Fitting brish face plates - but what are 'back boxes'?

md99 · 22-10-2009, 12:27 PM

Brish

I meant 'brush' of course

I need to fit two of them. One behind my TV and the other behind my av stand. Thing is though, I just thought I'd cut two square holes in the wall (slabbed & plastered), position the plates over them and secure them with a couple of screws and rawl plugs but apparently I need 'single gang electrical back boxes'.

What exactly are they? Google images threw this up:

What the hell do I do with that? And how exactly are my cables supposed to pass through it and out through the brush plate?

andy1249 · 22-10-2009, 12:35 PM

To do the job properly you use the back box , anything else is just sloppy workmanship.

The two areas Ive roughly circled are very thin and you knock these out with a screwdriver to make holes for your cables , the two areas with X's are also very thin , you knock these out with a screwdrive and use rawl plugs and screws to fix the back box to the inner wall.

Any maintenance in the future then becomes easy , as you just remove the faceplate for access. You also have the option of easily changing faceplates in the future.
The whole thing is also more securely fastened to the wall and less likely to get pulled out , which is most likely what would happen to your original idea.

md99 · 22-10-2009, 12:53 PM

Thanks. Only thing is though, the parts where you have marked an 'x', there will be nothing behind the wall to secure them to.

Just 8 or 9 inches of open space between the slabbed wall in my room and the wall next door to me

albriscoe · 22-10-2009, 3:34 PM

Right then listen carefully as I`ll say this only once

Andy is right and wrong

the pic shows a plasterboard backbox, the wings at the side where the threaded holes are, are pushed in when you fit the back box into the hole made previously.

Once in the hole the wings are then pushed back out, this sandwiches the plasterboard between the wing and the front lip of the backboard. When the front faceplate is screwed on, the wings come forward and then its fixes it securely and jobs a gudden.

I have a load of these left from my new build house, all new btw and brush faceplates, let me know either via pm or email preferably.

cheers Al

md99 · 28-10-2009, 8:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by albriscoe

Right then listen carefully as I`ll say this only once

Andy is right and wrong

the pic shows a plasterboard backbox, the wings at the side where the threaded holes are, are pushed in when you fit the back box into the hole made previously.

Once in the hole the wings are then pushed back out, this sandwiches the plasterboard between the wing and the front lip of the backboard. When the front faceplate is screwed on, the wings come forward and then its fixes it securely and jobs a gudden.

I have a load of these left from my new build house, all new btw and brush faceplates, let me know either via pm or email preferably.

cheers Al

Thanks for the offer Al. I've seen a few in my local electrical shop and it left me wondering one thing, how the hell do I go about fitting the head of a scart cable through the parts of the box I can 'knock out'?

In fact there is no way I could fit anywhere near all my cabling through them. Even the heads of hdmi cables look like they might be quite a squeeze.

MarkP80 · 29-10-2009, 9:06 AM

Quote:

In fact there is no way I could fit anywhere near all my cabling through them. Even the heads of hdmi cables look like they might be quite a squeeze.

- If you get hold of one and have a look at it, you'll see how the mechanism works to clamp the backbox against the plasterboard. You can set about with a coping saw or something like that, and cut out most of the whole flat back of the box. You just need to make sure you leave the surround frame intact so that it maintains its rigidity. Your cables should fit through ok then!

Cheers,
MarkP

md99 · 29-10-2009, 12:22 PM

Christ, why do I never think of things like that.

1 hacksaw job coming up then

md99 · 11-11-2009, 4:43 PM

Am I doing this right?

Cutting out the back of the box to allow the two dozen or so cables that'll be passing through was a hell of a job.... pliers, stanley blades, junior hacksaws, an absolute bugger to remove!

Just have to wait on albriscoe's face plates to pop through my letter box and (I think) I'm in business

MarkP80 · 12-11-2009, 5:26 AM

Quote:

Am I doing this right?

- Oh dear, no, not at all. Time to start again, sorry.

No, just kidding, that's exactly what we meant. You should have no trouble now, pleased to hear you got sorted. Now, when you say it was a hell of a job, please say it hasn't taken you since 29th October!

Cheers,
MarkP

md99 · 12-11-2009, 7:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkP80

- Oh dear, no, not at all. Time to start again, sorry.

No, just kidding, that's exactly what we meant. You should have no trouble now, pleased to hear you got sorted. Now, when you say it was a hell of a job, please say it hasn't taken you since 29th October!

Cheers,
MarkP

God no, not at all