Raise socket facia

[pootie]

Hi

We had some work done recently. This involved adding new electrical sockets & then the walls were subsequently skimmed. I bought (and had fitted) some modern sockets with a front that clips on and barely protrudes from the wall. It clips onto a facia that is screwed into the box that is sunken into the wall. unfortunatley, I (and the electrician) did not quite think things through. This facia must fit just proud of the wall. Since the wall was skimmed after it was fitted, it no longer sits proud of the wall.

I need to have the facia extend an additional 3 or 4 mm further out. I imagine I can do this by adding four <somethings> into the four corners of the sunken box that extend 3 or 4 mm that the facia can rest back against. I am considering some small pieces of wood and adhesive however I want to check if there are any specific no-nos I should consider. I was going to use gripfill but noticed it is highly flammable.

I appreciate this is a bit of a bodge but I am at a loss. If I dig out the box to raise it back to the new plaster face I will need to plaster\ fill around it again.

Any pointers?

Many thanks

 

[Steve]

You heard of 1st fix and second fix? The electrician shouldn't have fitted the socket plates until the plastering had been done, assuming he knew you were plastering the whole room.

Are the face plates metal? If so, it wont take long for them to corrode and discolour from the wet plaster juice (And its not just normal corrosion either, its a long term reaction to the plaster on the metal, could take a few months to show.)

The metal plates should have come with plastic/foam surrounds to fit between the plaster and the back of the plates.

I expect gripfill is highly flammable only when wet, but i dont know. I dont recommend it anyway.

You'll have to take the socket off, including the wiring part, apply filler where its needed, all around the socket, and then make good and re-fit the socket. But you'll not have a perfect plastered surface like you wanted.

 

[pootie]

Oh.... plop

Ok - no foam etc surround. Face plates are metal. Plaster now very dry and painted over. This is actually supposed to be amongst the finishing touches. I doubt I will buy these things again frankly.

Thanks crafty.

If there is another alternative I would love to hear it

 

[Adam_151]

Just take the sockets off (trying not to break too much plaster off) and use a bit of filler where the plaster has been missed off around the border of the socket

Actually get the plasterer back to fill in, its just shoddy to plaster upto the sockets like this, he should have brought it to your attention that the sockets need to be unscrewed away from the wall to plaster

As crafty says, try and stop the metal being in contact with the plaster...even some insulating tape on the back of the sockets where it rests against the wall would work IMHO

 

[pootie]

Many thanks - I will do that and I will take the advice re the metal & plaster - thanks.

 

[davelx]

You can get solvent free gripfill and it's very good.