DISGUSTINGLY Out of Level Electrical Box!!!!

[@dirtyrotten2648]

I’m an electrician. Carefully expose the screws for the mud ring without over cutting and straighten the ring . If you are careful a standard plate will still cover any damage. Then do a kick flip

[@aaron74]

Yeah he could have cut some margins around that ring with a razor knife to get access to those screws.

[@dirtyrotten2648]

Aaron yes sir

[@jonanderson4474]

Don't forget the kickflip tho.

[@vancouvercarpenter]

Darn. Wish I knew this before I did the repair.

[@tonycalhoun544]

And then find a new electrician

[@granworks]

A man after my own heart! In cases like this, my wife tries to talk me off the ledge by affirming that "nobody" will ever notice. And she's _almost_ right... the one person that *will* notice is me and I'll notice it every single time I see it! So yeah, spending 15 minutes on something like this worth every single second.

[@Void-gn9zm]

Hahaha. Too relatable!

[@hightttech]

To some clients, that 1/16th inch looks like the Titanic going down! I've built some great relationships with clients because they know that i own a level, and I'm not afraid to use it.

[@TV-sh8hd]

Perfectionists built this world we live in

[@Feldspar__]

Exactly. I don’t care if anybody else notices.

[@mikep3813]

Lucky guy..... my wife's eyes are out of level so I get a picture nice and level and it looks perfect and she says it's wrong and my level is out of level.

[@vennic]

The 1/4" drop is to allow proper water flow

[@vancouvercarpenter]

LOL

[@neverenoughtime3151]

Good answer, how else will the electrons flow properly? Must not have known that for 3" or greater he can reduce the slope to 1/8" per foot. :-D

[@symposes]

Yep, or as its referred to in the trade, "Arranged to drain."

[@dnoloc]

😂

[@westsideken]

Very funny! When my son was little his job was to make sure the extension cord wasn't kinked so the current could flow 😁

[@genghis_connie]

Hallelujah! Thank you. I have these off by 1/4" + in 3 spots right in the brick of my 1956 desert ranch. I bet it I my entire house would crumble if I tried to adjust the box itself. These things drive me batty. I even thought about buying metal switch plates and trimming them with metal snips. Ha. I hope this works. I have the same switches, but can't recall if the fasteners have the same screw fasteners. Ugh, When the guy who "flipped" the house must have been drunk the whole time.

[@xXSTAT3SXx]

Instant subscribe when you fight for 1/16th on inch. 👍

[@fabianmckenna8197]

Here in the UK we have adjustment available in our electrical switch covers. Makes life a lot simpler.

[@ironcatalystcs]

If the trades would do their jobs right the first time....its a shame people have to pay so much money for half-assed work....

[@nickmccollum1196]

I love randomly coming across this channel when I'm looking for house DIY help. And then being like "oh hey, it's the guy that teaches me to skate!"

[@Jeffhuebner]

Perfect timing! I have a super wonky box I need to straighten.

[@stevehairston9940]

Is that Dewalt battery in a Makita drill?

[@Vertignasse82]

Damn heretics...

[@Jetrod]

I was wondering the same thing

[@ridgewoodgardens6253]

They make adapters yup

[@jimchang9394]

I've got a 9Ah Ridgid battery on a Makita DTD171 with a CAD$30 adapter.

[@Skatesoldier24]

That was all I could focus on. I had no idea they made adapters like that.

[@markoshun]

“With bad intent!” Ha! I lost it right there..

[@aaron74]

More funny is how he quickly faded out his babbling outro that, until just this video, he had been so good about. Returned back to those old habits! Ha ha

[@brookekathryn1980]

Is the wire sticking out of the wall pissing anyone else off?

[@jrod7475]

Yes that fuckery had me annoyed...

[@TCM1966]

Yes that was more annoying then the out of square outlet. Although that would also drive me nuts.

[@hilaryknight934]

Looks to me like its waiting to be filled. Maybe another video

[@brookekathryn1980]

@@hilaryknight934 I would love to watch him attempt to blend this wire onto the wall without a visual hump! 😂

[@jrod7475]

@@hilaryknight934 no ... I think not ... Other wise he would have acknowledged it ... Just a thought...

[@michaelosborn2568]

I had that same issue in my own home, existing when we bought it. Your fix is similar to mine. In my case anyway, mud box was nailed in to the stud, with another stud evidently added after the box was in. It also happened to be at the kitchen sink area. Without making a whole lot of extra work out of it, no other way to fix it. At least I’m not the only guy that tried this!

