1st fix protection from plaster

[taranjit singh]

Good afternoon ladies and gents...
I was talking to my plasterer and he mentioned a plastic cover for back boxes to pop on after the first fix.i will be working with this plasterer regularly so i want to make both our lives easier.

Do you kind people have any ideas as to what they are called as he can't quite remember.
All i have come across are the yoozybox,and the cardboard blank it..
Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[taranjit singh]

To be honest we are goin to be working together regularly so just wanted to make each others life easier,to be honest he is a hot spread..

 

[Ian1981]

It's the boarders you want to worry about when they push up and trap your down light cables under the plaster boards!

 

[1Justin]

So it works this way..
Crappy boarders who don't care make a pigs ear of their work and leave gaps the size of your thumb round the boxes because they can't be arsed to cut accurately. Plasterer comes and plasters over, but some plaster ends up inside the boxes.
Because you couldn't get there the day that the plaster was green to trim back, the strength of the set plaster when hard is much greater than the strength of the bond to the powdery edge of the board.
Result is that even careful carving back with sharp stanley knife on hard plaster causes many areas to break away, leaving big gaps round the boxes back to the original PB edge. Much repair work will take you ages with wall filler and trowel. Boarders say not their fault, plasterer likewise.

 

[7029 dave]

I have never covered any of my boxes. If he is a good plasterer he will manage, anyway I like digging a piece of muck out of the box.

 

[Ian1981]

Depends on the builder as well.
Our company do a lot of new builds for the major house builders so we are required to tape the boxes.
However if boarders cover our boxes or somehow manage to loose our cables etc, then we back charge the builder/boarders if there's any holes caused by us finding cables/boxes.
So it rarely happens because the boarders get their arse kicked of the site manager.

Also work for a big builder on a lot of refurb jobs both commercial and domestic and they don't give a sh*t and constantly board over and trap cables but it's always OUR problem apparently!

 

[LankyWill]

Why is it the spark has to accommodate every other trade? I always tape my boxes with a bit of duct tape anyway, saves all the muck getting in. If he can't plaster around a box call him unskilled and ask him why he can't. Don't go out of your way because he is lazy.

I once had a plaster skim over every box on one job, my 20oz estwing to his walls soon changed his outlook and the clients

 

[taranjit singh]

Right lads again i will say the plasterer and i will be working together on majority of the jobs...
Surely it would be beneficial for both parties to work together,all im seeing from this is sparks slagging off spreads.
If you are goin to be working with a spread day in day out lets help each other and make each others lives easier..

 

[telectrix]

most spreads ( the decent ones ) are quite happy to spread round back boxes. the really good ones will clean most of any muck that goes in the box.

 

[stummish]

@1Justin cut them out with a multi tool (occilator), it doesn't snap then because your basically putting 0 pressure on it.

 

[onions1066]

If we can't slag all other trades off on an electricians forum where can we

 

[Midwest]

I've posted this before, but this box was plastered over circa 1960, and forgotten about.

I rediscovered it in 2015, when refurbishing the kitchen. It was still live, as both ends were connected up in Radials (presumably converted from the original RFC), after a CU replacement a few years before.



I use the Yoozybox plasterguards. Creates a clean edge for the plaster to skim to, especially, if new boxes are chopped into existing finish.

Guess the Yoozybox boxguards, would be useful if the circuit has to be live, when plastering, or safeguarding the homeowner. Personally, think it keeps the plaster in check, and keep his muck outside the box!

 

[JK-Electrical]

Taranjit, I think Blank-It boxes are what your plasterer may have been referring to:

1 Gang Blank-It

2 Gang Blank-It

 

[Malcolm]

I use the blank-it boxes. S/Fix used to sell them then stopped, don't know why?
I went straight to the manufacturer.
They work really well.