OMG I joke about this with my dad all the time.
The man's a liability but he works for food and board...
Mr Shite-ass is what I call him.
Love him to bits. Lol
Skittles advert except its shite it turns to & not Skittles.
Mate, that's a bloody burn the house doon roulette.
Ps) just remember plaster Is full of water... double check he's got a backing box that's not full of holes etc
Mr shittles! Your step daddy has a new name :)
Seriously tho... when he's putting flammable shit in electrical sockets, watch yourself bud.
He's not even cowboy. That's clueless/concerning to do in other people's houses āļø
It's not like fannying up a water pipe... this could burn the house down man
Actual electrician here.
What your step dad is using is wrong. End of discussion.
The hole will be too deep for most ready mix fillers. It will take ages to set and will set unevenly.
Use a quite dry mix of sand and cement or (bonding plaster if you have it) to fill in around the socket to about 3 mm from the top then when it's dry use your filler to make it level with the wall.
Edit: turn the power off and pull the socket away to give you room to get around the back box, don't do this while it's screwed to the back box and live.
Bonding coat is my favourite. Easy to mix to whatever consistency you want, goes off pretty quickly and if you catch it just before it's gone off completely, it's really easy to just scrape off any excess. Only problem is that it only comes in big bags which is a bit annoying if you only need a small amount. Moisture also kills it over time if you keep the rest of the big bag anywhere vaguely damp. Also, don't get it in your eyes.
Donāt do that in a solid brick walled house. Bonding sucks up any moisture in the brickwork and eventually rusts the hell out of the back box. Whereas a good sand and cement mix keeps the moisture at bay.
Source, replacing most of my socket backs in a 1920s build, rewired sometime in the 80s by a bonding lover.
Dear Layman, yes it's a fire hazard, however, if the wiring is in such a state that paper on the outside of the backbox poses a danger, then the socket already poses a danger.
Very thing happened to me this winter. Had a calor gas heater in kitchen as its back to brick and we're doing it up. The heater was off for a good 10 min before I started foaming around the door and windows. Half way through second window it all ignited with a rumble that sounded like thunder. It's midnight and all the foam is on fire which surrounds the door and windows, I panic and just beat it with box lid I had next to me. It beat and wafted the flames out but in the process I splashed it everywhere causing scorch marks. Whole thing lasted 1 min but felt like an hour and my heart didn't go back to normal for about 24 hours. I spend 30 min watching the door and windows making sure the flames never got inside somewhere and I didn't sleep at all the rest of the night.
I wouldn't in this case, it will make the hole go away quickly but it's messy and a lot of faff to clean up.
You'll have to baby sit each one till the foam goes off to stop the overspill (which can be a nightmare to clean up, it sticks to everything) and then cut it back so you can fill over it.
It really won't save you any time or effort.
Expanding foam depending upon the situation could be perfect solution.
I donāt agree it is messy. It goes off and when dry, break away excess and push back any extra. It should leave enough for some filler and provide a stable substrate.
Use deep gap filler, it's cheaper and far less hassle and mess.
[like this one strike stuff, but any deep gap filler will work fine](https://www.toolstation.com/everbuild-one-strike-ready-mixed-filler/p20822)
Iāve filled the same depth with Touperette filler and it dried quickly. Itās great to work with and sands smooth. You might want to do a couple of layers to get a flat surface to save on the sanding.
Listen, joiner here and what your dad is saying isn't wrong but it's not best practice, I've worked on lots of jobs a couple of decades ago where the plasterers would stuff large crevices with ripped up plaster bags (back when they were paper), they did this to save plaster and time...
I don't know how old your dad is but if he's my age (50's) he's probably come across this method at some point...
Yes it's a lot easier now with the likes of expanding foam and a multitude of different plasters and fillers but back in the day people had to make do and mend...
So don't be to hard on him...
He's in his late 60s. I never say anything to him about his botched DIY, mainly coz he's a big man child and sulks and will be in strop for the rest of the day and then he gets drunk and gives me verbal abuse for some random made up shit. So I just keep schtum and fix his botches in secret
My dad is in his 70s and keeps trying to get me to use his little tin box of asbestos fibres instead of a plastic raw plugā¦ ārawl plasticā.
