miamicanes
Active Member
Does anybody know where I can get shallow (1.25" or less from front surface to rear surface) electrical boxes... ideally, ones that at least respect the spirit and intent of NEC, if not its absolute letter?
Here's my problem: the wall is a party wall. As far as I can tell, it looks like the builder did something like this:
* build a wall from concrete blocks, put rebar in the holes, and fill them with grout (runny concrete)
* glue or screw the outlet and switch boxes to the exterior of that wall
* apply another inch or so of thick, plaster-like concrete (or shotcrete) to each side of the wall, leaving the boxes half-embedded in the newly-applied concrete layer
How did I come to that conclusion? Well, for one thing, I looked. I scraped away some of the insulation, and noticed that the concrete wall behind it is smooth, not rough like normal concrete blocks. It also appears to be continuous, and envelopes the existing outlet boxes. I know that under at least the current building code, penetrating the party wall itself for things like pipes and wires is taboo, and I'm pretty sure that even back in 1982, the building code required that the houses on either side of it be at least nominally independent of it. Among other things, that would explain why the ribs in the concrete suspended slabs that form the second floor and roof seem to run from front to back rather than from side to side.
Anyway, the problem is that the current outlets are partly embedded in concrete, and I don't have the means of replicating that. If I scrape away the foam, I have about 1.25 inches for the entire outlet box, from rear to front exterior surface. I've found shallow plastic boxes at Home Depot, but there are at least two problems:
* They're only single-gang. I need at least double-gang, and I'd prefer to get triple-gang with double-gang front plate to give me more room alongside the outlets and compensate for the lack of depth.
* They're plastic. As I understand it, you aren't allowed to terminate a metal conduit pipe at a plastic box... only romex or aluminum flex. Presumably, the rationale is that if you see a solid metal conduit leading away, you should be able to assume there's another metal box at the other end, and if I wanted to put one or more plastic boxes between two existing metal ones, I'd officially have to eliminate ALL of the metal conduit between those two boxes and replace it with romex or aluminum flex. I'll probably end up having to do this anyway, but if I can stick with metal boxes, I'd just as soon keep it that way.
So... is there an online source for shallow metal boxes? Or at least plastic ones? Is this something that any decent electrical supply store should carry, even if Home Depot & Lowe's doesn't?
Here's my problem: the wall is a party wall. As far as I can tell, it looks like the builder did something like this:
* build a wall from concrete blocks, put rebar in the holes, and fill them with grout (runny concrete)
* glue or screw the outlet and switch boxes to the exterior of that wall
* apply another inch or so of thick, plaster-like concrete (or shotcrete) to each side of the wall, leaving the boxes half-embedded in the newly-applied concrete layer
How did I come to that conclusion? Well, for one thing, I looked. I scraped away some of the insulation, and noticed that the concrete wall behind it is smooth, not rough like normal concrete blocks. It also appears to be continuous, and envelopes the existing outlet boxes. I know that under at least the current building code, penetrating the party wall itself for things like pipes and wires is taboo, and I'm pretty sure that even back in 1982, the building code required that the houses on either side of it be at least nominally independent of it. Among other things, that would explain why the ribs in the concrete suspended slabs that form the second floor and roof seem to run from front to back rather than from side to side.
Anyway, the problem is that the current outlets are partly embedded in concrete, and I don't have the means of replicating that. If I scrape away the foam, I have about 1.25 inches for the entire outlet box, from rear to front exterior surface. I've found shallow plastic boxes at Home Depot, but there are at least two problems:
* They're only single-gang. I need at least double-gang, and I'd prefer to get triple-gang with double-gang front plate to give me more room alongside the outlets and compensate for the lack of depth.
* They're plastic. As I understand it, you aren't allowed to terminate a metal conduit pipe at a plastic box... only romex or aluminum flex. Presumably, the rationale is that if you see a solid metal conduit leading away, you should be able to assume there's another metal box at the other end, and if I wanted to put one or more plastic boxes between two existing metal ones, I'd officially have to eliminate ALL of the metal conduit between those two boxes and replace it with romex or aluminum flex. I'll probably end up having to do this anyway, but if I can stick with metal boxes, I'd just as soon keep it that way.
So... is there an online source for shallow metal boxes? Or at least plastic ones? Is this something that any decent electrical supply store should carry, even if Home Depot & Lowe's doesn't?
