Hi,

Due to a forthcoming baby arrival, whilst decorarting the
nursery-to-be we need to recess the existing sockets into the wall (to
save headbumps at the later crawling stage!) and I have been told by a
helpful handyman that this is something we can do, as opposed to
having to get an expensive electrician in. (He could do it but is
trying to save us money).

Not knowing much (understatement!) about this, can you please give me
your opinion as to whether this is correct and something Joe Bloggs
can do?

As I understand it, all we have to do is turn off the electicity
supply, and chisel out a hole in the wall for the box to fit into,
slot it in and hey presto. Is it really as easy as that?

Mind you, our walls appear to be made of 1930s steel lined bricks so
chiselling out a hole (or three) may be quite a task.

Can anyone give me any tips as to how to make this go smoothly and any
tools which may be helpful?

Your help would be much appreciated!
Thanks
Rebecca

Rebecca wrote:
Hi,

Due to a forthcoming baby arrival, whilst decorarting the
nursery-to-be we need to recess the existing sockets into the wall
(to
save headbumps at the later crawling stage!) and I have been told by
a
helpful handyman that this is something we can do, as opposed to
having to get an expensive electrician in. (He could do it but is
trying to save us money).

Not knowing much (understatement!) about this, can you please give
me
your opinion as to whether this is correct and something Joe Bloggs
can do?

As I understand it, all we have to do is turn off the electicity
supply, and chisel out a hole in the wall for the box to fit into,
slot it in and hey presto. Is it really as easy as that?

Mind you, our walls appear to be made of 1930s steel lined bricks so
chiselling out a hole (or three) may be quite a task.

Can anyone give me any tips as to how to make this go smoothly and
any
tools which may be helpful?

Your help would be much appreciated!
Thanks
Rebecca

It sounds as though you have surface mounted sockets and wish them to
be refitted flush with the wall.

The usual way to do this is to buy a metal recessed switch housing (to
suit the socket you have if possible) mark the proposed position on
the wall, remove the old socket if it is in the way, check that there
are no buried pipes or cables in the area, drill a series of holes
around the edges of the marked hole to a suitable depth for the new
socket housing, use a chisel and hammer to join the holes up and
finish off the recess, fix the metal housing in the bottom of the
hole, plaster up round the edges and reattach the socket unit and wire
it in.

If you are good then the above will only take a few hours per socket
and parts will only be a couple of quid.

Tools needed good drill, preferably with depth gauge, sharp chisel and
hammer, few screwdrivers and odds like that.

Main problems are whether the old wiring is suitable condition and
position.

DIY stores sell a plastic jig that you screw to the wall first and
drill round all the edges, these are pretty useful. There are also
professional box sinking drills, but they are serious money.

MrCheerful

On Wed, 23 Jul 2003 15:45:30 GMT, "MrCheerful"
wrote:

Tools needed good drill, preferably with depth gauge, sharp chisel and
hammer, few screwdrivers and odds like that.

A big issue could be that the electricity will be switched off when
you need to use it.

Andrew

Do you need a handyman service? Check out our
web site at http://www.handymac.co.uk

As I understand it, all we have to do is turn off the electicity
supply, and chisel out a hole in the wall for the box to fit into,
slot it in and hey presto. Is it really as easy as that?

Only you can know your own skill levels. The job consists of:

1. Turn off the electricity
2. Pull the MCB/fuse for the circuit.
3. Detach existing socket.
4. Drill/chisel out a chamber into the plaster/brick to the correct depth.
Use an SDS drill, if possible.
5. Drill hole and insert rawlplugs to attach backplate.
6. Punch out hole on metal backplate.
7. Insert rubber grommit into hole.
8. Thread cables through grommit.
9. Insert backplate into the chamber.
10. Screw backplate into rawlplugs.
11. Reattach live and neutral to socket.
12. Cut new piece of earth wire to size.
13. Thread earth sleeving over wire.
14. Reattach earth cables to socket, with one end of the new earth wire.
15. Attach other end of earth wire to the terminal in metal backplate.
16. Screw socket back into place.
17. Test the circuit, or get electrician/competent friend to test for you.
This requires specialist equipment, such as an insulation resistance tester
and an earth loop impedence tester. These are expensive and not the same as
a 5 quid "electrical tester" sold down the market.