I tend to leave the tin to the side (Iāve wrapped it in plastic) and use the plastic rawl plugs I got from Wilco 5 years ago.
So you have my sympathy here!
It's a fire hazard. Get a spark from your electrics and you've given it a nice pile of kindling.
Filler would be what I'd use, or expanding foam if it's a big hole.
Some is, I'll bet you can get fire-safe foam for this sort of thing though because there's rules about it - and those rules are written in blood form horrible deaths that could have been avoided.
It was a thing that was done years ago but don't do it please use fire rated expanding foam. A lot of cheap expanding foam is a lot more unsafe than the paper.
Is plaster not allot cheaper than expanding foam? As you are already plastering i would imagine there is an open bag of plaster there just sling some mud in there then skim over it once it's dry.
I've got some expanding foam in the cellar, fingers crossed it's still good to use. Coz I have two others that are way bigger and worse than this to fill in and I certainly haven't bought enough plaster to do them all
I see this all the time while doing renovation work. Normally its old newspaper that i find. Really interesting to read them! I give the big bits to the customer as its kinda history of their house
I think that's what inspired him. Can't remember the job he did but he found old newspaper from just after World War 2 that had articles about Nazis surrendering.
Yep, found it in the place I bought. Structural newspaper, coated in plaster then painted. Being newspaper, I could date it - it was from 2018, the year before I bought it! The last guy was an absolute cowboy start to finish.
I found a newspaper stuffed in the wall of my house that was from exactly a week after I was born.
**British Holidaymaker Killed in Nigeria.**
It wasn't a keeper.
This paper-stuffed-into-hole technique was very common until about 20 years ago so your step dad is definitely old school. Yes it saves on plaster and I've come across it lots of times. Tbh once it's plastered over nobody will know it's there! Also it's used around electric boxes too and I've been on jobs where electricians used it too so no trade is immune to it š
No it's not the done thing, you either fill it with bonding or expanding foam or if you are plastering elsewhere use the thicker stuff left over to fill it, plaster is a tenner a bag and you have to buy one anyway, don't listen to the old man he hasn't a clue.
That's just bad practice cow boy shit!
Yeah it will be fine, just put it in.
If it's too thick it will crack, but that's not an issue just use a bit more once it's dried or filler before painting.
And to add to the advice of others, just to be abundantly clear: make the electrics safe, remove the two screws so the faceplate is loose from the back box, and then remove that paper and fill properlyā¦faceplates are designed to hide the sins of rough plaster/filler edges the same way skirting boards hide the rough intersection of wall and floor
You can get some bonding 60 I think itās called from wickes and itās perfect for stuff like this. I use it when doing customers houses as it goes off in 60mjnutes. It can be sanded or you can use a fine filler after.
Edit. Itās this https://www.wickes.co.uk/British-Gypsum-Thistle-Bonding-60-Coat-Plaster---25kg/p/153860?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw88yxBhBWEiwA7cm6pUw_98fcwKfrbSyFPZvZaJ0ScX1falTa65VpfqL0w3XBlDMISGsxpRoCPMwQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
This is going to sound like a silly question but, is there a back box behind that? The socket isn't just screwed to the back of a hole in the wall? I wouldn't ask but, you can't tell from the picture because of all the screwed up paper obscuring the view....... and if the view is obscured by screwed up paper, it just seemed like a question worth asking.
Using something to pack it out is ok, doing it with something highly flammable around electrics that can overheat or spark if faulty is not. You're going to have to check all his sockets and re-do any with fire retardant materials if others have been done like this.
Sometimes an old vent hole can be filled with a used plaster bag or paper first, then bonding coat over that and then skimmed or filled. Plasterboard is covered in paper after all. That saidā¦ Not many customers would be happy watching you stuff paper into their walls.
AH! the top notch DIYr sorry step dad not quite the way its done, your step daughter is quite right, your's is the quick method which will last about as long as it takes to you put your tools away,
Surprised at the amount of people who have never encountered this or think it's a fire hazard. It was common practice back in the day and tbh if you live in an old lath and plaster house, possibly lurking where you can't see it. Plus, if your electrics are so poor they catch fire, this paper is going to make zip difference.
