Get a bag of cheap 20mm screws and fit them to every box - the time taken is way less than having to clean all the threads out. I did an install of a centralised vacuum cleaner - 2" pipework under floors and in walls with outlets dotted around -their boxes come complete with "anti plaster" covers which get removed once plastering is complete, but the system and boxes are not cheap.
Pollowick, its not the screw threads that get plastered up its the entire box! Getting plaster out of a screw terminal is frankly easy.
No dont agree with dot and dob Lec - its just a cheap lash up to rake the money in faster tbqh. You will never beat a proper undercoat and skim, its just not possible..as for mess? There shouldn't be that much if you pay attention to laying on. My plasterer who does the skimming for me is ultra clean and extremely efficient..a few snots on the floor here and there, 5 mins to clear up. Bad plasterer..one big mass of muck. I have seen holes in dot and dab etc when I was on site, some of the holes were caused by chair backs of all things.
Mr P all you need is stiff cardboard. Put the back box on the cardboard and draw a line around the periphery of said using a Sharpie etc. Cut on the inside of the line and push the square/oblong into the back box..sorted.
OK then, does 1/2 " sound better? Either way, it's an indication of the depth. Anyway, it's easy. Have a 25mm box or bit of batten at hand and sink the 35mm box until it's level with a 25mm box/batten held against the wall surface.
From the British Gypsum site. With effect from 1st January 2018, Thistle Browning will no longer be available. As an alternative, we recommend the use of Thistle HardWall for two-coat plastering or Thistle ToughCoat, which is as easy to use as Thistle Browning but with greater strength and durability.
Hardwall is brilliant stuff RS, but lets not forget the staple Bonding Coat m8..never had dealings with Toughcoat, but if indicated so be it..Have never used Browning, and I can see from your post that it is being discontinued, or indeed is discontinued.
That reminds me of once when a mate of mine had some plastering done JP, I phoned him and asked if his walls had been plastered, his reply was "yeah, and the doors and windows and the floor"!
Know what you mean Sen..have seen that before m8, suffice to say the plasterer is one of the ''wack it on and lets get out of here'' type merchant.
And who does that? The point I am making is its usually done by eye and is usually much deeper than it needs to be. We are electricians not masonry sculptors. I think you are exaggerating. Forum idyllic post versus real world.
I'm not joking. That's how I do it and that's how I tell people working for me to do it. If it's a bit deeper no problem, if it's less deep than that, there's a problem. The 25mm measure makes sure it's at least on. In blockwork you'd be surprised how absolutely accurate it can be while taking very little time. One house I'm just completing fitting out at the moment has just four short of a hundred double sockets, and shed loads of single-gang boxes in it. And accuracy of detail and finish is important.
Sinking back boxes to the correct depth, with a nice flat and level base to the chase so the box doesn't rock and deform is one of the first things you pick up as an apprentice. With cottages and old buildings with stone walls etc, you often end up with an uneven chase which is too deep and has no fixings. You then use sand/cement or bonding to stick your box into the hole, again ensuring the box is the correct depth. If your box is ending up back past the rear of the plasterboard when you second fix, you are doing something seriously wrong!