Outlet placement

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McLintock

McLintock

Senior Member
Location
USA
Occupation
Electrician
Just wondering what y’all put your height for the outlet in a house, in commercial work I did we put them at 15” to the bottom, started to do that now on res. jobs ( easier to work on than 12”, 3” does make a big difference).

How close do you guys get to every 6’ on walls, my boss does overkill and puts in more than needed. In bedrooms I try to put the outlets on ether side of the bed, if I do not know were the bed is going I imagine it will be on any wall.


“ shoot low boys their riding shetland ponies”
 
I used to do 12" AFF but ADA is 18". I did a rewire of my house a few years ago, small bedrooms only required 3 receptacles, which put them in the middle of walls, a mistake. I should of installed 4 and had one in each corner.
Code is the minimum. Wiring a house to code minimums means the light switch can be anywhere in any room
 
If I'm doing new construction, I just use my hammer. I have no idea what it measures. If I'm doing an addition / remodel, I use whatever height is already being used in the structure. I'll measure it, find a scrap of lumber and cut it.
 
Have to be careful using the hammer as a guide. I was putting up some boxes, luckily at my house, for an addition. I used my hammer and started around the wall. I quit for a while and went back to finish later. I grabbed A hammer and put up the rest of the boxes. I just happened to notice some of the boxes looked higher. I took my hammer and walked around checking the height. Some were right and some wrong. Then it hit me that I had used a different hammer for the last half. I checked both hammers and the one I grabbed (instead of looking for my usual one) was an inch or so different.

Same thing if there are multiple people working using a hammer as a guide, make sure everyone has the same size hammer or cut a stick to gauge by.
 
480sparky said:
If I'm doing new construction, I just use my hammer. I have no idea what it measures. If I'm doing an addition / remodel, I use whatever height is already being used in the structure. I'll measure it, find a scrap of lumber and cut it.
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Same here; I measure up from the baseboard for height matching in old work..
 
Little Bill said:
Have to be careful using the hammer as a guide. I was putting up some boxes, luckily at my house, for an addition. I used my hammer and started around the wall. I quit for a while and went back to finish later. I grabbed A hammer and put up the rest of the boxes. I just happened to notice some of the boxes looked higher. I took my hammer and walked around checking the height. Some were right and some wrong. Then it hit me that I had used a different hammer for the last half. I checked both hammers and the one I grabbed (instead of looking for my usual one) was an inch or so different.

Same thing if there are multiple people working using a hammer as a guide, make sure everyone has the same size hammer or cut a stick to gauge by.
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Simple solution: ONE person uses ONE hammer, even if there's 10 people on the job. Jeez.... you're banging on plastic boxes. This ain't rocket surgery, folks. You don't need to be brain scientists!

One person hammers on the receptacle boxes. Period. That's all he/she does until they're all up. Criminitely... how long can that take? Someone else can do the switch and ceiling boxes. If you got more than two guys, the third guy should be running a drill. A fourth guy can then start pulling rope if there's 4 of ya on site.
 
Little Bill said:
Same thing if there are multiple people working using a hammer as a guide, make sure everyone has the same size hammer or cut a stick to gauge by.
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What job site that has multiple people who use the same style of hammer, no everyone can afford a Stiletto, like I use, the other on my job sites have the cheapest hammers they can find.

I’ve been trying to get them to use a stick to put under the box and nail it up, but they use the stick to mark a line on the stud and “eyeball” the box to that. That has issues if they put up wood in the house or tile in the kitchen,not so much drywall.


“ shoot low boys their riding shetland ponies”
 
I always used my old stick rule. Open it up to 13" set it on the subfloor and then set box on top. I open it to 43" and set switches and kitchen receptacles at that height. Use to be 48" was standard around here but no longer-- 13" and 43" is the norm
 
;) Little Bill likes to show off: He "ain't no 'one hammer' contractor" ;)
 
I didn't really need a lesson on boxing a house. Just pointing out that not all hammers are the same and to be careful. If I or the guys that occasionally help me are doing a new house, only one of us nail on boxes. However, we do a lot of Habitat houses and there can be several "volunteers". So I will defend my "watch your hammer" warning!
 
Little Bill said:
I didn't really need a lesson on boxing a house. Just pointing out that not all hammers are the same and to be careful. If I or the guys that occasionally help me are doing a new house, only one of us nail on boxes. However, we do a lot of Habitat houses and there can be several "volunteers". So I will defend my "watch your hammer" warning!
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At least have the same hammerer do every box in any given room.
 
480sparky said:
Simple solution: ONE person uses ONE hammer, even if there's 10 people on the job. Jeez.... you're banging on plastic boxes. This ain't rocket surgery, folks. You don't need to be brain scientists!

One person hammers on the receptacle boxes. Period. That's all he/she does until they're all up. Criminitely... how long can that take? Someone else can do the switch and ceiling boxes. If you got more than two guys, the third guy should be running a drill. A fourth guy can then start pulling rope if there's 4 of ya on site.
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One person uses an 8lb sledgehammer to measure and attach all the boxes... :cool:
 
kwired said:
One person uses an 8lb sledgehammer to measure and attach all the boxes... :cool:
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Just be careful when your roughing in that house when it’s 20 below. I’ve broke many with a 16 oz hammer when it’s that cold.

Or am I the crazy one roughing in a house while it’s that cold?


“ shoot low boys their riding shetland ponies”
 
McLintock said:
Just be careful when your roughing in that house when it’s 20 below. I’ve broke many with a 16 oz hammer when it’s that cold.

Or am I the crazy one roughing in a house while it’s that cold?


“ shoot low boys their riding shetland ponies”
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I've done a few when it was about zero, but -20 is probably crazy.

Even if you disregard any whimp factors, productivity normally isn't all that great in those conditions.
 
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