

   Monte

1. 
   rasconc | Dec 24, 2003 09:55pm | #5

   Something I have been using to shim the receptacles out is scraps of the pex risers that you use for sinks.  I keep a couple of cutoffs in my elec. bag.  I just cut off a couple of pieces to fit.  By cutting it with wire cutters it crimps the end so that it does not fall off the longer screw that is needed.  I just do not care for nuts, washers, copper tubing, or any metallic item that can fall into  whatever.

   Edited 12/24/2003 1:57:18 PM ET by RASCONC

1. 
   DaveRicheson | Dec 24, 2003 10:40pm | #6

   Longer screws (6/32) and some 1/8" diameter plasric tube cut to length as tall washers. Plastic tube by the foot at HD or Lowes, about $0.35 can make all the washer you need. Little dap of grease holds it on the screw behind the recpt. when you reinstall.

   Dave

4. 
   4Lorn2 | Dec 25, 2003 12:56am | #7

   If the drywall is more than an eighth of an inch proud of the box you really should install a goof ring, extension ring, to shield the flammable facing from sparks if the receptacle should short out. Not many people go to the trouble unless the inspector rides them. Most competent electricians try to select mud rings or set the boxes so this extra step isn't necessary.

   A lot of people just install long screws letting the ears on the receptacle, that is why they are there, ride on the face of the drywall. Of course if the drywall was cut too far away from the box or it is soft what ends up happening is that the plastic cover plate, by way of the little 6-32 screw in the middle, keeps the receptacle from being pushed back into the box. This isn't good. Against code and it usually ends up with the receptacle hammered into the box and the cover plate broken. A common cause of fires.

   A lot of electricians use spacers between the receptacle and the box face. Well done this allows the device to ride on the box and not depend on the cover plate for support. Bits of tubing, small washers, copper wire or the many commercial substitutes work. Some a lot easier than others.

   My favorite is to keep a short stack of 6-32 nuts on a copper wire ring in my tool pouch. I thread one onto each mounting screw, longer screw might be necessary, behind the receptacle. These I spin up just snug behind the device before mounting it.  If, while screwing in the device, I feel resistance it is easy to place a finger tip on the edge of the nut and back the screw up a turn.

   As you screw in the mounting screws the nuts should spin but not be so loose that the receptacle is loose. Idea being that the screw head keeps the receptacle from falling out and the nut, on the same screw, keeps it from falling in. properly installed the device strap should be flush with the finished wall and be sturdy enough to take a good push without needing a plate. Once set the plate performs no structural function and just serves to keep tiny fingers and doggie tongues out of danger.

1. 
   milanuk | Dec 25, 2003 04:03am | #8

   Well, I swung by HD, and they had the box extension rings there and I picked up a batch. Seems to work like a peach.

   Thanks all,

   Monte

1. 
   4Lorn2 | Dec 25, 2003 04:46am | #9

   Glad to hear it worked out.

    Merry Christmas.