frankienap
DIY
My first post and thank you for reading.
I live in a commercial building that was converted to residential. I have a walk in closet where the light switch was installed inside the closet. I am adding shelving and want to move the switch so that it is on the other side of the wall to make space. This means I will turn on the closet lights from outside the closet (makes more sense to me).
I'm also swapping the door frame out so you can see the electrical box through the metal stud.
What's the recommended way to move this light switch? I can think of two ways. One, install an old work metal box on the opposite wall and just run some very short electrical cable to the existing box. (vis a vis code I know it's supposed to be MC but with such a short distance, maybe 1", I wonder if regular romex would do?). Two, this would be more work but I could cut out a large hole on the other side of the wall and replace the existing metal box and mud ring (new work box) and screw into the stud (pictured).
Any recommendations on which approach is best? Or if there's some better alternative I'm not thinking of?
Figure 1: existing light switch inside closet
![[ElectriciansForums.net] Best way to to move light switch to other side of wall when dealing with metal boxes (commercial construction)?](https://www.electriciansforums.net/attachments/20210508_165842-jpg.85578/ "[ElectriciansForums.net] Best way to to move light switch to other side of wall when dealing with metal boxes (commercial construction)?")
Figure 2 - existing box (view from door frame). Currently points into closet (to the right) want to switch to the left so light switch is next to the door.
![[ElectriciansForums.net] Best way to to move light switch to other side of wall when dealing with metal boxes (commercial construction)?](https://www.electriciansforums.net/attachments/20210509_083901-jpg.85579/ "[ElectriciansForums.net] Best way to to move light switch to other side of wall when dealing with metal boxes (commercial construction)?")
Figure 3 - box with mud rings and lots of wires inside.
![[ElectriciansForums.net] Best way to to move light switch to other side of wall when dealing with metal boxes (commercial construction)?](https://www.electriciansforums.net/attachments/20210509_085417-jpg.85580/ "[ElectriciansForums.net] Best way to to move light switch to other side of wall when dealing with metal boxes (commercial construction)?")
I live in a commercial building that was converted to residential. I have a walk in closet where the light switch was installed inside the closet. I am adding shelving and want to move the switch so that it is on the other side of the wall to make space. This means I will turn on the closet lights from outside the closet (makes more sense to me).
I'm also swapping the door frame out so you can see the electrical box through the metal stud.
What's the recommended way to move this light switch? I can think of two ways. One, install an old work metal box on the opposite wall and just run some very short electrical cable to the existing box. (vis a vis code I know it's supposed to be MC but with such a short distance, maybe 1", I wonder if regular romex would do?). Two, this would be more work but I could cut out a large hole on the other side of the wall and replace the existing metal box and mud ring (new work box) and screw into the stud (pictured).
Any recommendations on which approach is best? Or if there's some better alternative I'm not thinking of?
Figure 1: existing light switch inside closet
Figure 2 - existing box (view from door frame). Currently points into closet (to the right) want to switch to the left so light switch is next to the door.
Figure 3 - box with mud rings and lots of wires inside.