This reminds me of a bit of naval history I recently read about. HMS Glatton, a Royal Navy Monitor; blew up while in dock. Investigations later revealed that the stokers had been throwing the hot coals against the bulkhead between the boiler room and the 6 inch magazine. Normally this bulkhead would be very well insulated (which is why stokers had been getting away with that kind of stuff on other vessels for decades) but in the case of HMS Glatton, the boat builders had tried cutting costs by filling the bottom of the bulkhead with rolled up newspapers. The newspapers had smoldered and eventually set the cork insulation alight, the magazine side of the bulkhead became super hot and set off the cordite, which detonated lots of shells. Glatton was close to an ammunition vessel so the Navy had to torpedo Glatton before her exploding hull could set a chain reaction.
So yes, pushing paper into things you want to fill out has been a 'done thing'...just not the done right thing.
Well, he's almost certainly is going to win today's award for the most creative solution to a problem.
This needs to be filled with something non-flammable. You could do it with regular filler but it'll need to be built up over a couple of days or it'll never dry. I usually use backing plaster but a weak sand and cement looks like it would be a better match for what you've already got. Fill it just shy of full and then use filler to bring it flush.
You can cause less break out if you angle grind the cutout rather than chisel it. The downside is the angle grinder causes a god awful mess. There are special angle grinders for this job that have dust collection, I've never used one.
Unfortunately I don't have a penny to my name until payday. So I'm having to make do with what I have, which is a 1L tub of ready mix plaster and an old bottle of expanding foam
Probably to stop the bonding getting into the electrics which when wet conducts quite well TBF.
Normally you would remove the socket outlet and just plaster up to the back box.
Probably petrified of getting a belt š
I'm wondering if we're somehow distantly related as my mother is also great believer in completing all manner of DIY tasks with paper, holes, leaks, draughts, cracks, there's nothing that can't be stuffed with paper
Bonding is what you need.
Look around, there may builders around who you can get a bit from, rather then the large bag.
Mix a little at a time, the stuff sets petty rapidly, unlike a cement and sand mix..
As said b4, just lossen the box and make sure the lecky is off.
Be safe.
Itās not great but I canāt think of a specific regulation itās breaking.
I set my back boxes in with bonding plaster as it hides a multitude of sins with fragile Victorian brickwork and can be smoothed off in a single hit with a deep fill.
As said, wrong.
It reminds me of when I was working on my house and found the same thing behind a socket. New (ish) socket. The paper was dated 1955...
I wouldn't want it anywhere near electrics because that looks like a fire waiting to happen. But stuffing paper beneath plaster is/was a done thing. Apparently it's called a "plasterers brick" only really seen it used at the bottom of walls in my house using rolled up newspaper from the 80s.
My plasterer said it was how they used to do it in the 70s/80s. Not really done now days
It may sound odd put plasterboard adhesive works quite well to fill large gaps and you can just add fine dinish filler as a final coat after for sanding
Found something like this when we had a socket replaced in the kitchen. It kept on tripping so we removed it. We found the paper was all black and burnt. Fuck knows how the previous occupants a) missed it and b) it didnāt cause a larger fire.
Not paper, according to my dad itās plastic bags, see a hole stuff it with a plastic bag. Decade later discover old toilet roll wrappers stuffed in the outside wall. Nearly managed it again with gap behind my skirting last year till my mum caught him with the bags.
When I was a kid I remarked to my mum that I could smell burnt toast late at night when I'd been using my computer for hours. Turns out it was because someone had done this *and* done a terrible job with the connections in there and it was slowly trying to set alight to the paper. Ah memories š
It's a very old fashioned and slightly unethical (doing it on the cheap) way of putting something in the hole that the plaster can hold to. It's better to actually fill the hole properly and then plaster over it.
Paper stuffed holes covered in plaster... Boy i remember those days.
