Sheathing walls with drywall sheets is one of the most popular finishing methods. It hides all the irregularities of the main partitions and serves as an excellent basis for subsequent installation work. For example, installing a wall outlet in drywall will not be difficult even for novice electricians.
Tools and materials
For work you will need:
- Drill for making holes in drywall, with the appropriate cutter. The standard size of the socket is 68 mm, which means that the diameter of the cutter should be the same.
- Two screwdrivers - a figured one, for directly installing the outlet, and an indicator one to check the voltage level.
- Construction marker, for precise marking.
- Level.
- A knife and a drill, if a drill with a milling cutter was not at hand.
Beginning of work
Before you begin installing sockets and switches in drywall, carefully consider the wiring diagram. Thanks to her, you will immediately see where you need to make holes. Mark the center with a marker to make it easier to drill later.
If you intend to install not one, but a whole block of outlets, you will have to ditch the drywall in several places in a row. The main thing is to use the construction level so that all sockets are located at the same height from the floor. On which one - GOST does not impose strict standards on this, but there are certain standards.
At what height are the sockets?
Before choosing a place and proceeding with the installation of boxes under sockets in drywall, you need to think about their purpose. Much depends on your own convenience.
According to generally accepted European standards, the distance from the outlet to the floor is 30 cm, and the switch should be located at a height of 90 cm. In this case, from the center of the switch to the edge of the doorway remains 18 cm, excluding the casing and the box itself.
These standards are very convenient for installation in drywall. However, there are various everyday situations that require an individual approach.
- In the kitchen, sockets are often placed above the surface of the countertop. Their height, as a rule, corresponds to 1.2 m.
- If you have a PC or an aquarium in your living room, it makes sense to install the outlet to a height much higher than 30 cm from the floor in order to get rid of wires tangled under your feet.
- In the bathroom, the installation of double sockets in drywall - under the washing machine and other household appliances - is carried out at a height of 1 meter.
After the marking is completed, the cutter is installed in the center of the mark marked with a marker, then you can start drilling drywall. If everything is done carefully, even a novice master can easily cope with the task.
How to make a hole without a cutter?
In amateur electrician, other tools are also used. For example, you can outline the outline of a rosette, then drill it with a drill and cut it with a knife. However, the minus of this method is the uneven edges of the future holes, which will complicate the installation of the outlet in drywall.
In addition, the gypsum board itself is a fragile material that can easily break when carelessly pressed. Therefore, it is still recommended to use a special cutter with a diameter of 68 mm. The same cutter (crown) is used in electrical work when installing spotlights.
And if the installation of drywall is already completed?
If the installation work was carried out by hired builders, then they probably aesthetically completed the installation of drywall plates, leading the wires into a small hole. In this case, to drill a place for the outlet is also realistic.
The wire sticking out of the hole needs to be bent as far as possible and carefully, so as not to touch the insulation, a hole should be drilled directly below it for installing the socket. If you stick out sticking out wires, do not worry: subsequently, the decorative frame will close not only the hole itself, but also about 1 cm of the wall in diameter.
Another option is to push the wires into the wall and then, using a drill in a special crown, make a hole in the place of its exit. At the same time, it is important to ensure that the cutter does not cut the wire, falling through inward.
Installing Sockets
It is not difficult to fix the socket in the hole made in drywall. On its body there are mounts for both the outlet itself and the box on the wall. First of all, you need to remove the wires from the strobes and cut holes for them in the plastic socket. Then it is installed in drywall and fixed with screws. An additional degree of fixation is provided by special presser feet.
The height of the standard socket is 4.5 cm, which means that the same size should be the size of the void between the drywall and the supporting wall. If the clearance resulting from the installation of the slab is less, you will have to use a puncher to make a small excavation in concrete. In any case, everything should be calculated before the installation phase and provide for possible inconvenience.
Electric installation work
When the installation of the sockets is completed, you can proceed to the connection of the electrical wires. Do not forget to first find the input shield and turn off the power supply. And also, using the indicator screwdriver, check the voltage of the wires.
How to connect the outlet:
- First you need to disassemble it and remove all plastic parts.
- Then unscrew the terminal screws. In them you will insert the corresponding wires.
- If the installation of the boxes under the sockets in the drywall at the previous stage was successful, it will not be difficult to insert the socket itself into them. It is attached with special “paws”.
To install the outlet in drywall, connect to the appropriate terminals:
- Blue wire (zero, indicated by the letter N).
- Brown wire (phase, indicated by L).
- Yellow-green wire (grounding, indicated by PE).
To avoid subsequent loosening of the contacts and short circuit, try to tighten the cores as they should.
The final stage of work
After connecting the wires, the outlet itself is mounted and secured with the remaining screws. In the same way, the installation of the outlet block in the drywall is carried out in the previously made holes. When the electrical work is completed, it remains only to put on a plastic frame and install a decorative mount.
Expert Advice
- Installation of electrical wiring is best done long before the wall sheathing with plasterboard panels.
- Before starting the electrical work, the frame is assembled from a metal profile, which will need to be fixed on the supporting surface.
- To protect the wires going to the switches, a metal corrugated pipe is used.
- To supply current to electrical outlets, a three-core cable is used in a double insulating winding.
- Fastening the cables to the frame inside the drywall wall will give the design increased reliability. For this, pieces of copper wire are used.
As you can see, installing a wall outlet in drywall is a simple process and quite feasible at home. If you want to gain experience in electrical work and save on the call of a specialist, you can well use these recommendations.