Hi, I'm hoping someone can help. I want to remove the plaster down to brick to fit insulation and on the wall is a double plug socket(1st floor just above skirting) does this need to be isolated by an electrician before I start chiselling or does anyone have experience of leaving the box in place and removing the plaster around it. I was going to use a wire detector to ensure no wires were in the wall first and mark out to be safe but I'm unsure Any advice will be much appreciated Many thanks Dan
Hi Dan I'm not an electrician but I've done similar things in the past without problem. I'd turn off the power and loosen the front to see where the wires enter the box then take care in that area. But, I suppose there may be other cables in other areas behind the plaster that you're not ware of. I suppose it depends on the history of the house.
The cables SHOULD run either horizontally or vertically from the socket and should be more than plaster deep so best thing to do is turn off the power and remove the socket front so that you can have a look to see which way the cables run. After that carefully remove the plaster in the cable area, watching for signs of the cable just in case it's been buried in the plaster instead of being channelled into the brickwork.
And - important The socket may be part of a ring circuit. So - if you are going to remove the socket, you must connect the wires up into a suitable insulated connection block, so that the ring is not broken. Also, cover the join in tape or the new wet plaster will cause havoc.
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