Outlet Time

This weekend I decided to get started on my outlets. My exacto knife is currently on loan, so at first I tried an old steak knife to make the hole larger. Burrt! Didn't get anywhere with it, so after a little bit of thought I decided to use my Dremel tool with the cutting attachment.


The smart thing to do is to turn the power off, especially with the potential of metal touching one of wires and getting shocked...I mean hello, you don't stick forks in the toaster. If I cut the electricity, I wouldn't be able to see since the light is connected to the same breaker, so I took my chances and worked very slow and steady.

This was the beginning of the carving. I needed to cut away all of the bead board that was covering up the "mickey mouse ears" of the outlets..basically the upper and lower portions of the outlet where you put the anchor screws. This picture shows the anchor screws on the lower portion of the outlet.


This picture shows the amount I had to carve from the upper portion to reveal the anchor screws. Looks rough, but it will be covered with the outlet switch once the switches are moved outwards.


This picture shows the desired outcome. The original anchor screws have been removed on the switch on the right and by doing so, it allowed the switch to be brought outwards and become flush with the bead boarding. The outlet on the left is the original position of the switch...far too recessed into the wall. Next step is to get longer screws to hold the switches into the new position.


This task also had to be conducted on the electrical outlet.


Next steps, get my tools back, remove old anchor screws and replace with longer screws.

Yay for not getting electrocuted!

Love.