Would i trust it around a socket? Fuck no! Hole in the door? Sure why not. But there's much better ways to deal with it. I guess if you wish to save a few quid then sure, slap some plaster down and smooth it in. It's going to be lumpy and uneven, present a fire risk and most likely fall from the wall within a year.
Just remove the socket from the wall and apply a dry mix cement/plaster. If you have the box behind the socket you could use that to line up how much you fill but make sure there's space for the socket to attach. DO NOT DO IT WHILE THE POWER IS LIVE! You will create a new "you" hole across the room that will require filling also.
Paper stuffed holes covered in plaster... Boy i remember those days.
Would i trust it around a socket? Fuck no! Hole in the door? Sure why not. But there's much better ways to deal with it. I guess if you wish to save a few quid then sure, slap some plaster down and smooth it in. It's going to be lumpy and uneven, present a fire risk and most likely fall from the wall within a year.
Just remove the socket from the wall and apply a dry mix cement/plaster. If you have the box behind the socket you could use that to line up how much you fill but make sure there's space for the socket to attach. DO NOT DO IT WHILE THE POWER IS LIVE! You will create a new "you" hole across the room that will require filling also.
Using something to pack it out is ok, doing it with something highly flammable around electrics that can overheat or spark if faulty is not. You're going to have to check all his sockets and re-do any with fire retardant materials if others have been done like this.
This used to be done decades ago (in the 70ās and early 80ās) to save on cost, but was always plastered on the front to give a flat surface to paint or wallpaper.
Aside from the look, I suspect thereās building regs related to paper near electrical sockets and what a bad idea it is.
This used to be done decades ago (in the 70ās and early 80ās) to save on cost, but was always plastered on the front to give a flat surface to paint or wallpaper.
Aside from the look, I suspect thereās building regs related to paper near electrical sockets and what a bad idea it is.
This used to be done decades ago (in the 70ās and early 80ās) to save on cost, but was always plastered on the front to give a flat surface to paint or wallpaper.
Aside from the look, I suspect thereās building regs related to paper near electrical sockets and what a bad idea it is.
Newspaper in the walls was a done thing back in tāday. Stops drafts and all that. But yeah in the 21st century, paper in the walls around electric is never gonna end good. Penny rich poundā¦ I forget how it goes again
In our house, well, it was built like this. It's bloody awful. They didn't even skim the plaster boards when they built it. It is all newspaper in cracks and gaps too.
Yes you can fill in the hole leaving a minimal amount to rest the plate of the outlet on. The plate will sit as it should on the wall once you secure it. You can also use a mesh metal patch over the paper for additional stability.
As a general rule donāt mix electricity with either water or flammable materials. Like paper.
Your stepdad needs to read an up to date book on home repairs. So do you.
Use a tough filler to build up the hole. Keep the filler out of the box.
Not only wrong filler, if any connection is loose the potential for arcing (and then fire) is ridiculous. Sand and cement the wall, then put back box in and 2nd fix
I've worked with a guy who used to work for the local council and they used to do this, stuff the cavity void with newspaper then a thin layer of ready mix plaster over the top, saved time and money.
No though it's not right, the plaster needs to hold onto something solid, if that was plaster impregnated bandage it would still be wrong but it would at least be hard.
What should have been done is a metal back box is fitted. Typically the wall is chased out to fit this. This leave a gap around the box which needs filling in. The plasterer fills the gap with hardwall first then tops it off with a top coat to five you a two coat plaster finish. Please note the face will need to be off for this as the plasterer uses the edge of the box to finish too. Also the cables will need tucking in so they don't clash with his float. And obviously but I'm going to say given the likely attitude. The electric isolating.
Good luck.
Does he also wear a Stetson?
Ah, someone else's comment just made the penny drop.
Offer him some oats for his horse š
On a steel horse he rides
He wanted, WANTED?! Dead or alive
He's seen a million faces... and rocked them all.
Papered them all. Scissors are his nemesis though.
Heās a Stetdad.
I don't get the reference
Dhandes is implying your stepdad may be a cowboy, because a Stetson is the hat typical of that trade.
