How stuck in your ways are you?

[Rewire]

:-?
New work boxes don't have ears...you need ears on old work boxes.
Old Work boxes don't have a side mount bracket...you need that bracket on new work.
I see 2 styles at a minimum.

How much is a 1G metal box (new work..$1.18 ?)....how much is a 1G plastic box( 0.52?) ?

A 4G metal box would cost you about $5 PLUS the labor assembling the thing.
A 4G plastic costs about $4.

Given the choice - why wouldn't you use plastic boxes?


I also prefer plastic old work boxes....they have a larger outside dimension than a metal box ....easier to get my hand in the wall....the metal box IS cheaper at about $1.43/per vs. the plastic at about $1.82 PLUS the larger device plate ~ BUT, if having the opening larger makes my job faster, I'm all over it

We get new work metal boxes with ears and just remove them the cost is around 80 cents when bought in case lots.If you are 30 miles from the supply house and you do not have a 4-gang box they could be giving them away and it would not do you any good.As for a side mount bracket don't need one just 2 nails.You need to carry on the truck six styles of plastic oposed to one style of metal.

 

[peter d]

We get new work metal boxes with ears and just remove them the cost is around 80 cents when bought in case lots.If you are 30 miles from the supply house and you do not have a 4-gang box they could be giving them away and it would not do you any good.As for a side mount bracket don't need one just 2 nails.You need to carry on the truck six styles of plastic oposed to one style of metal.

To each their own I guess. Metal boxes went out of favor for new resi work in the early '70's here. Anyone who does resi work will have every kind of plastic box in stock...to stock sectional metal boxes would be viewed as absurd here.

 

[480sparky]

I routinely use a 4x4x1? metal box w/ ?" mud ring for walls that are furred out with 2x2s. I always have those on the truck for commercial jobs, but a shallow 1- or 2-gang Nailon plastic doesn't make sense to try to maintain a stock of them as I only need it for about every 3rd or 4th house.

 

[Rewire]

To each their own I guess. Metal boxes went out of favor for new resi work in the early '70's here. Anyone who does resi work will have every kind of plastic box in stock...to stock sectional metal boxes would be viewed as absurd here.

If Home Depot don't stock it it doesn't exist,we use plastics on new work but stock metal for the service truck

 

[peter d]

Well "E" somehow your thread got turned into metal vs. plastic boxes....but I don't consider myself stuck in my ways at all. I'm always curious about the new products and new developments in our industry, and why hardly anybody seems to be taking advantage of them. :roll: I'm always trying or at least wanting to know a better way to do what we do.

I was opposed to TR's and AFCi's at one point in time...then I realized they are here to stay and that I had better get used to it.

 

[electricman2]

Plastic boxes make sense to me if for no other reason than you dont have to ground them. I hate ground clips and its a pain to get the egc around that screw in the back.

 

[celtic]

If you are 30 miles from the supply house ...

If Home Depot don't stock it it doesn't exist,...

Well which is it?
:grin:


Honestly...how many 4G boxes do you use in a year?
How many 4G old work boxes????

With that much cable coming down the wall, are you really saving anything?


I'm not picking on you Rewire...just reliving a mightmare

Awhile back, a buddy of mine who is an EC got jammed up...I offered to help him out...long story short, he only used old work boxes..new work/old work ~ everything got an old work box.
The job was an addition...the back of the house was being bumped out. He ran his wires through the existing portion of the house into the wall cavity that would now be a bedroom
. Cut some big holes to retrive the wire/allow for the box to be madisoned to the sheet rock. Then he attaches the wire hanging out of the hole to the old work box...and removes the ears.
I'm like WTF?
He says it's so the carpenter can cut the hole for the box in the rock...and have the box right there for sizing.
:roll:
Whatever....

Now if your method works for you...great.
IMHO, a plastic box is much faster with romex than a metal box.

 

[celtic]

Plastic boxes make sense to me if for no other reason than you dont have to ground them. I hate ground clips and its a pain to get the egc around that screw in the back.

So put the EGC in the front:

Ground Clip

 

[emahler]

he said he hated ground clips....

as to your question...nothing particular in mind...the employee vs. sub thread got me thinking...

it's like guys can't fathom that anything other than paying your employees hourly could possibly be good and/or legal...

but maybe guys who insist on running EMT vs MC cable...Copper feeders vs. Aluminum...

that type of stuff...

 

[mdshunk]

but maybe guys who insist on running EMT vs MC cable...Copper feeders vs. Aluminum...

that type of stuff...

