# Finishing drywall around electrical boxes



## MiamiDeveloper (Nov 26, 2016)

Hey Everyone, I am a builder in Miami FL. and have been dealing with a problem with drywall finishing that keep coming up and I was wondering/ looking for some solutions. So after all the drywall is installed and finished my finish electricians come in and often times complain about the drywall work around the electrical boxes. For example holes cut too big that the tabs have nothing to sit on or too much mud in the boxes that needs to be cleaned up. Is this a normal problem and are there any solutions to it or are my drywall guys just not that good? please let me know if there are any trade tricks or solutions. Thanks in advance for any help given in this area it will be greatly appreciated. 
Thanks 
Robert Moseley


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## MrWillys (Mar 10, 2014)

Robert,
Do you know the difference between God an a Electrician?

God doesn't think he's an Electrician.

When routers came out it leaves slightly lees than an 1/8" gap between the box and the drywall. Your Electrician is complaining about his poor work of not setting the box flush with the finish and trying to blame the drywallers for his poor craftsmanship. The solution is to use 4 square metal boxes with metal plaster rings, but of course there is always added costs involved.
Just because your drywaller is doing his job right he shouldn't have to prefill boxes based on their failure to make their box flush with the finish!

Also, after a lifetime in the trade I have more respect for a good laborer than an Electrician!


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## icerock drywall (Nov 13, 2010)

I fuse over the gang box's so I can box overy them


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## icerock drywall (Nov 13, 2010)

Fuse it


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## moore (Dec 2, 2010)

MrWillys said:


> Robert,
> Do you know the difference between God an a Electrician?
> 
> God doesn't think he's an Electrician.
> ...


.....


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## moore (Dec 2, 2010)

MiamiDeveloper said:


> Hey Everyone, I am a builder in Miami FL. and have been dealing with a problem with drywall finishing that keep coming up and I was wondering/ looking for some solutions. So after all the drywall is installed and finished my finish electricians come in and often times complain about the drywall work around the electrical boxes. For example holes cut too big that the tabs have nothing to sit on or too much mud in the boxes that needs to be cleaned up. Is this a normal problem and are there any solutions to it or are my drywall guys just not that good? please let me know if there are any trade tricks or solutions. Thanks in advance for any help given in this area it will be greatly appreciated.
> Thanks
> Robert Moseley


Your working with hacks ! There should be no bitch ..When the Drywaller walks out by ANYONE!!


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## Lovin Drywall (May 27, 2016)

that's normal for drywall around the boxes you router them and then fill around them cuz there always around joint height then after sand I usually if im not rushed right out of the place after sanding I clean majority of the mud out of them then up to contractor or electrician sometimes labourer before painter to vacuum or clean them up even better sounds like a whiny electrician to me maybe hasn't seen many jobs yet pretty standard by the sounds of it if you ask me


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## moore (Dec 2, 2010)

....


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## moore (Dec 2, 2010)

.....


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## Aussiecontractor (Oct 6, 2014)

All I can say is you guys have it bad, over here the backing plats sit flat with the back of the plasterboard.. all we have to do is put a hole where the boxes and wires are so the sparkles can find them once the job is painted 


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## gordie (Nov 6, 2012)

Out here in have to precut a hole to fish the five ft of wire through then rought the box when I able to get the board flush .

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## D A Drywall2 (Nov 22, 2016)

icerock drywall said:


> Fuse it


I also fuse every box in or near a joint. A bit of time spent at prefill time saves a lot of time over the course of the job. Electrician happy, painter happy= builder/check writer happy.


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## icerock drywall (Nov 13, 2010)

Yes on a butt or a corner bead and for the gangs in the corner..flush right overy them


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## MiamiDeveloper (Nov 26, 2016)

Hey Icerock, can you show me a clearer picture of what you are calling a fuse and what is used and how do you do it? I also want to thank everyone for on here for all the help and comments. You all are a great helpful community. 
Thanks 
Robert


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## gordie (Nov 6, 2012)

Well I was going to take a pic of 2 boxes I had to precut holes fir the rolled up wires after that I would rought them screw off the board roll the wires back up take a pic of my perfect job brag on DWT . What happened was I took the pic wrote down mesuments marked the board precut the holes put up sheet realized I added 2 inches to one of the marks so the hole was off .Idiot. made a new hole fished wires through roughed plug it now has a stupid hole beside it . I the roughed the good one but found out the insulater buried 1 wire of course I severed it right off Idiot . I'll take the after pic tomorrow


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## endo_alley_revisited (Aug 9, 2016)

The finisher should nevertheless clean the mud out of electrical boxes.


