stevenje
Senior Member
- Location
- Yachats Oregon
Are you talking about the EC or the sheetrock crew? It works both ways.
Locating an outlet box buried behind sheetrock...
- Thread starter sw_ross
- Start date
- Status
Are you talking about the EC or the sheetrock crew? It works both ways.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
Not sure exactly what you are talking about but if it is protruding from the surface don't be suprised if they either remove it because they don't want to go around it or if it gets mudded in and is difficult for you to remove later.
Doesn't Arlington have a box designed for stucco installations with its own WP in use cover? Just use it.
Even if they started something don't be childish and retaliate, act like a professional. There will always be incidents, but you will come out ahead in the long run. Maybe a "please don't do xxxxxx, it causes me to have to xxxxxx" or "is there something I can do that makes your job easier" will actually work out for both of you.
You are both there to do a job. The owner will probably see the drywall as important to finished product as electrical.
K8MHZ
Senior Member
- Occupation
- Electrician
I did a house a few years ago and the HO decided not to finish the basement right away, but wanted it all roughed in. I would come back and trim out later.
Months later I get a call from the HO. Two bedrooms were drywalled, painted, carpet laid and mop boards installed. My boxes were about 2 and a half inches too deep. No way possible.
So I start looking at the walls and I notice that they are kind of flared at the bottom. A closer look revealed that the dry wall was about 3 inches from the wall at the bottom. The drywallers cut all the sheets too long and just pushed in the bottom as far as it would go and called it good.
I told the HO I wouldn't do the finish work until all the drywall was fixed. That also meant replacing the carpet, as it was three inches too short all the way around. I think he told me it cost him 6 grand to have it all reworked. IIRC, the drywallers used glue, so that meant removal and preparation for new sheets was fairly labor intensive.
And that's just one of my encounters with their brilliance.
If the HO's are so concerned about drywall, why do they hire bozos to install it?
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renosteinke
Senior Member
- Location
- NE Arkansas
Steve, I can't control how others act, but I can control my behavior. When there are no men around, try to be a man. Two wrongs don't make a right.
Even Al Capone recognized that much could be accomplished with a kind word (though even more was accomplished when he had both a kind word and a gun
)
Even Al Capone recognized that much could be accomplished with a kind word (though even more was accomplished when he had both a kind word and a gun
)
K8MHZ
Senior Member
- Occupation
- Electrician
When I was a second year apprentice the masons buried the end of a 100 foot conduit run in a poured wall. It wasn't their fault, the plug for the end of the conduit fell out just before the pour.
This was bad, as we only had a slight idea where the pipe should be.
I had an electronic stethoscope used to locate noises in car engines. I had my journeyman go down below and run a fish tape to the end of the run and and slide the tape back and forth, hitting the end of the run. The only way you could hear the tape was with your ear directly on the wall, and then you could hear it for several feet.
Using the stethoscope on the wall, I found the peak of the sound and drew a 2 inch circle on the wall. The end of the conduit was almost dead center of my circle, about an inch deep in the poured concrete wall.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
I am guessing these "drywallers" were not really drywallers, or they sniffed too much of the glue.
I am also going to say clueless HO, and apparently with deep pockets. Why would anyone accept that kind of work before it got that far, even if you know very little about it, there is no way it looked normal is there?
K8MHZ
Senior Member
- Occupation
- Electrician
In this particular case, the guy was working a million hours 30 miles from home. I am sure he just trusted the workers and didn't notice the screw up until it was too late.
- Location
- Simi Valley, CA
The old magnet on a string works pretty good too, but not so much for ceiling boxes.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- Licensed Electrician
The phone toner works great when searching for covered boxes in new construction. Better than my Greenlee. Not so good for circuits that are in service. Even with the power off, any thing that would be a load on the circuit kills the signal.
stevenje
Senior Member
- Location
- Yachats Oregon
Steve, I can't control how others act, but I can control my behavior. When there are no men around, try to be a man. Two wrongs don't make a right.
