Half a back box

No single back box on your van?

No problem. Saw a double box in half

pity he didn't run the cable in from the top, it would have saved the need for the grommet that he didn't have either, lol

You can't beat Sparks for ingenuity  .    :innocent

Working miles from home  once , we were finished and didn't want to return  but were  some box lids missing which we knew would result in a call back .

My mate goes up to the plant room  ..nothing to do with our job ...  removes box lids which were painted , we turn them over to the galvo side  , fit them  & down the road . 

Sometimes you just have to do it .  

Another time we had a fax    (before email)  from the Clerk of Works on a job in Gloucester , about 50 miles away .    There are two piles of brick dust below the light you fitted , from  drilling the fixings  ," please despatch an operative forthwith  to tidy up . "      

He could have just brushed it away with his hand TBH .

Left it two days & sent a reply fax  ..."Operatives have been despatched   to clean up site "   Or words to that effect .   knowing he'd never go back just to look . 

If this had been one of my "50 miles from a wholesaler" jobs I might have done the same. But 2 miles down the road from this job is Travis Perkins and Jewson. Yes they are only builders merchants but both sell back boxes. Probably quicker to go and get one than saw that one in half.

Or if you can't be ar$ed removing one then just hammer it flat and tile over everything!

We actually came across a wooden 13A  plug top  ..years ago .. someone had sat down  to make this thing ...two wooden  halves with the brass pins and fuse holder from a real plug top .   Shoulda kept it . 

Remember wooden back boxes?  Not found any for a while now.

ProDave said:

Remember wooden back boxes?  Not found any for a while now.

Click to expand...

And wooden surface pattress's;   Deep ones with a notch for surface conduit and slim ones for buried wiring!

(- and how do you write the plural of pattress?)

ProDave said:

Remember wooden back boxes?  Not found any for a while now.

Click to expand...

UnFortunately I came across some last week....despite my hatred of domestic work I had to do a very quick retire of a property my mate has just bought

early 60s it must have been right at the end of wooden boxes. These were slightly odd as there was only one 'box joint' on each side and the backs were 1/4" ply.    Estate agent said NO work had been done on it.....4 sockets with blue/brown 2.5. Fuseboard was the old MEM 4 way that looks like a 60A switch fuse

Geoff1946 said:

And wooden surface pattress's;   Deep ones with a notch for surface conduit and slim ones for buried wiring!

(- and how do you write the plural of pattress?)

Click to expand...

Patresses.......or the more pretentious would say ( wrongly ) Patri!

and unfortunately I will encounter those in the new year as my plumbers daughter has just bought a house where the electrics havnt been touched since the 20s.

i found an interesting Bakelite product there which I will post a pic of later

im more impressed they had a backbox with the extra lugs that allowed them to do that

I had wondered whether they’d just cut the top off a single box but the fixing holes suggest a double box. 

Yes double box, and one of the old ones that had the top and bottom mountings.  The surprising thing is how shiny the galvanising is still, it almost looks brand new.

Slight tangent, but it would be odd to let this thread follow a straight path

never seen before, obviously new.......in two unconnected wholesalers on Friday TWO different types of replacement 'back box lugs' for when original snaps off

so I had to buy a pack for the 'just in case' box

now if I could only find them I'd post a pic

Been giving a mate a lift to rewire a relatives house in Morcambe, modern light switches but wooden patresses, loads of the old metal tube too.