I have a wall with a plug (wall outlet) inside a room. We want another plug / wall outlet but in the adjacent room, thus on the other side of the wall.
My thought was to tap off of this plug, drill through the wall and install another plug on the other side. BUT ideally the new one should be flush and not surface mounted as it is going to be behind a cupboard.
This is where my handyman skills come in short.
it is a single brick wall, so I’m guessing I can’t install it directly opposite the other one but it will have to be slightly off-center (wall is likely not think enough to support two boxes)
what’s the best way to make a rectangular hole in an existing wall? Obviously a grinder will be involved…
how does one fit a box inside the wall (so that I can screw an outlet to it) - the existing ones seem to be held in place with cement & conduit.
should I pay somebody to this (feels that it should be DIY-able – I’m not worried about the electrical work, just not sure about the physical work involved)
The type of feedback will depend a lot on what tools you have available if you want to do this yourself.
If this was my wall, I would first check that there are no other electrical wires running through the spot where you want to put the new electrical outlet. Then use a hammer action drill with masonry drill bit to drill/mark the four corners and then cut and join the holes using a baby grinder with a diamond blade.
Spray bottle of water is handy to keep all the grinding dust down, but be prepared for the dust to go everywhere. Hammer and chisel to get the plaster off, then see how you need to cut the exposed bricks. so you can then cut and chisel to the depth you need for the new outlet.
The new outlet will then need to be plastered into the hole with cement.
Not too sure on the electrical code requirements for this type of in-wall extension, so will leave that for the experts to answer.
For a possible option:
If you do not plan to move that cabinet anytime, why not fit the plug inside the cabinet? Then just drill a hole for twinflex cable to go through an take it into the cabinet at the back.
If you plan to use the plug for a fix appliance (like a kettle, microwave, dishwasher, etc.) that is not changed daily, it can also plug into the the soket in the back.
Example I made a trolly of an old wooden cabinet for the TV, sound and Wii. I then made a 5m power lead from the back of the trolly that has a surface mount plug inside the cabinet. All the appliances plug into the plug inside the cabinet and all the wires and stuff is hidden away.
This is indeed an option - the whole idea is to move the kettle and cups/mugs to this cupboard, which hasn’t moved in the 6 years I’ve lived in this house. And I might plonk down a charging station for the family’s phones.
I guess the OCD in me wants to do it correctly and modular – the plan was to have a hole in the cupboard with twinflex in any case, but it “feels nicer” to plug it into the wall rather than have to wire something through the wall.
Use surfix. That’s considered “armoured”. I don’t think you’re allowed to put just any kind of wire through a hole in the wall. What I’ve also done in the past, where non-armoured wire was concerned (ethernet) is line the hole with a short piece of 20mm conduit. Then put trunking on the other side that covers the wire entry into the wall, drill another 20mm hole in the trunking right over the hole. Then you can neatly bring a wire through the wall into trunking on the other side, and take it wherever it needs to go.
The neatest long term would be Deon’s advice. Hammer drill, 115mm angle grinder with diamond blade. Cover things in plastic (painting ground sheets are fairly cheap for this purpose) because dust will go everywhere.
Drill a hole from the other side. Offset the two sockets. Use Surfix of the correct thickness. That should be sufficient.
Thanks for the input. I have an entry level corded angle-grinder (I’ve grinded some roof-tiles and angle-iron in the past and sanded cement, but haven’t grinded into an existing wall), drill with hammer action (not rotary hammer though, but I have drilled through walls before with a bit of effort).
Hammer and chisel I can buy. Cement – little experience.
I just have to say that this is the weirdest place for a plug in a house behind a door. What were the builder thinking?
Best explanation I can think of is if you put a mirror behind the door one of those long haired creatures can use a hair dryer and the mirror??
Also, you will likely overcut a little bit when making the hole in the wall with the angle grinder. Random picture from this video.
Once you cement the box into place, you’ll simply repair this, and paint it afterwards. I hope you know the colour code of the wall. I’ve had to repaint entire rooms because I didn’t know…
Do yourself a favour and buy one. Honestly, just stop punishing yourself and get one. Now! They are not that expensive. You can get an entry level Makita or Bosch for around 2k now. Takealot has one for sale right now for around 2.5k, but Builders has it for 2.3k (just shows you about these so-called “specials”). The equivalent Bosch model is often about R100 or R200 cheaper.
You will never go back to struggling with a stupid impact drill…
Edit: You can also rent one from a tool place for a few hundred bucks. Well worth it if you don’t want to buy your own.
The room was recently painted so luckily I do know the paint color (and even have half-a-tin left). Touchups should be fine since it is behind the cupboard.
Thanks for the drill advice, I’ll look at some prices. Will be slightly harder to justify to the wife that I’ll do it myself to save money (and hopefully do it neater than a guy-with-a-bakkie) but then have to buy a hammer drill
there’s no cord running into it (e.g. come into the box directly from the wall)
it is a nice and thin box that will fit behind the cupboard
there’s no dust and patching up grindmarks etc. on the wall, and I can finish it in one weekend
I’m biased against them since the house came with a couple of old thick chunky surface mounted boxes in some of the rooms. Usually with the cord prestik-ed in place on top of the skirtings and tapped from an existing plug somewhere. Looked horrible (also didn’t help that the wall and cord and prestik was painted yellow).
I did say “neat”, but not the context. Let me expand my thought …
As I don’t like to make big holes in existing walls, my thinking was to get the wires to the top of the cupboard and then get an awesome-looking new design surface mount that caters for all mused about …
Instead of buying new tools, hacking a hole out in the wall, the fine cement dust, spend the time, effort and monies on a damn cool-looking solution for the area/needs.
If you opt for flush mount you can minimise dust by using a cold chisel instead of a cutting disk.
Ensure exactly where you need to mount the wallbox by drilling a small hole through the wall from the back of the existing wallbox.
Then mark out the exact size of the wallbox on the wall and drill 4 x 10mm holes in each corner to the dept required. (You shouldn’t break through the plaster on the other wall)
Then practise your stone mason skills and chip the brick out just enough to squeeze the wallbox into it…
PS: If you get this right you won’t need to plaster the wallbox into the wall. All you need is Polyfilla. And if you do a good job then you won’t even need to paint the wall
Interesting. I’m guessing you will probably drill a couple of additional holes (along the edges and inside the boundaries) to try and minimise the amount of chiseling you need to do.
Sure! You need to weaken the brickwork where you are chiseling. Solid bricks aren’t easy to chisel if they are built into a wall.
The main advantage of this method is it’s less invasive: Drilling isn’t that noisy and the mess is a fraction of the alternatives. You can even stretch the job out and do it when you have the energy. All you need to clean up each time is a brush and dustpan…
Had another look - there’s definitely not enough space behind the cupboard for a surface mount, unless I put it next to the cupboard (making the surface mount even more visible). The cupboard is basically flush with the skirting at the moment and wouldn’t look good if I move it a little bit further away…