I'm selling whatever it is that you're buying. Sometimes that's hard to figure out exactly, which is why I favor estimates with "good", "better" and "best" options. Once you've got your takeoff done, it only takes but a couple minutes to modify a couple things to make the other two estimates.

 

[Rewire]

sometimes someone builds a better mouse trap and it really is a better mouse trap and then again sometimes it is just more bells and whistles on an old mouse trap and sometimes a piece of cheese and a claw hammer gets the job done.

 

[mdshunk]

sometimes someone builds a better mouse trap and it really is a better mouse trap and then again sometimes it is just more bells and whistles on an old mouse trap and sometimes a piece of cheese and a claw hammer gets the job done.

Which one gets the job done same as always, but is cheaper? Which one is the same price, but gets the job done easier? Which one costs a tad more, but gets the job done quicker with better results? Which one costs a tad more, but is easier on the body?

These are the sorts of questions you need to ask when you're reviewing new mousetraps.

 

[cschmid]

man I did not know I was here with a bunch of exaggerating boys..Just listen to the conversation between boxes there are a whole bunch of you stuck in your ways. I am stuck in my ways, I was suppose to be out of here at three but could not get it done..sh-- happens and called daughter she is bringing kids to dad..So yea we are all stuck in our ways even E..I am like Marc and allot of other guys here though I still like to try new things..you know the spirit of adventure..I like it when I go to the parts house and ask for stuff they don't have..they say how did you know about that or I did not know we could get that..yet my personal favorite is just let me browse for awhile I am designing something and I need it now so I have to build it off your selves..:grin:

 

[Rewire]

Which one gets the job done same as always, but is cheaper? Which one is the same price, but gets the job done easier? Which one costs a tad more, but gets the job done quicker with better results? Which one costs a tad more, but is easier on the body?

These are the sorts of questions you need to ask when you're reviewing new mousetraps.

Had a young newhire on a kitchen remodel he went to supply house and bought a plastic 2-gang old work box to add switches in a finished wall after trying to cut his hole he discovered the studs were to close together for his box I received his call "boss it aint going to work what do I do" although I did not have eyes on the site I had been at the jobsite so I knew were he was at so I asked how close are you thinking it might be chisel time he said it was just a little to close a hair no more,I told him to go out to the truck and find the metal boxes in the milk crate and gang two together and try that and call me well after a few minutes he calls and says perfect fit and he had never used metal boxes before and I said "No school like the old school"

 

[cschmid]

hey you this started me thinking and man that is bad thing..here one to ponder I bet no one goes to heaven and sits around talking about how much more over time they should of worked..and 1 generation after you die who will remember you or even care..So what is it you are really doing here on earth..

 

[220/221]

Metal boxes are gangable so you only buy one type box buy in bulk to get cheaper price.

And at $1.50 a minute how much do you spend screwing them together?

I am ALWAYS open to new and improved things but I am pretty set in my ways in regards to certain things.

For example I KNOW that metal boxes and NM don't match. Why would you use a conductive box with NM ? All you do is increase your chances for a short circuit.

I also KNOW that RMC will deteriorate underground in AZ within a few years so I NEVER willingly use it.

 

[iaov]

I always reserve the right to change my opinion when presented with new and convincing data. I am married to no idea.

 

[celtic]

Can we back the bus up here?

We get new work metal boxes with ears and just remove them the cost is around 80 cents when bought in case lots.If you are 30 miles from the supply house and you do not have a 4-gang box they could be giving them away and it would not do you any good.As for a side mount bracket don't need one just 2 nails.You need to carry on the truck six styles of plastic oposed to one style of metal.

Just how long of a nail do you use on a 4G box w/o side mount brackets :grin:

 

[celtic]

For example I KNOW that metal boxes and NM don't match. Why would you use a conductive box with NM ? All you do is increase your chances for a short circuit.

Metal boxes and NM work fine together.
If using a metal box "increases your chances of a short", one might consider a remedial course in NM stripping

 

[220/221]

If using a metal box "increases your chances of a short", one might consider a remedial course in NM stripping

Ahhh.....tell me you have never touched the terminal screws on a switch/recep to the side of a metal box/mud ring.

Come on...tell me :grin:



Simple math.

Chance of box related short circuit with non conductive box = ZERO

Chance of box related short circuit with metalic box GREATER than zero


Therefore, using a metal box "increases your chances of a short".