Sealing bricks for back box, Victorian house?

robodelfy

robodelfy

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I'm just making holes for back boxes in my kitchen. It's exposed a lot of bare brick obviously. The previous backbox was totally rusty.

What would you do to seal the brick to protect the box? Someone mentioned putting something called SBR on it, I've never used it, would it do much?

Any advice would be great, electrician is coming soon to sign it all off!
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If there is no sign of damp there now you could simply replace the back box with another metal one.
Alternative fit a plastic surface box in instead.
Hope those cables aren't live at the moment and your electrician does something about that bare earth wire.
 
conny said:
If there is no sign of damp there now you could simply replace the back box with another metal one.
Alternative fit a plastic surface box in instead.
Hope those cables aren't live at the moment and your electrician does something about that bare earth wire.
Click to expand...

Cables aren't live!

There is a bit of a damp issue in this area of the room, nothing major, but these Victorian houses do suffer from it. It's the wall that joins with the neighbours.

What kind of plastic back box? I've been looking, but I can't find anything. Surely the general plastic back boxes are too brittle?

What could I seal the brick with regardless of what back box I use? Thanks
 
An electrician cannot “sign off” something he did not do or design.
 
winston1 said:
An electrician cannot “sign off” something he did not do or design.
Click to expand...
He did design it. He came over and told me exactly what to do and where, and what to buy. I basically chased the holes in the wall. He will come and do the rest

But my question is about dealing the bricks or getting a suitable back box for a damp area. Any ideas?
 
Get a plastic back box? Perhaps one intended for a cavity wall, adapted to be screwed against brick.

And use stainless steel screws.

Nozzle
 
Last edited:
Nozzle said:
Get a plastic back box? Perhaps one intended for a cavity wall, adapted to be screwed against brick.

And use stainless steel screws.

Nozzle
Click to expand...

Thanks yeah I've found a box for dry walling, hopefully that will work with some modification. Stainless screws, good idea
 
A plastic back box, (also known as a pattress ), will do the job.
It may be a little deeper than a metal one by about 2-3mm but it would blend in with the socket face and not smack you in the eye when you looked round/plugged something in.
No modification necessary.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/2g-surface-box/89406
 
If the wall is so wet that it's causing the box to rust, the source of that water needs to be found and removed.
Plastic boxes are not the answer.
 
flameport said:
If the wall is so wet that it's causing the box to rust, the source of that water needs to be found and removed.
Plastic boxes are not the answer.
Click to expand...

Well the last one would have been in there for over 20 years, could it be that it wasn't galvanised steel? Maybe that's why it rusted. The damp doesn't seem that bad to me, bit it's always hard to evaluate.
 
Mr Port is right. If there is so much damp in the wall that corrosion has set in, you need to sort it out, not just to protect the electrical installation, but the fabric of the building.
 
securespark said:
Mr Port is right. If there is so much damp in the wall that corrosion has set in, you need to sort it out, not just to protect the electrical installation, but the fabric of the building.
Click to expand...

Yeah I just don't know why exactly it's happened. I don't see any major issues on the plaster. But it's a different story when you get back to the brick work. Every one of these houses I've been in has a few little damp issues.

I'm not sure how I'd sort the damp, especially as it's not even visible now. It looks fine. But it's been sunny for over a month!
 
Have a look outside. Find where the socket is and look at the corresponding area on the outside.

Look for signs of damp on the wall, either from above or below.

Is there a broken or blocked gutter, perished flashing or broken/ missing roof tiles? What is the DPC like?
 
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