On Wed, 02 Aug 2006 08:39:54 -0500, (DT)
wrote:

In article .com,
says...

We've discovered that part of our 30+ year old house has no boxes
behind the electrical outlets. The switches and outlets are just held
in position by the stiffness of the wires. Is there a straightforward
way to add boxes "after the fact" without tearing out wallboard?
Thanks for your suggestions.


Sure, they are available at any home center. Just look for boxes labelled "old
work" as opposed to "new work". Since the wires are no doubt pretty short, you
will need to completely remove the springy 'clamps' on the plastic boxes.

DT is talking about the all-pastic clamps that are meant to hold the
electric cable in place where it goes into the box. Not the metal
arms that rotate out and then clamp down as the screws in the box,
where the arms pivot, are tightened.

I only say this because I didn't understand at first.

Just
bend them out and twist them off so you can easily shove the wires through as
the box goes into the hole in the drywall.