MKElectric LogicPLus box installation

[Greg Olsen]

Hi. I know electrical boxes should be installed flush to the drywall but attaching them to wall studs is not always an exact art. How much can the electrical box protrude from being flush with the drywall and have the LogicPlus faceplates hide this error? The backs are hollowed out as with any trim ring or faceplate I have seen but I have only seen photos and need to know without actually being able to get my hands on one in time for an install? From the photos they appear to have reinforcement ribs molded into the backs of the faceplates which eat into the available error tolerance in box installation. Apparently boxes on-site stick out 2-ish millimeters from being flush with the wall surface. Thanks so much.
Greg

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

There is no requirement to have them flush!
They can protrude the full depth, providing they are secure
and enclose the terminals.
Not pretty, but that is the answer to your question!

Dry wall backboxes have a flange around the perimeter that rests on the dry wall, so they will protrude a couple of mm, if fitted correctly.

 

[EFLImpudence]

Your question is somewhat puzzling.

You may get away with 0.5 or 1mm but why would you do that?
There is no error tolerance as such; don't make the error.

You may have seen them protrude on sites but then the board is going to be skimmed.

 

[JohnD]

I'm surprised that MK Logicplus are used in Canada.

 

[Greg Olsen]

Thnx for your help guys. I work for a company that makes modular walls in Canada. We have a job in Singapore that is shipping out today and I fear I have messed up a bracket design for mounting the electrical boxes. Well I sort of know I did. Just not sure if I have to send out new parts to solve the problem before they have a problem on site or if I can get away with it. The surface of the wall is usually a veneered 1/2" MDF which snaps onto an aluminum frame. So I cannot actually skim with plaster and make the boxes flush with the wall surface. Mounting the boxes is done with steel strut cut on-site and the boxes can be mounted flush by being adjusted on the pieces of strut. We make big extruded posts as well and someone wanted boxes inside these posts. I had to mill out the face of these posts and insert the boxes and use a custom sheet metal bracket inserted inside the post to hold the box securely to the post. The bracket and post milling didn't come out as planned and the boxes sit about 2mm proud of the face of the posts. Just going to be in deep doodoo if this gets to site and the switch plates cannot sit flush to these posts. Alternative is to remake the posts and brackets and ship them separately to site to arrive almost concurrently so there is no delay in installation of the job. If they find out the boxes are out too much they have to wait for new post from Canada. Either way I am in SOME doodoo. The cost of making and shipping new posts is a fact too...Better less doodoo than more though. Any help is appreciated. Thnx!!

 

[Iggifer]

Just take everything you've made out, and then ship some of these later on?

That's generally the way boxes are fitted to plasterboard (drywall) in the UK. Metal boxes are and can be used, but as you've discovered, there's a lot more work involved.

 

[Greg Olsen]

Thanks. I will keep these in mind. These mount directly into plasterboard without needing to be nailed into a stud? We call those Retrofit or 'Old Work' boxes here I think. The wall thickness of my posts is only about 1/16" of aluminum. These have a 5mm minimum wall thickness requirement. Something that just pushed into the opening with out a need for an internal mounting bracket would be ideal.
Again any definitive answers on whether the boxes can stick out 2mm from the wall and have the faceplates still sit flush with the wall?
Than you.
Greg

 

[Echo the husky]

I have just examined an MK Logic Plus double socket, light switch and switch fused connection unit. 1mm protruding would be seriously pushing it, 2mm - no chance.

 

[Greg Olsen]

Thank you!

 

[Greg Olsen]

I am somewhat surprised. North American faceplates could likely take up this slop. But they are of thinner less substantial construction and hollowed out more on the back side designed to cover the sins of sloppy fast nailing of boxes to wooden wall studs.

 

[EFLImpudence]

Are you talking about American (US) boxes?

This is all we use: apart from the plastic ones above:

 

[Greg Olsen]

My issue is with British one gang box mounted in an extruded aluminium (note that I spelt it your way) post. Worried that the box lip not being flush with the face of the post will prevent the integral switch and faceplate unit from sitting flush against the post face. The hollowed out back of the MK Electric LogicPLus units doesn't appear to be hollowed out deep enough to cover the sins of my poor box installation in the posts from what 'Echo the Husky' says.

 

[Iggifer]

I've never used these, so tbh, don't know how they work, could anyone that has shed some light on to whether they would do the job?

https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/AP603.html

 

[Echo the husky]

I use them on fancy flat plate stuff. They are a neat idea but trying to stop the box falling into the wall whilst the wires push against it, makes them a bit of a fiddle to install!

 

[JohnD]

The metal boxes we use are available in several depths, depending if they are for light switches, sockets, or big switches and connectors such as cookers.

What do you need to fit, and what depth boxes have you used?