Mounting a socket in a plaster and lath wall

[hazey7]

I'm trying to move a socket that is mounted in a skirting board up into the wall above. However the wall is made of plaster/'hair' and lath. it seems to be too thick to use a dry-lining box, but I cannot see how to use a metal backbox as there's nothing but fresh air in the space behind the socket...

The house is 70 years old, Any ideas anyone? Anyone come up against these problems before??!! Dont want to have to resort to surface mounted boxes. Cheers.

 

[crystal ball]

Try to locate a stud - usually 16 inch centres cut out enoght wood to mount a metal back box on it, or you could "muck in " a box with bonding coat plaster leave it for a day, I would always go for a stud fixing, you may have to extend the cables using a jb

 

[raittser]

Just to add= if using a joint box, it must be accessible

 

[securespark]

It depends what sort of stage you are at decor-wise. If you cannot mount it on a stud, AND you are at the pre-decorating stage, you could cut away a section of the plaster and fit a bearer in the wall to screw the box to.

But this is very messy!!

 

[raittser]

What I really mean is rewire to new position

 

[hazey7]

So, no easy solution really, I was hoping some one made a supertrick backbox that would make the whole episode easy......

 

[securespark]

Sorry to disappoint!!

 

[plugwash]

you can fit drylinew boxes in lath and plater but it's a tricky procedure (only time i did it i ended up using buts of wood to rebuild the wall so box can grip)

the problem is cutting the laths without doing huge damage to the plaster or breaking it away from the laths

when i did it i used a rotary cutter bit in a drill but this was a mistake as the bit needed a lot of pressure to cut wood but made mincemeat of plastermeaning theat whenever i stopped hitting wood i destroyed a lot of plaster

 

[funkydiver]

What about using a variable speed jig-saw with a very fine wood cutting (or MDF cutting) blade...?? If it's fresh air behind, should cut fine through the plaster (scoring the outline with a stanley knife first to prevent break away...)

As for the lectric fittings...

??

 

[kendor]

A method I have used is to make two small bridges of wood by cutting strips and attaching two pieces either end to form a bridge these pieces should be the depth of the box and spaced apart the width of the box so that the box fits in between the pieces, drill two holes in back box centre of the strips if laid evenly diagonally at the back of box the two bridges should be attached to the backbox using long screws( slightly longer than depth of box) with the pieces facing in towards the box,tighten the screws up until the bridges are touching the back of the box then loosen them off so that the bridges turn freely, orientate the slot on the screwhead so that it runs in line with the bridge(this will make your job easier in a minute)
with bridges at an angle so that they dont interfere with pushing bacbox into wall push box into cutout and using long nose pliers or steel wire preferably as you can bend it, orientate the slot in the screwhead vertical and use the wire to pull the screw towards you as you screw the screw in carefully, eventually the bridge will bite against the lathe and you will be able to fully tighten the screws without the aid of the wire just don't overtighten as you'll break the bridges in two. Of course you need a flanged backbox such as MK2062 to use this method.

 

[plugwash]

What about using a variable speed jig-saw with a very fine wood cutting (or MDF cutting) blade...?? If it's fresh air behind, should cut fine through the plaster (scoring the outline with a stanley knife first to prevent break away...)

As for the lectric fittings...

??

the problem with using any saw that vibrates but especially a power one is that the laths have quite a lot of flexibility and can eailly break from the plaster

especially when cutting the second side of the hole