In my basement, the stud walls are built on top of the mud sill, which means I have 1-2″ of concrete showing for about 6″, with usual stud walls on top.
I’m going to be putting in wainscotting at the bottom, but that means that I need to move the electrical outlets out about 2″ for every outlet.
My plan is to carefully cut the nails that hold the boxes in, pull them out, and then put new boxes in that are flush with the wainscotting. My concern is that there may not be enough slack to do this.
Ideas on how I can deal with this?
Replies
I'll preface this by saying I am NOT an electrician. While your plan sounds plausable, I know my guy uses something he calls goof rings which are basically just a box extension. He uses them when you have an outlet in a cabinet, so you have to grow 1/2" maybe. I don't know if they make them 2", that'd be a pretty big goof, but it might be worth a phone call to a supply house. Save you a lot of fuss if you could just screw them in.
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." - Mark Twain
Extension boxes come in one and two gang, there usually about 1.5", There are extension rings of about .75". There is a 4-square box extension that mounts on either 1 or 2 gang boxes and you can use a mud-ring to get your distance. make sure your wires are long enough to work on if something goes south and you need to get at any splices.
If you haven't put the wainscotting up yet and are going to cut the nails, you may be able to move the boxes toward the side the wire feeds into them. Are the boxes plastic or metal? Extension rings(Goof rings) are more for when someone needs to do something like what you are or when drywall has been added, than fixing goof ups. They do work for those, too.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
You can get the blue nail on boxes by "Corlon" at home Depot.
Saw these off with your miter saw to the length you need.
First remove the nails and saw off the nail projections. This leaves a box you can cut to any length extension you need.
I made a simple jig to make these extensions any length I need