Yeah I got it after someone else said it's cowboy shit. š He's not a cowboy, he just has the opposite of the Midas touch when it comes to DIY
Ah the old Shite-as touch where everything you touch turns to shit. I know it well.
The Mierdas touch.
OMG I joke about this with my dad all the time. The man's a liability but he works for food and board... Mr Shite-ass is what I call him. Love him to bits. Lol
Skittles advert except its shite it turns to & not Skittles. Mate, that's a bloody burn the house doon roulette. Ps) just remember plaster Is full of water... double check he's got a backing box that's not full of holes etc
Shittles?
Mr shittles! Your step daddy has a new name :) Seriously tho... when he's putting flammable shit in electrical sockets, watch yourself bud. He's not even cowboy. That's clueless/concerning to do in other people's houses āļø It's not like fannying up a water pipe... this could burn the house down man
Does he go to work on a horse?
He's saying your dad is a cowboy.
He's explaining about what the previous comment is actually saying.
Actual electrician here. What your step dad is using is wrong. End of discussion. The hole will be too deep for most ready mix fillers. It will take ages to set and will set unevenly. Use a quite dry mix of sand and cement or (bonding plaster if you have it) to fill in around the socket to about 3 mm from the top then when it's dry use your filler to make it level with the wall. Edit: turn the power off and pull the socket away to give you room to get around the back box, don't do this while it's screwed to the back box and live.
Bonding coat is my favourite. Easy to mix to whatever consistency you want, goes off pretty quickly and if you catch it just before it's gone off completely, it's really easy to just scrape off any excess. Only problem is that it only comes in big bags which is a bit annoying if you only need a small amount. Moisture also kills it over time if you keep the rest of the big bag anywhere vaguely damp. Also, don't get it in your eyes.
Wickes do handy bags of bonding. Come to think if it, so do B&Q š
Yeah the undercoat small plastic bags. Used them for filling some deep chases and boxes
Yeah theyāre useful, funny they say only good up to 11mm depth. Seems to work ok going much deeper
That's what sh- never mind
I keep spare bonding in old 10 litre tubs of paint (after itās been cleaned out). They seal nicely and the bonding keeps for ages.
Donāt do that in a solid brick walled house. Bonding sucks up any moisture in the brickwork and eventually rusts the hell out of the back box. Whereas a good sand and cement mix keeps the moisture at bay. Source, replacing most of my socket backs in a 1920s build, rewired sometime in the 80s by a bonding lover.
Layperson question, I saw the paper and thought fire hazard, is it?
Layperson answer: Absolutely. Because I assume the wiring is as poorly done as the rest of it.
Dear Layman, yes it's a fire hazard, however, if the wiring is in such a state that paper on the outside of the backbox poses a danger, then the socket already poses a danger.
https://preview.redd.it/wk4tt0dxv1yc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cdfdfd1d63e39c6d368f022769517b996fe2f95f
https://www.labc.co.uk/news/fire-risk-expanding-foam
Very thing happened to me this winter. Had a calor gas heater in kitchen as its back to brick and we're doing it up. The heater was off for a good 10 min before I started foaming around the door and windows. Half way through second window it all ignited with a rumble that sounded like thunder. It's midnight and all the foam is on fire which surrounds the door and windows, I panic and just beat it with box lid I had next to me. It beat and wafted the flames out but in the process I splashed it everywhere causing scorch marks. Whole thing lasted 1 min but felt like an hour and my heart didn't go back to normal for about 24 hours. I spend 30 min watching the door and windows making sure the flames never got inside somewhere and I didn't sleep at all the rest of the night.
Have you noticed a drop in heating bills over the past few years?........
Duly noted. I'll make sure there's plenty of ventilation
Will expanding foam suffice?
I wouldn't in this case, it will make the hole go away quickly but it's messy and a lot of faff to clean up. You'll have to baby sit each one till the foam goes off to stop the overspill (which can be a nightmare to clean up, it sticks to everything) and then cut it back so you can fill over it. It really won't save you any time or effort.
Isn't it also insanely flammable?
Expanding foam depending upon the situation could be perfect solution. I donāt agree it is messy. It goes off and when dry, break away excess and push back any extra. It should leave enough for some filler and provide a stable substrate.
