Sinking sockets into lathe + plaster walls.

[sjl468]

Hi.
Can anyone help with some advice on the best way to sink a socket into a lathe and plaster wall please?
I've always surfaced mounted them but a lady last week wanted it sunk into the wall and it proved a bit of a pain.
Thanks.

 

[holmslaw]

..

 

[Lectrician]

A double box flushed into the stud is fine?

Don't bother trying to flush them into the wall between the studs.

 

[Lower]

As long as the box is attached to a stud, its not a problem.

Otherwise, don't bother unless your prepared to replace a whole section of lath and plaster with plasterboard.

 

[JonoPashley]

Expanding Foam in the cavity works well if you cant fix to a baton for whatever reason.
Cut hole
Spray foam in, not too much tho
Let it go off then cut the foam so you can fit your box into it, i usually put a piece of 20mm conduit through the foam to put my cables through as im still unsure about the foams possible effects on the sheath of the cable.

 

[sjl468]

Thanks for the replys.
I'll try a couple of them especially the expanding foam. Sounds good.
Not that I want to cut into these walls very often but, as you know some people want everything!!!
Thanks again.

 

[electronicsuk]

I've had success in fitting a dry lining box into this type of wall before, but it does require cutting the wall very carefully so as to allow you to notch out a little to the left and right to allow the 'wings' on the dry lining box to pull forward against the wall.

 

[Dazz0i]

if truely desperate to fit them flush...... if you can cut your hole neatly enough.

use floating noggings.

bits of roof batten cut to 6 inch vertically through the hole screw threw the front of the wall to hold the batten in place, making sure you catch the lathe and not just plaster.

will mean though that there'll be 4-8 screw holes round the scocket to poly fill in after..... make sure they're aware of this first of course incase they don't want to be patching/decorating after.

Just another suggestion though.

 

[Chri5]

A fret saw bit in a jigsaw works well, score the cut line with a stanley knife 1st.

P&L becomes harder to cut cleanly the drier (thus older) the wall is and there is always a risk of the jigsaw blade catching a lath and distrubing a greater area than you want.

If done carefully a deep dry liner box will work.

The blade won't last long since it's not designed for cutting plaster, so have a few to hand.

A dremel with a suitable cutting blade would also do the job.

 

[Dazz0i]

that's one problem i can imagine occuring, snagging and pulling off a lot of plaster with it.

but then again, with them having sockets put in, surely they're expecting a bit of damage?

 

[sparkyspike]

I use a new sharp padsaw and deep dry lining boxes. Alternatively, if the wall is really bad, you can set your metal knock-out box on a joist by chopping it out.

 

[comms]

I use a fein multimaster to cut the holes & use drylining back boxes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nynD2SfyINU

 

[ban-all-sheds]

but then again, with them having sockets put in, surely they're expecting a bit of damage?

No guarantee - someone posted here once with a story of how a customer hadn't expected any cables to be needed for new sockets.

 

[bernardgreen]

Faced with this problem in an old wall and with a few days to spend on the task this was my method.

A piece of plywood about 12 inches by 6 inch cut into two pieces 12 by 6.

Put them together and marked out and cut a hole for the backing box. Drilled a small hole in each piece for a string to be attached.

Cut a hole in the wall where the socket was needed and through which the plywood could be manipulated to be behind the wall and in the right place for the socket. String ensured it could be recovered if dropped behind wall.

After ensuring both pieces could be put through the hole and into position they were coated with thick highly sticky plaster that the plasterer provided, not sure what it was.

Plywood put behind the wall with the back box hole in the right place and held using small G cramps and scrap pieces of ply on the front of the wall to protect the plaster.

Two days later when the sticky plaster was dry the hole in the now re-inforced lath and plaster was enlarged to match the hole in the plyood.

So far, two years later, the heavily used socket ( plugs in and out several times a day ) is still firm and no cracks in the wall.

 

[securespark]

I mount the box to the side of a stud and then fix a piece of 2x1 on the other side screwing through the front of the L&P.

I find this a good firm fix.