Fitting socket wall crumbled

abankerbutnotafatcat

Hi

I was chiseling away after drilling the right holes to put in a single socket. The brick work behind has crumbled away and seems to be a cavity wall and now there is nothing to fix the back of the cocket to! It's left a deep hole in the wall and I'm unsure of what I can do about this problem. I still want to fit my socket..

Not entirely sure abt the cavity walls as its a Victorian house and unsure of cavity walls being used back then, but there seems to a lot of space behind. It's for an aerial lead coming through from outside and can see all the way through. Only a small hole through to outside though. Would it be worth filling that outside hole with some clear silicone just to stop water coming through and then fill the larger internal gap with expanding foam?. Then screw the sides of the box into the remaining brickwork as suggested if I can. May have to build that area up a bit...
Thanks for the help! : )

Jonesya

How about fixing through the sides of the metal backbox to fix it in place?

And if the hole is too big, either pack it out, or could you fit a double socket to take up with width

Le_Kirk

It if is a cavity wall you must have gone pretty deep to get to the cavity! I assume you are fitting a galvanised box for the socket. Can you fit it using the side fixing holes? I know it is sometimes difficult to drill into the side of the hole but you could drill at an angle.


Ha Jonesy, you beat me!!

abankerbutnotafatcat

Not entirely sure abt the cavity walls as its a Victorian house and unsure of cavity walls being used back then, but there seems to a lot of space behind. It's for an aerial lead coming through from outside and can see all the way through. Only a small hole through to outside though. Would it be worth filling that outside hole with some clear silicone just to stop water coming through and then fill the larger internal gap with expanding foam?. Then screw the sides of the box into the remaining brickwork as suggested if I can. May have to build that area up a bit...
Thanks for the help! : )

newbie1980

is the brick dust a grey/black colour
if so the brick is old style breeze block and are a nightmare to fix things too hence alot of times you will see surface mounted items
the only way round it now is to pin the box through the side or mount it onto wood(only because its for an aerial) which you fix into the hole youve made.

abankerbutnotafatcat

Yes the dust was grey/black ish! Similar issue with general drilling to get thing up on walls/ curtain poles etc.
Can you get a type of expanding foam that can hold a screw or two? The stuff I've used in the past was not good enough for the job!
I'm not even sure what to fit the wood to? : )

al69

Use a piece of wood wider than the hole in width but not in height. Put a piece of string around it in the middle. Put the wood through the hole and let it drop into the void but hold the string. Now pull the string and it will block the hole from behind.

Ok it wont stay there on its own so use a bit of expanding foam on each side of the hole and on the surfaces of the wood that will touch the wall. Pull the string tight and wrap it around a pencil / stick etc to hold it in place till the foam cures.

When set cut the string and you have something to fix the box to. if its still too deep you could use a bit of filler behind the box and squish the box onto it while its still not set then screw through it after its set.

WestonDave

Not sure if it will help but in my previous house the plasterboard walls were a bit soft and the plasterboard sockets kept pulling out (they are held in place by "wings" that sit behind the front). What I did to replace them was glue a suitable piece of wood (no more nails type glue) onto the back skin of the wall and then screw a standard metal back box into that. The idea being that the surface area where the wood was stuck on was sufficient to hold the wood in place firmly enough to cope with plugs being pulled out of the sockets. You may be able to do something similar possibly combined with al69's suggestion above.

brightontraveller

Personally wouldn’t use foam and timber ? Simply square hole off get a breeze block , aerated concrete blocks (Thermalite, Celcon etc) cut (old saw will do ) and fit into hole leave around 10 - 20 mm all around edge , measure socket height from floor mark where sockets to go on block remove it., cut back box and cable channel/ hole for cable etc(chisel or even a stanley knife will do) into block, fit and secure back box to new block then place block back in hole, sand and cement in place less than a £ 8 - 10 even if you have to buy all the materials cheaper than foam less messy, more secure, wont rot, isn't a fire risk etc pug up hole on outside also..