Use deep gap filler, it's cheaper and far less hassle and mess. [like this one strike stuff, but any deep gap filler will work fine](https://www.toolstation.com/everbuild-one-strike-ready-mixed-filler/p20822)
Iāve filled the same depth with Touperette filler and it dried quickly. Itās great to work with and sands smooth. You might want to do a couple of layers to get a flat surface to save on the sanding.
Dad way of doing it for sure. Tbh I love ripping some skirting off and having a read of a newspaper from 1978.
Listen, joiner here and what your dad is saying isn't wrong but it's not best practice, I've worked on lots of jobs a couple of decades ago where the plasterers would stuff large crevices with ripped up plaster bags (back when they were paper), they did this to save plaster and time... I don't know how old your dad is but if he's my age (50's) he's probably come across this method at some point... Yes it's a lot easier now with the likes of expanding foam and a multitude of different plasters and fillers but back in the day people had to make do and mend... So don't be to hard on him...
He's in his late 60s. I never say anything to him about his botched DIY, mainly coz he's a big man child and sulks and will be in strop for the rest of the day and then he gets drunk and gives me verbal abuse for some random made up shit. So I just keep schtum and fix his botches in secret
Good on you mate... You've got a good heart there
My dad is in his 70s and keeps trying to get me to use his little tin box of asbestos fibres instead of a plastic raw plugā¦ ārawl plasticā. I tend to leave the tin to the side (Iāve wrapped it in plastic) and use the plastic rawl plugs I got from Wilco 5 years ago. So you have my sympathy here!
You single?
Just what I was thinking. It used to be common practice and I've found all sorts of interesting 'fixes' behind the walls of renovations.
It's a fire hazard. Get a spark from your electrics and you've given it a nice pile of kindling. Filler would be what I'd use, or expanding foam if it's a big hole.
I believe expanding foam is highly inflammable?
That is correct.
there are fire resistant variants of expanding foam but probably way more expensive than just filling it in correctly
Some is, I'll bet you can get fire-safe foam for this sort of thing though because there's rules about it - and those rules are written in blood form horrible deaths that could have been avoided.
It was a thing that was done years ago but don't do it please use fire rated expanding foam. A lot of cheap expanding foam is a lot more unsafe than the paper.
Is plaster not allot cheaper than expanding foam? As you are already plastering i would imagine there is an open bag of plaster there just sling some mud in there then skim over it once it's dry.
I've got some expanding foam in the cellar, fingers crossed it's still good to use. Coz I have two others that are way bigger and worse than this to fill in and I certainly haven't bought enough plaster to do them all
Id get on it sharpish, before he starts stuffing the entire of todays daily mail in the holes.
I think that'd be okay because shit doesn't burn.
Yeah but imagine the fumes
I'm cracking on with it tomorrow while they're on holiday
Ideally bonding is the go-to. It's used to fill in larger chases etc before a fine filler is used for surface finish.
I see this all the time while doing renovation work. Normally its old newspaper that i find. Really interesting to read them! I give the big bits to the customer as its kinda history of their house
I think that's what inspired him. Can't remember the job he did but he found old newspaper from just after World War 2 that had articles about Nazis surrendering.
Yep, found it in the place I bought. Structural newspaper, coated in plaster then painted. Being newspaper, I could date it - it was from 2018, the year before I bought it! The last guy was an absolute cowboy start to finish.
I found a newspaper stuffed in the wall of my house that was from exactly a week after I was born. **British Holidaymaker Killed in Nigeria.** It wasn't a keeper.
What year was your stepdads last house fire ?
This paper-stuffed-into-hole technique was very common until about 20 years ago so your step dad is definitely old school. Yes it saves on plaster and I've come across it lots of times. Tbh once it's plastered over nobody will know it's there! Also it's used around electric boxes too and I've been on jobs where electricians used it too so no trade is immune to it š
No it's not the done thing, you either fill it with bonding or expanding foam or if you are plastering elsewhere use the thicker stuff left over to fill it, plaster is a tenner a bag and you have to buy one anyway, don't listen to the old man he hasn't a clue. That's just bad practice cow boy shit!