[@judesxo5222]

Omg you make it look somewhat easy- come to Ontario and fix my outlet that’s the same double switch and even looks outta plumb range 1/4” just like that one you have!

[@jonjones-v5d]

That's the way there! Great Job.

[@jivediy2711]

That looks like a classics “ looks good from my house”

[@FeelingLikeThatNow]

Good enough for the girls I date!

[@RichMoore-tweakin7376]

LMAO I'm so glad I just read that. My boss fired a guy for saying that. That has always stuck with me.

[@josephdurish2315]

Good enough for government work

[@RC_Cola2020]

I have this same problem in my condo! I was thinking of trying the same trick, and then your video popped up.

[@SAEargle]

I am loving your videos! I just bought a house down in Texas. The previous homeowner was horrible at caulking baseboards so there is dried (x3 years) caulking that is painted over running down the baseboards. Any tricks to remove the dried/painted caulking without damaging the baseboards?

[@amyrobert]

Great solution for retrofits! Thanks!

[@chrisdupont1195]

That's why we use round boxes in Europe...

[@kentemple6498]

🎼 “Starring at the plate, with bad intent” 🎶 (Jethro Tull) 🤣😂🤣. Good video

[@derekmccray9332]

The other day I fixed a loose bumper on my 4Runner with self-tapping screws and my friend said it was "Newfie OEM"...maybe that applies here, not sure rofl. Nice job, great effort!! :-D

[@NormaZannoni]

thank you for making me laugh! I looked this up because I have the same problem, off to try and fix mine.

[@d46512]

Grab a cheap little 4 flute endmill from ebay. They are designed to cut on the sides unlike an ordinary drill bit.

[@chrisv4640]

Jams screwdriver into screw hole with bad intent.. "Having a little trouble with this last screw" I am already sore from work why did you have to make me laugh like that!! LOL love it

[@JohnComeOnMan]

I love tuning into Bob Saget's trade tips!

[@mikesenesouk531]

Your level was out of alignment the entire time. Now you're over by 1/16. You're going to have to go back and adjust it again.

[@edover50]

I would of shimmed the bottom corner of the wall....lol. Good video Ben. It was a good solution.

[@Bri-tg6xr]

I have a ton of outlets that are crooked the other way, the electrical boxes were nailed on the ridges that set against the studs and they sit crooked outside of the drywall. I use those green spacers but I still have crooked outlets, suggestions? In other words, the left side of the outlet is set further in the wall and the right side sticks outside the drywall edge.

[@robbbenedict]

Pry the nail out and put a screw in from the inside of the box once it's level

[@MattLeFaitMusic]

Looks great from the contractors house!

[@johnVidBozo]

Wait a minute. There is a big gap at the bottom of the left switch and at the top of the right switch! OK, ok, just kidding. Sometimes you just HAVE to go with good enough. Love the info you put in each episode. Great camera presence too.

[@nico258788]

what kind of battery are you using on that drill i use the sam edrill daily at work as a mechanic and mine always dies

[@thedepartmentofredundancyd5160]

This looks like a case of: "They paid me to install 30 sockets and fittings. This lightswitch here is fitting number 41..."

[@chartle1]

6:49 thought for sure a hammer was going to come out and it would turn into another "Lets fix a hole in the drywall" video.

[@lisar317]

Thanks so much! I’m going to try it.

[@nooneknows6060]

Nicely done!

[@robertbamford8266]

I would have appreciated seeing how you would correct the box so that any replacement switch wouldn’t have to be modified to fit. I can imagine an unsuspecting future homeowner who repaints and decides to change the switch color. Or the same homeowner if you don’t tell her.

[@2-old-Forthischet]

Over time, of using the switches, you know it'll go back to the original position. I had several boxes in my condo that were crooked. I never had the time to fix them while I was a worker bee. After I retired, I opened up the walls around the boxes to see why they were crooked. It was a matter of mass production and not caring. All the boxes that were crooked were because of plastic boxes nailed onto the studs which had nail heads in the way of the boxes. I removed the boxes, removed the nails and replaced them with counter sunk screws. Yes, it was a pain, but the end results were worth it.

[@aaron74]

Friends don't let friends use plastic boxes.

[@2-old-Forthischet]

@@aaron74 I don't have many friends and more importantly, I'm really cheap!

