Digging out for aback box...

[uksparks]

Hi,

I have been doing some work in a kitchen this week, and to be honest its horrible.

All the walls are sodding brick and the plaster is all falling off.

Anyway, trying to knock into the brick with a an SDS and comb chissel, the brick got more and more loose.... It didn't help that I started cutting out too high and needed to go lower and make the area bigger anyway.

I knew the wall was only one brick thick so thinking it was not good...

Anyway, I pulled the brick and and you could see the plaster on the back... in the lounge.

I put the brick back in after trimming the rest on the floor and plastered it all back in.



Thank god the bonding / plaster was so thick! I can't say as I wanted to redecorate the lounge.

 

[sean_ork]

Wimpy house ?

Looks like their special cement free mortar

 

[drzsta]

I always use a grinder when chasing out. It creates alot of dust but you can get a nice square edge to your back boxes and dont have to demolish half the wall in the process!

 

[ian.settle1]

Years ago when working on a house refrub where all the plaster was removed back to the brick work I was chasing out for a socket back box hit the chisel and the brick flew across the room the other side just missing one of the builders who had just sat down.

 

[HappyHippyDad]

Thats a tricky one UK!

Cut the brick in half whilst it's out of the wall. Gently predrill some holes for the rawl plugs (again whilst it's out of the wall). Cement brick back in, attach metal box and fill in the sides. Or perhaps use a piece of wood cut to size instead of cutting the brick, this could glue to the back of the plaster and then be held in place with cement/plaster??

Or.. persuade clients to have a surface mounted box?

Or.. change the position of the socket and be much more gentle when cutting out for the next box now that you know the wall is so fragile?

At least with the plaster that thick you should only need to go through the plaster to chase out for the cable to the box.

 

[hightower]

Persuade them to have an accessory installed on the other side of the wall too and just remove the brick altogether. :rofl:

 

[VoltzElectrical]

dry wall adhesive is also great for making good those chunky chases.

 

[muzza1]

I always use a grinder when chasing out. It creates alot of dust but you can get a nice square edge to your back boxes and dont have to demolish half the wall in the process!

Same here, i always budget approx half day for marking up, grinding out with dust extract, chopping out and clearing up without even looking at any cables etc. I know it's going to be messy but it has to be done!

 

[uksparks]

its all sorted now anyway, I just shoved a load of 20min skim in it bedded the box in nicely and let it go off. Looks as good as new with two new sockets in there now.

I hate working on old houses.

 

[Dave OCD]

You're better off stitch drilling the box profile out first then much less force is needed with the chiselling part, as you say though, not the most enjoyable of jobs. :smile5:

 

[sparksburnout]

Kin hell was it for a socket or a fire back?? Looks like the side of a Syrian Hotel.

 

[mache]

I hate working on old houses.

Crikey, doesn't look like and old brick to me !!! Should come to my place, it's relatively young at about 250 yr's old and in the walls there are river rocks as big as your head in places...now those you really would have trouble sinking a back box into..you can bearly drill them ...lol

 

[uksparks]

The problem I had was that I marked the sodding things out too night and started chopping it out then realised what I had done, hence the large excavation!