If the socket has two earth terminals (i.e. you are using a new socket, as
old ones always have one terminal), attach one circuit earth cable into one
terminal and one into the other. The flying lead to the backplate can go to
either.

Christian.

Rebecca wrote:
Due to a forthcoming baby arrival, whilst decorarting the
nursery-to-be we need to recess the existing sockets into
the wall (to save headbumps at the later crawling stage!)

I wouldn't bother, if I were you. There are plenty of things
for wrigglers (I've a recent one) to bump themselves on. I
have taken the liberty of cross-posting this to uk.p.p, who
are generally helpful. Bumps *will* happen - as long as they
aren't *too* hard, they're part of natural learning.


and I have been told by a helpful handyman that this is
something we can do, as opposed to having to get an expensive
electrician in. (He could do it but is trying to save us money).

Good Lord!


Not knowing much (understatement!) about this, can you please
give me your opinion as to whether this is correct and something
Joe Bloggs can do?

As long as Joe is reasonably practical, yes, no problem.


As I understand it, all we have to do is turn off the electicity
supply, and chisel out a hole in the wall for the box to fit
into, slot it in and hey presto. Is it really as easy as that?

Very nearly. You can do this with a narrow-bladed (cold, not
woodworking!) chisel, or a masonry drill/chisel. However, see
my first sentence!


Mind you, our walls appear to be made of 1930s steel lined
bricks so chiselling out a hole (or three) may be quite a task.

What is a steel-lined brick? Do you mean that there is metal
between brick courses? I don't understand.


Can anyone give me any tips as to how to make this go smoothly
and any tools which may be helpful?

Budget seems important, should you do this. You haven't, I
imagine, many to do, so low-tech methods will do:

1 ) Electric hammer drill[1], if you've got one
2 ) 6mm masonry bit.
3 ) 1/2" cold chisel.
4 ) hammer (claw will do).
5 ) screwdriver

Switch off the power (possibly ring circuit, check power is
off with bedside lamp, check bedside lamp works afterwards in
downstairs socket to make sure you have not tested with a dead
lamp). Unscrew the socket face plate, note carefully where the
wires go. Undo the wires. Get the metal box that goes in the
wall and pencil out around it where it goes on the wall. Drill
a lot of holes on this line being careful not to drill through
the wire (drill on extension lead from downstairs). Drill a
lot more holes in the block of stuff you are going to extract.
A bit of tape around the drill to act as a depth guide is good.
Use hammer and chisel to finish off the flat-bottomed hole.
If you have not got a drill, chisel off any plaster and then
chisel brick out to required depth/shape. You can sharpen a cold
chisel by rubbing it on (for instance) a concrete kerbstone.
When the hole is made, put the box in, and mark/drill a hole for
a retaining screw. Screw in the box, packing behind if needed
to ensure a flush fit. Put the wires through a push-out bit
in the metal box (which should have a "rubber" grommet to
protect against sharp edges). Fill gaps around the box with
pollyfilla or similar. When set, put the wires back into the
appropriate (noted) holes in the face plate (maybe a new one).
There will probably be an earth wire to run to the metal box,
too. Bend wires so they won't be pinched up anywhere by the
face plate or its retaining screws Screw on the face plate.
Done.


[1] Someone will soon tell you all about a thing called an SDS
drill, I'm sure. If you can't get one, they are not vital!
--


__________________________________________________ ______________
Sent via the PAXemail system at paxemail.com

In message , jerrybuilt
] writes
There will probably be an earth wire to run to the metal box,
too.

The probably isn't one there if these sockets have been mounted on
plastic surface mount boxes, but one should be installed.

Get some earth sleeving (yellow/green plastic sleeving) and use a scrap
piece of earth cable from a length of the same sized cable.

[1] Someone will soon tell you all about a thing called an SDS
drill, I'm sure. If you can't get one, they are not vital!

