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Hello all,
I'm installing new light switches throughout my Victorian house.
All the walls are lath and plaster, which as you might expect, has gone off fairly dramatically and is now fairly brittle and crumbly.
My new light switches are a tad deeper than the old ones, and as such don't fit into the 16mm back boxes that are already in the wall.
I'm installing deeper (35mm if I recall) back boxes, which is obviously too deep to sit flush with the plaster surface without cutting through the lath.
With the lath cut through there's nothing to attach the back box to, which means it falls into the wall at the first application of pressure.
My current plan is to screw a length of wood to the back box that will brace the back box against the other side of the cavity. Obviously the other end of the wood won't be permanently attached to the wall, but once the front plate is screwed on to the back box and made good with plaster I expect it to be solid. I've heard tales of people finding back boxes braced with wodges of newspaper/bunched up plastic bags, so I'm expecting this to be adequate.
Am I wrong in that expectation? All dissenting/affirming voices welcome!
Cheers!
I'm installing new light switches throughout my Victorian house.
All the walls are lath and plaster, which as you might expect, has gone off fairly dramatically and is now fairly brittle and crumbly.
My new light switches are a tad deeper than the old ones, and as such don't fit into the 16mm back boxes that are already in the wall.
I'm installing deeper (35mm if I recall) back boxes, which is obviously too deep to sit flush with the plaster surface without cutting through the lath.
With the lath cut through there's nothing to attach the back box to, which means it falls into the wall at the first application of pressure.
My current plan is to screw a length of wood to the back box that will brace the back box against the other side of the cavity. Obviously the other end of the wood won't be permanently attached to the wall, but once the front plate is screwed on to the back box and made good with plaster I expect it to be solid. I've heard tales of people finding back boxes braced with wodges of newspaper/bunched up plastic bags, so I'm expecting this to be adequate.
Am I wrong in that expectation? All dissenting/affirming voices welcome!
Cheers!