[@aaron74]

@@2-old-Forthischet Yeah, but you get what you pay for! And seriously, a 4x4 square metal box costs like $1.00, and a mud-ring is another $1.00. Compared to metal device boxes that are like $4-$5. We have commercial electrical construction to thank for cheap square boxes and mudrings!

[@2-old-Forthischet]

@@aaron74 I really like plastic boxes for the non conductive properties. Recently, I was helping my GF redo a four gang outlet in her garage. We identified the circuit breaker and shut off the power to the box only to find out that there were two circuits in the same box! Luckily the AC probe caught it before anything happened. Yes, it was a low ball bid remodel from years ago.

[@aaron74]

@Too-old Forthischet Yeah, the plastic-versus-metal boxes are a longstanding debate. The primary purpose of the box is to encapsulate and protect the splice. So the steel is stronger than plastic and therefore more protective physically. But if the steel is not grounded (as it's required to be), then it can be energized and therefore dangerous to touch. The plastic requires no grounding and is therefore always safe to touch. They're much cheaper, too. Honestly, the only real thing that bugs be about plastic boxes is the darn mounting holes for devices always seem to strip when the tension of packing the splice in along with the device. Really, the device mounting screws you need with plastic boxes are coarse-thread #6 panhead screws so it digs into the plastic better than the machine screws that come with the devices (which have always been designed for metal boxes since the early 1900s).

[@chrystalswope1666]

I’m installing new sconces and the round electrical box is installed in such a way that the bolts are at 2 and 8 on the clock instead of 3 and 9 . My husband said I’d have to cut a hole in the wall to reinstall it properly. Any ideas would be much appreciated. I have pictures...

[@PaulPeck]

Crooked stuff drives me crazy too!🙃 Way to Mcgyver it Ben!👍🏻

[@spencerwyche2552]

I hope an apprentice installed these switches,either way the mechanic should have checked his work.

[@deaconblues87]

I just did this on a couple outlets in my house. Mine weren't flush with the drywall either, so i installed some extenders from Arlington industries as well. It sucked.

[@Nirotix]

"Backcharge the sparky" 🤣🤣🤣 EXACTLY! You read my mind, cause that precisely what I would have done, as long as he hadn't already been paid for the job. Take lots of photo's, rip that wall open, get paid for fixing his shit work!

[@BigFlexy007]

Fading out at the end while he's talking.. that's funny. He gets humor. He's the Vancouver Carpenter.

[@robh.8214]

I love the franken de porter drill!!!

[@jimchang9394]

There is a chance to get it level and square if you cut the drywall and adjust the angle of the mud ring. I hate the rough-in guys because I am doing finishing jobs as an electrician.

[@anthonyelectric6045]

Yes that’s the preferred last stop for this fix before you go to open the wall.

[@evictor99]

what about rotated to the left/right, left edge is about 1/4" off the wall. my only idea so far is to cut the box out and use a remodeler box?

[@arthurdanielles4784]

Ah in the UK sanity reigns (well most of the time) with decent MK switch units where the two switch units are not two separate ones but integrated. Two securing screws NOT four.. and an adjustable metal back box usually with at least 1/4 inch play to allow correct levelling. I appreciate that for some people removing the switches and redoing the work to level it out can be as I have seen here in the UK a trifle in itself as often the electricians don't leave very much slack in the cables etc so removing the front fascia switches with the wires and disconnecting may be easy but reconnecting can result in some unpleasant bleep bleep language. 👀😨🤣

[@askadad7355]

I love the look of paddle switches, but they suck to get straight.

[@hajirpirouzfar9481]

"Starring at the plate with bad intent" 😂😂

[@SpaceCadet4Jesus]

I've got a residential wall plug plastic electrical box broke into two seemingly unremovable pieces. It won't hold the elec socket without the socket dropping out. How to fix this monstrosity?

[@Tyler-sv4sw]

I’m being asked to remove wallpaper vs replace if drywall entirely. What do you recommend. Cutting the drywall out and replacing it or trying to remove wallpaper?

[@paintnamer6403]

If they used oil base paint on the drywall then wallpaper sizing (glue) it should come off ok. It's always a guess on how many imperfections are covered by wallpaper.

[@michaelfreeman8458]

Is that a DeWalt battery in a Makita drill!?

[@WowRixter]

How did someone install that in the first place??? What's with that cable hanging out of the phone (?) base above it?

