A while ago, actually probably years ago, I saw a product advertised and thought, "Oh, that sounds like it might be a needful thing to some people." and then promptly forgot what it was called.
So now I am needful of this product and I cannot explain to any of the men-in-polos at my hardware warehouse. The product was, for lack of a better word, a washer that fits behind the screw that holds the switchbox that holds the light switch. We have remodeled and now the boxes (blue ones) are set back too far when we screw the switchplate back on. The little plastic washers moved the box (blue one) up closer the the wall surface so the switchplates didn't crack.
When I try to explain this product to a man-in-polo he listens attentively and then tells me that there is no such product. And maybe there isn't now but there was! Does anyone know what I am talking about? Thanks.
By sheila from NE
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Men (and women too) in polos at box stores work cheap and maybe not know as much as they should. What you are looking for is called an extension 'ring' although it can be square or rectangular. It screws on the blue box and has screw-holes for the receptacle, switch, whatever, to then be installed.
Multiple regular washers will also "shim or build" out that empty space but that's the 'painful' way to do it. Look up an electrical contractor in your town. I'm sure they'll be glad to give you the info you need.
More:
Those extension rings are designed to be attached to the blue boxes before the new wall material (drywall, etc) is attached. You may have to cut a larger opening for the ring(s) and then patch.
I've seen those, although I don't remember what they called them. Try Walter Drake, Miles Kimball, or Lillian Vernon online.
Sheila,
Find an electrician and see if he or she can locate an Arlington BE1, BE2, or BE R, all "Box Extenders", to see if one of those will work to bring the switchbox back toward the wall surface so that the switch plate can be properly screwed into it. How is it that you never located an electrician to assist you?
I think I found what you're looking for on eBay. They call them electrical depth spacers, item number 370322480616. You can do an advanced search with that item number, or you can do a regular seach using the words "electrical depth spacers".
I never located an electrician to assist me because we are part of the working poor and can't afford an electrician to assist me. If I can't do it myself, it doesn't get done. Now if one of my daughters had married an electrician, then I could get one to assist me but, alas, they married for love, not a vocation. And that is a pity since I would have liked an electrician, a carpenter, a mechanic (both diesel and gas) and a plumber. And a hair stylist might have been good also.
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