Sockets in New Plaster Advice

[Eve8788]

Hi all,

We’ve just finished having our house plastered and the plasterer left all the sockets hanging out in a misguided attempt at being helpful.

Some of the plastering goes over the screw holes so I’m guessing needs to be cut(?) back to show the screws and the socket holes are also filled with plaster.

Clearly I’m new to DIY so I’m looking for some best practice advice of how to make sure the sockets can be screwed back in without damaging the new plaster.

P.S I will turn the sockets off at the fuse board when doing!!

Thanks in advance View attachment 300958

 

[RandomGrinch]

If you have a lot of threads that are full of plaster, a tool like this can help restore the threads:

Minotaur Re-Threader

Quickly clean and recut damaged or badly formed electrical threads in socket switch and conduit boxes with the Minotaur re-threader. This versatile tool is also well-suited to cleaning dirt and debris, such as cement and plaster, out of crevices in your equipment, as well as rescuing stripped...

www.toolstation.com

 

[johnny2007]

He should've turned that circuit off, remove the sockets and tape over the boxes.
This would've made his life a lot easier and given a better finish, but hey...
Now, if the plaster is still fresh, you can use a wet cloth to dampen the plaster in the screw holes and use a sacrificial screw to clean the thread by screwing it in each hole.
Or you can buy the tool posted by RandomGrinch.

 

[Wayners]

Just for amusement as the op question has been answered
I turned power off to remove lights on job prior to skim. Turned power back on and nothing. Customer went for me as said I was not qualified to touch. God she went mad! so I got out house and sat in van to think.
Could not work out what went wrong so banged on neighbours door to ask If electric was on. No they said. Power cut in area.
FFS!
Came back on half hour later..

Had another job where I turned off electric to plaster around a socket similar to above. Safety first.
Fuse box would not turn back on and kept tripping out. Long story short it was the dishwasher fused spur melted from loose wire and nothing to do with me. Oh the joys of it.

Had another where I turned off electric to fit giant plaster ceiling rose. Was an empty house with nobody about one Saturday afternoon. The electrician turned up and I did not know. He turned power back as puzzled why it was off. Flash bang in my face and I fell to ground. Ceiling rose on my chest but ok. Think I cracked rib? Carried on though.

Plastering around electrics is a nightmare sometimes. Not sure what the answer is. Got more stories but I'll save that for my book.lol

Sometimes think I'll just plaster over the lot. Ha

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Just for amusement as the op question has been answered
I turned power off to remove lights on job prior to skim. Turned power back on and nothing. Customer went for me as said I was not qualified to touch. God she went mad! so I got out house and sat in van to think.
Could not work out what went wrong so banged on neighbours door to ask If electric was on. No they said. Power cut in area.
FFS!

Surprised the irrational woman didn't try to claim you blacked out the whole area.

Checked into a hotel with my brother in the evening few years ago. Walked into our room and he turned on a bedside light switch. There was a small crackle from the switch and the lights for the whole floor went out. For almost 2 hours!

 

[opps]

If you have a lot of threads that are full of plaster, a tool like this can help restore the threads:

Minotaur Re-Threader

Quickly clean and recut damaged or badly formed electrical threads in socket switch and conduit boxes with the Minotaur re-threader. This versatile tool is also well-suited to cleaning dirt and debris, such as cement and plaster, out of crevices in your equipment, as well as rescuing stripped...

www.toolstation.com

I think the OP may mean that the plaster extends in to the boxes, past the fixing lugs, rather than the screw holes being blocked.

If so, use an old chisel to gently shave away the excess plaster without damaging the surface plaster. Use a thin nail to remove any plaster wedged in the lug holes. I tend to cut the plaster back flush with the box all the way around, sometimes that is overkill, plastic raised faceplates are more forgiving than the super thin faced metal sockets, which often require a fully cleaned meatal back box.

The plastic plate is 6-8(?)mm bigger than the metal back box, meaning that a parameter of about 4mm will be hidden. In your image it looks like the chip in the top left corner may be visible after the face plate is screwed back on.

I'd recommend buying a small tub of Red Devil OneTime. It is a light weight filler that is easy to sand back. The dust from sanding doesn't become statically charged and stick to everything (unlike powder based fillers).

Red Devil Onetime Lightweight Filler 500ml

Shop Red Devil Onetime Lightweight Filler 500ml online or visit us in-store at Leyland SDM. Next day delivery available.

leylandsdm.co.uk

 

[Wayners]

Posh Hotel, Devon

Working there a work mate put screwdriver across live wires to confirm they were dead. More questions than answers? They weren't and hotel ground floor was knocked out. Welded screwdriver to wires.Maintenance came and asked if we knew what shorted it out as posh wedding going on. Kitchen was knocked out as well. He said no! Then the trouble started. Oh boy.

Re original op question.

Definitely get a thread tool to clean off screws holes. Well worth the money.

Any trouble with 3.5mm hole you can get 4mm then use 4mm screws. Saves swapping back box. Just a case of moving up a size and it's an easy job

 

[Eve8788]

Thank you all so much, for the advice and the laughs!

Ops was right and it’s that many sockets have the plaster extending right over the boxes but others will need that snazzy tool so I’ll do that too.

Thank you all so much!

 

[bkenn]

Hi all,

We’ve just finished having our house plastered and the plasterer left all the sockets hanging out in a misguided attempt at being helpful.

Some of the plastering goes over the screw holes so I’m guessing needs to be cut(?) back to show the screws and the socket holes are also filled with plaster.

Clearly I’m new to DIY so I’m looking for some best practice advice of how to make sure the sockets can be screwed back in without damaging the new plaster.

P.S I will turn the sockets off at the fuse board when doing!!

Thanks in advance View attachment 300958

Sockets hanging out to allow him to plaster flush with the enclosure. Not refitted, to allow the plaster to harden before sockets are screwed back on. Much easier to remove splatter or intrusion into boxes when the plaster is hard.