Moving Double Socket

[Energy4Vector]

Hi,

I want to move a kitchen socket because we are having new worktops and the upstands will be 100mm and one of the sockets is 70mm above the worktops currently.

Here is the socket:

The red box is where it needs to go to be clear off the new upstands. I also wanted it more central.

The current back box is metal and therefore screwed into a solid structure behind. The wall in the new position in the red box is hollow. The wall below the green line is solid. That wall is about 3.5m long and is hollow all the way along above that line. I can’t find any studs with my strong magnet and I normally find them vey quickly. Anyone any idea of how that wall is put together with it being solid near the bottom yet hollow above with no studs? It’s a single storey kitchen extension.

What would people advise on how to move the socket assuming there is enough slack to do so? I was going to use a jabsaw to cut the new hole out since it is hollow there then use a plasterboard box. Since its current location is on solid wall I wanted to know how people would approach channeling it up to the new location? Or is this quite complex and best not done by a DIYer?

Thanks for any help offered

 

[Murdochcat]

How do the cables exit the back box?

 

[Energy4Vector]

How do the cables exit the back box?

Difficult to tell. They come through the top left but it’s a very tight fit so you can’t see anything. I may have to remove the back box then to see? It has plaster over the edges so would need to hack some off to prise it out.

 

[opps]

If they come in from the top of the box then it should be pretty straight forward. Unfortunately, if you move the box to the right, no one, in the future, will be able to guess the route that the cables take.

Can you not just move the socket directly upwards?

 

[Energy4Vector]

If they come in from the top of the box then it should be pretty straight forward. Unfortunately, if you move the box to the right, no one, in the future, will be able to guess the route that the cables take.

Can you not just move the socket directly upwards?

Yes I’m not that fussed if it’s not central to that bit of wall so yes straight up is fine. So jabsaw directly above and then channel into whatever solid structure is behind it currently to connect them? I guess it’s worth taking the back box off first to see if there is enough slack?

Any ideas about what the solid parts are? It’s not solid all the way along below that green line. I’ve been tapping it all gently with a hammer. It’s solid in random places and random heights along the wall. The solid parts are not very big and nothing magnetic there. Hollow everywhere else.

 

[flameport]

I guess it’s worth taking the back box off first to see if there is enough slack?

Cables enter at the top, and you are moving the socket upwards.
How could there not be enough slack?

 

[mrsplodge]

Yes I’m not that fussed if it’s not central to that bit of wall so yes straight up is fine. So jabsaw directly above and then channel into whatever solid structure is behind it currently to connect them? I guess it’s worth taking the back box off first to see if there is enough slack?

Any ideas about what the solid parts are? It’s not solid all the way along below that green line. I’ve been tapping it all gently with a hammer. It’s solid in random places and random heights along the wall. The solid parts are not very big and nothing magnetic there. Hollow everywhere else.

Sounds like dot and dab. If it is, the plasterboard will be attached to the wall with blobs of adhesive, which leaves a hollow gap between the plasterboard and solid wall in most places.