Plasterboard and metal back boxes

lisa701

At what point would you swap a metal back box on a socket for one you use for a plasterboard wall?

We have a row of sockets along one wall but unfortunately on removing the tiles the plaster and an inch thick of cement has also come away. To resolve this (not sure if its the right way or not) the guy has put a layer of plasterboard on top of the bare brick which he intends to tile over.

The back boxes for the sockets are 25mm deep metal ones which were fine when we had the inch thick of cement, but now 12mm plasterboard has been fixed over the brick it means half of the metal box is now in plasterboard and not brick. Is that ok or should they be replaced with plastic ones for plasterboard walls?

SailorSam

Can't you chisel the brickwork so that it's a bit deeper ?

MX5huggy

You don't have to use plaster board boxes in plaster board walls at all they are just more convenient in some circumstances (mainly stud walls where you would have to put a noggin in the wall to hold a metal back box).

So just cut a hole in the plasterboard the size and position of the metal box before the plaster board is fixed then fix the box as you would in a plastered wall. You want the edge of the box to be in line with the edge or just a bit deeper.

lisa701

Thanks MX5huggy. The boxes are just level with the outer edge of the plasterboard, I was just concerned metal back boxes had to be in brick and these are almost half in plasterboard. I can now apologise to the hubby :-)