Carpet cut out too big for floor boxes...what to do?

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sparky76

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So I had 10- Wiremold 880MP floorboxes two ganged for power and datain concrete. I left the 2 gang box cover w/ carpet flange on site for the carpet guy and he cut the openings back from the box as big as the carpet flange so that now some carpet is exposed and starting to unravel. Of the 10 locations 3 or 4 are affected. The super just called and says that the carpet guy says that I told him to cut it like that. Why would I tell him to cut back for the carpet flange? I left the cover so he could make sure that it covered the opening.
Anyone know of an oversized flange that could maybe snap on the outside of the existing cover to take care of this? The covers are black. Initially the carpet guy said he would take care of it, but now he says he can't because its installed over pad. ARRRGHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Some days I just want to be a garbageman.

http://www.wiremold.com/shared_content/pdf/ed923.pdf
 
Sounds like a carpet guy mistake which makes it a carpet guy problem this is like a drywall guy cutting the switch box hole to big and expecting you to buy jumbo covers time for the carpet guy to learn how to seam carpet together.
 
sparky76 said:
So I had 10- Wiremold 880MP floorboxes two ganged for power and datain concrete. I left the 2 gang box cover w/ carpet flange on site for the carpet guy
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There was the mistake, leaving the cover, and not a template for the box hole, sounds like the carpet guy was just cutting to your cover, bet you don't leave any covers laying around any more. We remember a guy left a box cover for the carpet guy for 2 floors of carpet 80 floor boxes, needless to say the new tennant went wild.
We cut the carpet for the floor boxes, no problems.
 
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Of course he claims that I told him to cut it back that far. I did talk to him, but about how high the carpet pile would be.
 
i would never give another trade a cover--thats asking for trouble. all the floor outlets we ever installed the carpet people would cut a small "X" over the outlet and we would trim the carpet. sounds like you need to visit the local sheet metal shop and have some stainless steel goof rings or flanges made... who pays for them will be up in the air????
 
Why would you let the carpet guy cut the hole. Ive must have installed a hundred floor boxes and I was the guy who cut the carpet. Havent you ever heard the expression "to many cooks can spoil the soup"? I dont like people getting their hands in my work, in the end it usually just causes problems.
I also beileve that as an electritian you need to be able to be somewhat proficent in other trades. And IMHO cutting a hole in the carpet doesnt require a tremendous amount of skill. What do you do if you need to remove a dishwasher on a service call? Call a plumber and carpender?...
Isnt that why in trade school we had to (at least my Vo tech school) take other non electrical courses.
 
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I can see you have a problem..Now comes the real fun,If you make the cover extension you are amitting your fault you eat the mistake..You the carpet guy and the GC better have a meeting with the owner..If you make stainless covers they cost some cash and then what happens if owner say yuk..sounds like carpet guy mistake but you own partial mistake so you have a percent invested here..stainless does not cut and need special drill bits..they can do regular steel and take it to body shop for baked on finish..It is on the floor make it tough..I would accept partial due to lack of proper management but not all this is not the carpet guys first job with holes in floor..I would tell carpet guy he pays for parts and you will have them built and painted and installed; he pays materials you do the labor..that way you insure the quality and fit..good luck man
 
tonyou812 said:
Why would you let the carpet guy cut the hole. Ive must have installed a hundred floor boxes and I was the guy who cut the carpet. Havent you ever heard the expression "to many cooks can spoil the soup"? I dont like people getting their hands in my work, in the end it usually just causes problems.
I also beileve that as an electritian you need to be able to be somewhat proficent in other trades. And IMHO cutting a hole in the carpet doesnt require a tremendous amount of skill. What do you do if you need to remove a dishwasher on a service call? Call a plumber and carpender?...
Isnt that why in trade school we had to (at least my Vo tech school) take other non electrical courses.
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Do you cut out your own boxes in sheet rock too??why would you not expect the same work from the carpet guy you expect from the sheet rock guy..it there job I expect it done..I will trim the box if necessary but will not be responsible for some one Else's new carpet..I don't even want to trim it only do out of necessity, no willfully wanting to take ownership of carpet that was just layed..beautiful carpet job nice stretch but no anchoring around box in floor..you cut hole carpet now starts to stretch around hole because of no anchoring you now are responsible for fixing carpet job..Not happening here he is being paid to cut hole in carpet then cut it..I will trim it if necessary nothing more..not going to be my insurance paying for someone else poor workmanship..
 
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Why don't you call the designers at Wire Mold tommorrow?

I'm sure your not the first to contact them about a situation like this, they might have a fall back solution.
 
I would MUCH rather have carpet guy cut carpet hole...

cause if I cut it and it is wrong... My Fault.
carpet guy cuts it... well... you know
 
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charlie tuna said:
i would never give another trade a cover--thats asking for trouble. all the floor outlets we ever installed the carpet people would cut a small "X" over the outlet and we would trim the carpet. sounds like you need to visit the local sheet metal shop and have some stainless steel goof rings or flanges made... who pays for them will be up in the air????
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Yup, worked both union, and non union jobs, high rise office buildings, they cut the small X, then we cut the opening, been that way for many years, I never seen the carpet guys trim the holes, that is why this sounds strange, I wonder what made this carpet guy deside to trim it out.
 
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What about a tile or wood floor? Do cut the opening then? In my experience carpet guys ALWAYS cut holes. You can bet I'm never going to leave a cover around or say anything more than hello to a carpet guy.
 
the carpet guy screwed up, and the super. was asleep at the wheel, and you must be the nice guy who's been made to feel stupid and the super. who wasn't doing his job is just trying to get anyone to fix the problem, and you are it. hand him a work order to sign if he wants you to try and get some goof plates, and if he doesn't tell him to get the carpet guys to fix it cause you didn't do anything wrong.
 
nakulak said:
the carpet guy screwed up, and the super. was asleep at the wheel, and you must be the nice guy who's been made to feel stupid and the super. who wasn't doing his job is just trying to get anyone to fix the problem, and you are it. hand him a work order to sign if he wants you to try and get some goof plates, and if he doesn't tell him to get the carpet guys to fix it cause you didn't do anything wrong.
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Like he said move on, I have never seen the carpet guys cut the trim, they only leave a little X

Wiremould makes a flang thet is sold seperate from the box assy, you may want to give tech support a call to see if they can help, as the above said the super just want it done, they are only 10 holes, I would not get excited or loose sleep, just offet to help find a way to resolve it in the AM.
 
What does being union or non union have to do with anything? I dont screw with other peoples work, and I get downright angry if someone has touched mine. The carpet guys cut the holes. The sheet rocker cuts the holes. I trim out.
 
JohnME said:
What does being union or non union have to do with anything? I dont screw with other peoples work, and I get downright angry if someone has touched mine. The carpet guys cut the holes. The sheet rocker cuts the holes. I trim out.
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If you have seen both jobs, done by union, and non union workers, you may notice neither group cuts the carpet holes for floor boxes, what we see is they cut a slit in the form of an X which the electrician trims to fit the box, the reason they make the slit , is when they lay the carpet the slit marks the hole so the electrician knows where to trim out.
 
JohnME said:
What does being union or non union have to do with anything?
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Nothing at all, and I have deleted a few comments along those lines.

This is about carpets, who cuts the hole, and what the original poster should do about his predicament, leave the union stuff out of it.
 
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