Once you've used one once you soon realise that they are almost :-)

--
Chris French, Leeds

In message , Rebecca
writes
Hi,

Due to a forthcoming baby arrival, whilst decorarting the
nursery-to-be we need to recess the existing sockets into the wall (to
save headbumps at the later crawling stage!)


There are good reasons for doing this, but head bumping isn't something
to worry about - houses are full of endless things to bump heads on -
and they only really get good at it once they can walk and climb :-)

and I have been told by a
helpful handyman that this is something we can do

It isn't a difficult job, others have outlined the job already, but
then if you've done nothing much in the way of DIY it maybe more than
you feel happy doing.

For cutting the holes for the back boxes (esp in hard brick - we've got
some of those) and SDS drill is extremely handy.

This drill much more effectively than standard hammer drills, and also
most have a chiselling action as well - I can cut a box hole out in our
old hard bricks in 5- 10 minutes, with a standard drill and using a
hammer and bolster etc. it could easily take 1/2 hours, and make a lot
more mess of the wall.

I wouldn't in general recommend them, but you kight want to consider one
of the el cheapo SDS drills if you don't want to spend much - there is
a current thread on this. If you are wondering about SDS, do a Google
Groups search on uk.d--i-y

--
Chris French, Leeds

"Rebecca" wrote in message
om...
Hi,

Due to a forthcoming baby arrival, whilst decorarting the
nursery-to-be we need to recess the existing sockets into the wall (to
save headbumps at the later crawling stage!) and I have been told by a
helpful handyman that this is something we can do, as opposed to
having to get an expensive electrician in. (He could do it but is
trying to save us money).

Not knowing much (understatement!) about this, can you please give me
your opinion as to whether this is correct and something Joe Bloggs
can do?

As I understand it, all we have to do is turn off the electicity
supply, and chisel out a hole in the wall for the box to fit into,
slot it in and hey presto. Is it really as easy as that?

Mind you, our walls appear to be made of 1930s steel lined bricks so
chiselling out a hole (or three) may be quite a task.

Can anyone give me any tips as to how to make this go smoothly and any
tools which may be helpful?

Your help would be much appreciated!
Thanks
Rebecca

You'll need some of these to fit the size of your existing socket fronts:

http://www.3kw.co.uk/flush.html

http://www.somtech.co.uk/cable_grommets.htm ( the open one's )

Then you'll need one each of these:

http://www.tool-up.co.uk/exec/toolup/ECLBB4RG.html

http://www.tool-up.co.uk/exec/toolup/ESTEB32LB.html

Then some each of these:

http://www.tool-up.co.uk/exec/toolup/KEE29002.html

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Ind...s_1/index.html

And finally you'll need a lot of patience and time for marking out around
the new back boxes with a pencil and then using the bolster and hammer to
cut the hole into the wall to the depth you need.

If you make a diagram of the connections in the old boxes then make them the
same when you've sunk the new boxes.

A word of WARNING. Make sure you have enough of the existing cable to reach
the new positions of the sockets, and Make Sure You've Turned The Power
"OFF" to the circuit you're working on.


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Rebecca wrote:
Hi,

Due to a forthcoming baby arrival, whilst decorarting the
nursery-to-be we need to recess the existing sockets into the wall (to
save headbumps at the later crawling stage!) and I have been told by a
helpful handyman that this is something we can do, as opposed to
having to get an expensive electrician in. (He could do it but is
trying to save us money).

Not knowing much (understatement!) about this, can you please give me
your opinion as to whether this is correct and something Joe Bloggs
can do?

As I understand it, all we have to do is turn off the electicity
supply, and chisel out a hole in the wall for the box to fit into,
slot it in and hey presto. Is it really as easy as that?

Mind you, our walls appear to be made of 1930s steel lined bricks so
chiselling out a hole (or three) may be quite a task.

Can anyone give me any tips as to how to make this go smoothly and any
tools which may be helpful?
I would respectfully suggest that while this is a straightforward but
tedious job for an experienced DIYer, if you have no electrical knowledge
and have not cut holes in brickwork with masonery chisels before, then it is
probably not for you.