Removing the back of a dry lining box - good or bad?

[Rockingit]

Just wondering what peoples thoughts are on completely removing the back of dry lining boxes to be able to accomodate cable better when it's a tight squeeze and too many cables (for example if you've a three gang switch plate all fed separately from the switch - so that's six cables to terminate).

Personally, my thoughts are that if the plates are set with a thin bead of intumescent sealer then it's no big deal, but curious for the input of others.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

well i cant get my head round this properly ....your on about plasterboard....then on about wrecking an enclosure??.....i bet if you had gone away for a bit...had a cup of tea then come back, made a decision and gone to it it would have been sorted.......

 

[nickblake]

new build or referb if there is decoration to do the with all those cables i would go for a deep galve back box try and secure some wood to fix to and go for a 2 gang back box the only time i knock out the back of the box is when im making an access panel for a plumbers isolation valve then a blank plate on it

 

[GLENNSPARK]

new build or referb if there is decoration to do the with all those cables i would go for a deep galve back box try and secure some wood to fix to and go for a 2 gang back box the only time i knock out the back of the box is when im making an access panel for a plumbers isolation valve then a blank plate on it

thank god an answer....that sounds like "it just might work" by J.L. Picard...lol...but yes...a good one Nick.....

 

[Rockingit]

well i cant get my head round this properly ....your on about plasterboard....then on about wrecking an enclosure??.....i bet if you had gone away for a bit...had a cup of tea then come back, made a decision and gone to it it would have been sorted.......

Plenty of tea and head-scratch time on this one; it's just a complete pig of an architects design and absolutely nothing is 'ordinary'. I'm having to make custom bits and bobs all over the place. There's more cable in the garage alone than half the flats you'll find!

Nick - reason for not using your method (as I would also normally do) is because no-one knows what the finished internal floor heights will be yet (by as much as +/- 100mm), so to fix a box on a noggin was just too much of a risk. There are actually parts of the build where we've done just that, but where we know what's happening with the floor.

I think what I can see happening is a bunch of MF junction boxes dropped into the stud, and bringing S/L's into the boxes in the usual way; that would work.