cables through back box and repairing back box

lockhes · Mar 23, 2012

been to a job tonight to swap some wall lights and change some socket faceplates

1 of the back boxs for a double socket the screw lug has broken off (wasnt me) is there anyway of repairing this as the cable for wall lights go through it plus its just been decorated

also where the 2 wall lights are the wire goes up the wall through the back boxs of the sockets underneath the lights is that ok or bad practice

any advice welcome

micknew · Mar 23, 2012

Drill a 3mm hole in the back of the socket box and tap to 3.5mm.

PC Electrics · Mar 23, 2012

take an adjustable lug out of a good box and use body filler to fix it in place in the damaged one. Make sure to fully degrease and roughen up the surfaces with some emery. If there are remnants of the old lug left, leave in place in front of the new one to help stop it pulling forward.

JD6400 · Mar 23, 2012

micknew said:
Drill a 3mm hole in the back of the socket box and tap to 3.5mm.

And then use a screw extender with two nuts on to lock it down and stop it spinning , then you can just screw the face plate screw in to the extender as the thread will hold in the extender better than the back box if you need access again .

Richard Burns · Mar 24, 2012

lockhes said:
also where the 2 wall lights are the wire goes up the wall through the back boxs of the sockets underneath the lights is that ok or bad practice

Not really a problem so long as the cables are out of the way and there is enough space in the box to avoid damaging them. Unavoidable some times.

For the lug just use a long screw into the back of the back box once you have drilled and tapped the hole, just make sure the wiring is well away from the screw!

dingledong · Mar 24, 2012

at one time you could buy a little push on lug. i have tried to buy some lately but no one sells them any more . most of the wholesalers i spoke to didn't know what i was talking about except one and he was an oldy like me too