[@shawnmoore4292]

In Australia we don't use boxes just plates. That is crazy amount of plumb. But we still have these first world problems sometimes.

[@davebarnes1742]

UK back boxes have adjustable tag to move face plate up or down

[@mvernile]

Thank you!

[@mixer7586]

A deWalt battery in a makita drill, cool, didn't know you could do that.

[@chartle1]

How do you attach a dewalt battery pack to a Makita and why is it White not blue or teal or what ever? Is it like a universal battery law Canadian thing? For a second I thought it was a WalMart Hart brand drill. 🤔

[@vancouvercarpenter]

No idea. Homeowners drill :)

[@chartle1]

@@vancouvercarpenter ok found a white Makita but what about the battery. 🤷‍♂️

[@ccadama]

Question: How do you attach a dewalt battery pack to a Makita? Answer: They make battery adapters. Can order from Amazon. I'm not a fan of them only because some drills talk with the battery for protection (overheat) and the adapters only make sure that the positive and negative power terminals are correct between the battery and the tool. Question: Why is it White not blue or teal or what ever? Answer: Makita sold some of these white versions for a while around five years ago. Makita has some purple versions they're now selling in Japan.

[@chartle1]

@@ccadama just found the adapter

[@rickkrieger4455]

That is just the lazyness of the electrician. He should have plumbed the box when he put it on.

[@nighma]

And don't forget to align all the cap screws vertically please :)

[@shimes424]

Apprentice: how many nails do I need to fasten an opening? Electrician: the conduit will hold it, quit wasting nails!

[@johngrossbohlin7582]

Should have also showed how to trench out the drywall and tape over the wire on the controller above the switch. ;~) The box issue reminds me of the dozens if not hundreds of boxes installed in a large hotel banquet room I was in for a meeting. Every type of box was at a slightly different height but like type boxes were all the same height. More explicitly, all the electrical boxes were the same height, all the ethernet boxes were at the same height, all the microphone jacks were at the same height but there was variance across box types so visually the boxes looked terrible.

[@swamppifi6186]

being on the level is not always the answer, in a new house, yes it should be, but when you have an old house that has moved and settled over 90 years, when you put stuff up lever, it looks skewed to the floor, skirting boards, the mid wall mounding, I have found this in my house, nothing square, nothing straight, no matter what you do, you just can't win

[@MichaelResznekiTrolling4Truth]

Electrician probably had one shorter leg then the other 😂

[@Zak6959]

Good job, don’t forget to send a bill to the electrician though. With that being said, safety wise, don’t forget to turn off the breaker before putting a drill into an electrical box. I know you were just drilling out the hole in the outlet, but accidents do happen. Hopefully not a fatal one.

[@chrisv4640]

Self tapper through the outer tabs into the the mud ring..

[@RogueA.I.]

Man. That would make my eye twitch every time I walked past it.

[@c.b.-11]

Lol. I would have took it all the way too. I didn't Master my Skill of Painting by stopping short. 1 thing to add, I got the smallest Black and Decker drill and use it for outlet covers etc because I finally got sick and tired of removing them manually. I always leave every screw, Horizontal.

[@Iamthathillbilly]

Sparkys can be so lazy.. we had one come into a custom home build this summer and put a 4 gang box into a 2x4 wall cavity in front of a 1 1/2” vent pipe that was already there, it pushed the box out an inch on the end and the pipe was bowed out the other side of the wall.. we fixed the issue and both the plumbers boss and the electricians boss got a talking to.. it’s not that hard to do your job well and communicate when the need arises

[@Vertignasse82]

I wonder if he has access to a special house where everything is not right so he can teach us how to fix weird things, or if he just films weird things as he encounters them doing his job.

[@deckmonkey1459]

Dude, is that wrist from El Toro? About those screws, maybe it was the camera angle but.....

[@ianmcrae1974]

Who fitted the switch in the first place, Stevie Wonder 🤣🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@rcbasher101]

Ahh... The golden turd mastercraft bits. Even though they are complete crap, I sometimes buy the pack of 300 for $30 just to use as throw-away bits.

[@andrewcarr2431]

MasterCraft are home owner level, as you say they are like dollar store paint brushes. Good for slapping a bit of touch up on and you don't have to clean them afterwards.

[@ShakespeareCafe]

Out of plumb, too

[@88SC]

I roughed in plenty of electrical. I’d have gotten my butt severely chewed out for that and made to go back and fix it (before any wiring was run). Family business, though.

