Switch Boxes for New Construction

upstatemike

Senior Member
I've been installing a lot of new switches over the weekend and noticed that most of the single-gang boxes in my house are actually 4 inch square boxes with mud rings.

This sure has made life easier as far as having lots of extra space in the box and I was thinking if I ever built a new house I would probably go this route rather than trying to come up with some sort of super deep single-gang boxes for automation switches. Just wondering if any of the folks currently building new houses have considered this idea?
 
Hey Mike;

Would you mind taking a picture of those boxes as I'm not really following exactly what you have there?

Thanks,

BSR
 
The old ones in the wall look just like any single gang box but I have one in the basement that I installed recently where there is no sheetrock yet. I'll take a picture of that one so you can see what I am talking about.
 
upstatemike said:
The old ones in the wall look just like any single gang box but I have one in the basement that I installed recently where there is no sheetrock yet. I'll take a picture of that one so you can see what I am talking about.
Thanks. Sorry for being so vane, but sometimes that light bulb inside my head has a hard time turning on (perhaps I should migrate it's control away from X-10 to a newer technology...) :)
 
Here is a four inch square box with a single gang mud ring. You can see how much space you have on each side of the switch inside the box. Since the narrow "switch box size" part of the mud ring is the only thing that comes through the sheetrock, the box opening looks like any single gang box once the walls are up. The extra space from the wider box is all inside the wall.
 

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markthomas said:
Are they all metal with conduit like that? Dang, I'll bet that cost a lot!
I think the box was about $2 at Home Depot and the mud ring about 89 cents. I assume the same thing is available in plastic but I have never checked since I only use metal (to maintain architectural consistency). I'm not sure plastic is really that much less expensive.

Of course you can use Romex instead of the armored cable in the picture.
 
Mike,

The 4 inch boxes with the mud ring is a great idea.

However, a word in your last post has me courious. TEMPEST

In the early 80's, when I sold computers to Fed Gov agencies, they had to be TEMPEST compliant. All of that extra sheilding just about tripled their weight!

Are we talking about the same TEMPEST ?

What in the world are you doing in your house that requires TEMPEST compliance?
Wait.....don't answer that, you might have to kill me :D
 
JohnBullard said:
Mike,

The 4 inch boxes with the mud ring is a great idea.

However, a word in your last post has me courious. TEMPEST

In the early 80's, when I sold computers to Fed Gov agencies, they had to be TEMPEST compliant. All of that extra sheilding just about tripled their weight!

Are we talking about the same TEMPEST ?

What in the world are you doing in your house that requires TEMPEST compliance?
Wait.....don't answer that, you might have to kill me :D
Yea, I was curious about that myself, but didn't want to ask! :p
 
My house is full of those. In fact, all the original boxes look like that. I've even got double and triple gang versions. Do this mean the house was built by the CIA?? :D
 
BSR,

You were smarter then me. :D I'm thinking I might should edit my post before Mike even sees that I ask the question.

With a massive grand home like he has, and keeping everything TEMPEST compliant....... well, your imagination can run away and think of all kinds of senario's :p
 
The CIA is controlling my mind. I'm sure I saw the word TEMPEST in mikes post, but now I don't see it anymore. :D
 
I like the idea one-gang in a two-gang box, but your drywallers must hate you. They would have to be VERY careful with the rotozip, something that is completely contrary to a drywallers basic nature (speaking as someone who has had to clean up after a drywaller made plunge cuts using a 2.5" bit on 5/8" drywall).
 
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