Even Al Capone recognized that much could be accomplished with a kind word (though even more was accomplished when he had both a kind word and a gun
In 37 years in this business, I personally have never intentionally damaged another trades work. I respect what they do and expect the same from them. Every job is a team effort. The problem with some sheetrock crews is they really don't care is they cover a box or not. They get paid by the sheet or square foot. It is all about production not precision. By the time you are ready to trim they have been paid and are long gone. Everyone makes mistakes. It is how you handle fixing the mistake that you made, that makes you a good craftsman. When was the last time you had a sheetrocker come up to you after they are done and tell you to call them if there are any problems. In 37 years I can count on one hand how many times the sheetrocker galdly came back to the job to find boxes that they covered. They are professionals. The rest are just hacks.
- Location
- Simi Valley, CA
You have magnets that are attracted to non metallic boxes?
Unless you're using plastic nails.:roll:
jmellc
Senior Member
- Location
- Durham, NC
- Occupation
- Facility Maintenance Tech. Licensed Electrician
As in anything, it has its limits. The GC we worked for was a butt head. Always griping that we were too slow, charged too much, etc. He was supposedly a high end contractor. Did lots of jobs in wealthy neighborhoods. But his work was not that great. He rushed his guys to slap things up , they buried some boxes, cut wide on others & did not patch around them. Inspector let us by with wide gaps, though we had to use jumbo plates to cover some gaps. Not to mention what they damaged with rotos. My concern for his walls ended after 5 or 6 jobs putting up with that crap. No one mouths at me all day & still gets my respect & consideration.
morsefire
Member
- Location
- Northern MN
I've had sheetrockers cover up recess cans before!
- Location
- Simi Valley, CA
The thing with residential is that at least you can tell when you're missing an receptacle. It's when they cover them in commercial that it can be a real pain.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
Found those before by looking at photos taken at rough in.
It helps when there is receptacles required and they are not there. What if installer missed installing one? What if there are more than minimum requirement and they missed cutting one out? Again rough in photos are your friend.
growler
Senior Member
- Location
- Atlanta,GA
The reason sheet rock crews don't care about covering boxes is they are not getting "back-charged" when we have to locate them. If all ECs would charge the GCs to locate these boxes they would start to care.
Patting myself on the back for this one.
A McMansion was up for sale.
Cleaning up odds and ends.
Chirping smoke detectors. Checked detector outlets no voltage.
All circuits on (and tested on) in panel in garage. And labeled smoke circuit on.
Opened boxes in garage area and smoke........nothing.
Came real close to just feeding a smoke but backfeeding the circuit wasn't sitting well with me.
Looked closer into the house. There was a room off of the mudd/laundry room that was an office. I took a guess that someone could have considered it a bed room during construction.
With my head against the ceiling, I saw a very very shallow hump.......a couple of thin screw driver holes.......feeling around with a snake........... ac duct work running through the same bay and H2O lines to the second floor also.
I'm thinking I'm playing games.....screwing this ceiling up..........then...........felt something that felt like a plastic box.
Yep.......buried box. Alittle dab of spackle here and there.... a little touch up (useing a napkin) with some ceiling paint I found in the garage.
The smokes were never energized in this 7 or 10 yr old McMasion.
(getting off my soap box now)
A McMansion was up for sale.
Cleaning up odds and ends.
Chirping smoke detectors. Checked detector outlets no voltage.
All circuits on (and tested on) in panel in garage. And labeled smoke circuit on.
Opened boxes in garage area and smoke........nothing.
Came real close to just feeding a smoke but backfeeding the circuit wasn't sitting well with me.
Looked closer into the house. There was a room off of the mudd/laundry room that was an office. I took a guess that someone could have considered it a bed room during construction.
With my head against the ceiling, I saw a very very shallow hump.......a couple of thin screw driver holes.......feeling around with a snake........... ac duct work running through the same bay and H2O lines to the second floor also.
I'm thinking I'm playing games.....screwing this ceiling up..........then...........felt something that felt like a plastic box.
Yep.......buried box. Alittle dab of spackle here and there.... a little touch up (useing a napkin) with some ceiling paint I found in the garage.
The smokes were never energized in this 7 or 10 yr old McMasion.
(getting off my soap box now)
- Status