[@CG_Hali]

'It's hard to make that big of a mistake' - Looks at one box that was installed at a 15 degree angle and a quarter inch forward from the drywall by the ex-owners of my house O_O LOL

[@vancouvercarpenter]

LOL!

[@aaron74]

I'd have trouble sleeping at night knowing how crooked the box is on the stud that the receptacles are screwed into. I'd fix that because to me it would be unacceptable to have to multilate the mounting holes on the devices. Ha ha ha

[@kevinhughes5046]

With bad intent! Was tha an aqua lung ref.?

[@mikep3813]

"Staring at the plate with bad intent" Me at dinner time every night

[@JohnR84]

Next chip out the wall to hide the thermostat wires... ; ) and still back charge the Sparky!

[@MrJramirex]

Perfection but now the drill case is 1 drill bit off.

[@1244taylor]

1.who in H wired the thermostat or whatever above the plug. 2. why not just straighten the electrical box itself??

[@meangreen7389]

Very realistic looking prop wall but who cares. JK, loved this vid and thank you for sharing.

[@0778drz110]

If the elechickens dont tighten the plaster ring properly it can get crooked and then the drywall is cut out around it crooked. Or sometimes the guys hanging drywall dont cut it properly and put too much weight on the box which knocks it out of level. I see that a lot with plastic boxes. Cut out the drywall behind the plate to try and shift the box around. The vinyl plate makes me believe this was the electrician's fault lol. Vinyl plates are for sadists.

[@tay13666]

I would have just cut a bit of the drywall away from the top right corner of the box and then shimmed the whole box up. The cover should hide that.

[@karend.9218]

You had me at crooked......then ya fixed it. That stuff bugs me too.

[@SteveRivett]

The trade in the right should have tore the other trade's work off the wall and left without completing anything.

[@patrickcowan8701]

I would have trimmed a quarter inch top and bottom corner and shimmed the box at the stud side . Yes you would have to mud, your method is a better quick fix though. Wouldn't do that on a metal box, chance of arching. Also putting in warped stud's, that's why drywallers hate framers.

[@nadkram1]

Must have been a Friday when that was installed.

[@bertbergers9171]

Someone from the past has to learn how to stick a box in level, jeez even by eye it would have been straighter.

[@Void-gn9zm]

It’s like playing Tetris when I have to fix these.

[@FeelingLikeThatNow]

I think maybe you could remove the screws from one of the switches and then just rely on the cover plate to align the unsecured switch. I'm not an electrician.

[@johnreeser]

Be careful with unsecured receptacles in grounded metal boxes. (Especially if you are the ground.)

[@markarita3]

I realize those weren't your tools but, the drill broke because it wasn't meant to be used that way, not because it was "cheap". A Dremel with a proper carbide burr would have been the proper tool. Good result though :-).

[@bay9876]

It would be alright on a sinking ship.

[@davezeraschi7936]

🤣🤣 never heard that before brilliant 🤣👍

[@neverenoughtime3151]

I'm tired of seeing "CRAPSmanship" like that outlet box's installation passing as "okay". I was just in a new build where I told the builder (a production U.S. "pure crap", but big $ home builder) "I'm not sure which is worse, that a tradesman finds this installation 'acceptable', or that you, as the builder, let them get away with it." Luckily, the outlet installation matched the kwalitee of the rest of the house, so it matched the theme/ decor of "pure s*t". Pathetic.

[@jonanderson4474]

No content. Glad to see you do anything better on your channel.

[@neverenoughtime3151]

@@jonanderson4474 Same back to you. To be clear, I'm NOT knocking Vancouver Carpenter one bit, as he's showing how to deal with a garbage installation. If you find the original box installation satisfactory, then you apparently have very low standards and should stay out of the trades.

[@AlexKennbergProfile]

Wouldn’t this potentially cause insurance headaches in case of a fire? I learnt from an inspector that it’s very important that electric parts are not modified. If a fire starts anywhere near that switch an insurance investigator might find the switches modified and deem it the source of fire and void coverage.

[@jman6030]

I line the screws vertically too lol

[@andrewcarr2431]

I cannot believe how many tradesman are so sloppy in their work - be it a diy'er or a professional. Tape, Level, pencil if you don't have them in your tool belt go home and get them :-) They should have this hammered into them at school!

[@keithg1313]

Poifect!!

[@lisaferrara8120]

I am still correcting the plates after my electrician finished in August. 🙄