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## icerock drywall (Nov 13, 2010)

I use 36" rolls of fibafuse. On the 
miter saw you cut 6" rolls or what ever size you need.mud around the box and fuse over it. On your 2nd coat add pencil hole for location


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## icerock drywall (Nov 13, 2010)

Had to go back 5 years on my icerock drywall page


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## icerock drywall (Nov 13, 2010)

Keeping the furnace clean


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## icerock drywall (Nov 13, 2010)

No I did not hang this. I am just a finisher


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## icerock drywall (Nov 13, 2010)

I just can't say no. I just fix it


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## endo_alley_revisited (Aug 9, 2016)

icerock drywall said:


> I just can't say no. I just fix it


That reminds me of the good ole days. I remember stories of an old hanger in western Colorado back in the seventies who wore steel toe cowboy boots. He would set a cut sheet of drywall up against the wall where it was to be hung, and look behind it to where electrical boxes were located. Then he would merely kick a hole in the sheetrock with his boots to get the cutout for the electrical boxes. I never had the pleasure of following him as a finisher.


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## MiamiDeveloper (Nov 26, 2016)

Okay Icerock, I get that thanks for the clarification. Then you clean up the hole with an exact o knife? Do you have any pictures of the holes after they are cleaned up? 
Thanks in advance for all your guys wonderful help.


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## endo_alley_revisited (Aug 9, 2016)

MiamiDeveloper said:


> Okay Icerock, I get that thanks for the clarification. Then you clean up the hole with an exact o knife? Do you have any pictures of the holes after they are cleaned up?
> Thanks in advance for all your guys wonderful help.


A key hole saw also works ok for cutting dry mud out of the boxes. You shouldn't leave stuff for others to have to deal with. Much like leaving the sheetrock cut long around door openings. Then again, other trades should not leave a bunch of garbage that the drywaller has to deal with.


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## icerock drywall (Nov 13, 2010)

There are videos on my icerock page and it so easy to cut out .I just use me 5 inch knife most of the time...


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## icerock drywall (Nov 13, 2010)

These are off my video


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## icerock drywall (Nov 13, 2010)

With a seam and a butt keeping the gang box clean


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## icerock drywall (Nov 13, 2010)

https://m.facebook.com/groups/1095338333897442?view=permalink&id=1096446457119963


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## Lemieuxcontracting (Dec 7, 2016)

How did you go about to chose you DW contractor. The lowest bid. If he was much lower, yes expect to deal with some stuff. 

I personaly always clean all my plug, it is also my pleasure to fill them with concrete fill, if the electrician is an asshole. 

Icerock i might try your trick. Seems pretty efficient


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## Aussiecontractor (Oct 6, 2014)

This is how our electrical wire get done










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## icerock drywall (Nov 13, 2010)

Here is some more pic from this week's job


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## silb (Jan 11, 2017)

Looks very professional!


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## FinisherDave (Jan 21, 2017)

*Some tricks for electrical outlets or other holes.*

1. Use a router but know how to use it. Properly used, you rarely need to fix gaps around holes.

2. You can buy outlet patches that fit over the opening. This makes fast work of the fix. They aren't cheap but the time savings can make it worth it. Time is money.

3. Just tape the box gap with papertape or the new fuzzy mesh tape. I love that stuff. Yeah, you have to do the dirty work of taping each and every gap. See #1... not having gaps is best.

4. I like to let the mud dry in the box and then carefully clean them out with a utility knife. Dont do this on live wires! haha. We just take 20 minutes and do walk through to clean outlets. Carry a bucket because a good hard chunk left on the floor is an ankle breaker.


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## FinisherDave (Jan 21, 2017)

*Who is cutting these out?*

I'd never work behind this kind of work again unless there was a LOT of extra money in it. I've been finishing for 30 years and regularly mud full houses with 300 sheets that have only 1-2 routerings that need mudded.


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## icerock drywall (Nov 13, 2010)

The issue for me is everyone thinks there saving money doing it DIY...and then I have to fix it..not all my jobs I get are like this but it seams they find me. I am just a finisher so I get what I get most of the time.


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## Pinkalink (Mar 19, 2017)

*Finishing around electrical boxes*

Hey, professional drywall finisher here, (in this part of Canada we are called plasterers). I usually just coat over them, and when the mud drys, I clean them out. It's a pain otherwise. My boss who's been at it for over 30 years, coats around them. At the end of the day, I believe that when you are sheeting, joints should be avioded as much possible when it comes to elertical boxes.


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