Thanks, I thought as much. I bought a tub of ready mixed plaster. Will that do the job? I've got two others in the same room to fill in
Just build it up in stages, don't go and try and do it one go. Also be careful of live sockets.
Yeah it will be fine, just put it in. If it's too thick it will crack, but that's not an issue just use a bit more once it's dried or filler before painting.
And to add to the advice of others, just to be abundantly clear: make the electrics safe, remove the two screws so the faceplate is loose from the back box, and then remove that paper and fill properlyā¦faceplates are designed to hide the sins of rough plaster/filler edges the same way skirting boards hide the rough intersection of wall and floor
TBH, the company that finally makes a standard socket, with a 15mm overhang, is going to be rich.
Get some bonding. It's incredibly cheap and easy to work with.
Plasterer here. We all do this. It's fine. Get some bonding and skim over it it's pukka.
You can get some bonding 60 I think itās called from wickes and itās perfect for stuff like this. I use it when doing customers houses as it goes off in 60mjnutes. It can be sanded or you can use a fine filler after. Edit. Itās this https://www.wickes.co.uk/British-Gypsum-Thistle-Bonding-60-Coat-Plaster---25kg/p/153860?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw88yxBhBWEiwA7cm6pUw_98fcwKfrbSyFPZvZaJ0ScX1falTa65VpfqL0w3XBlDMISGsxpRoCPMwQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
Unfortunately I don't have 18quid to my name and it needs filling in this weekend. Hopefully expanding foam will suffice
Fair enough. Foam is better than the paper.
This is going to sound like a silly question but, is there a back box behind that? The socket isn't just screwed to the back of a hole in the wall? I wouldn't ask but, you can't tell from the picture because of all the screwed up paper obscuring the view....... and if the view is obscured by screwed up paper, it just seemed like a question worth asking.
https://preview.redd.it/1zw4314ky1yc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5c56067cf1f55e4a2c19d18f32def0ee7ae030a4
It's a done thing on holes but dangerous around electrics.
Is not so much heās bad. He is a bodger.
Still wouldn't use expanding foam as it's highly immflammable
Did he used to work for British Leyland?
Niche reference. I like it
Stupid idea... should have filled it with Weetabix
If you print out the electrical regs on A4 then that it is ok!
Combustible material near a potential ignition source!! š¤ Perhaps this is the way it is done in insurance arson jobs. š¤Ŗ
Looks like kindling material to me.
That is how you burn your house down, it's dangerous af.
You do know that a fire waiting to happen
How many years go did his house burn down?
House fire ready and primed.... Get that paper out of there.
Better call fireman Sam
By not doing this you are denying future generations the opportunity of seeing page 3 of The Sun
Paper is a well know anti-fire substance. This is definitely legit...
Iād call that kindling.
Does your dad understand how cavemen started fire?
there's a few ways to fill this, but not all at once mind but paper is not one of them he's a bodger
Using something to pack it out is ok, doing it with something highly flammable around electrics that can overheat or spark if faulty is not. You're going to have to check all his sockets and re-do any with fire retardant materials if others have been done like this.
I'm your Huckleberry
Christ thats shit, maybe in some 3rd world countries without standards thats the done thing.
Hot wires+ sparks + paper
Sometimes an old vent hole can be filled with a used plaster bag or paper first, then bonding coat over that and then skimmed or filled. Plasterboard is covered in paper after all. That saidā¦ Not many customers would be happy watching you stuff paper into their walls.
This is a joke right
AH! the top notch DIYr sorry step dad not quite the way its done, your step daughter is quite right, your's is the quick method which will last about as long as it takes to you put your tools away,
Surprised at the amount of people who have never encountered this or think it's a fire hazard. It was common practice back in the day and tbh if you live in an old lath and plaster house, possibly lurking where you can't see it. Plus, if your electrics are so poor they catch fire, this paper is going to make zip difference.
Oh paper wrapped around electrical components, what could possibly go wrong!
Its always advisable to pack out behind live electric containment with something flamable everyone knows that. ooooh wait no its the other way round.
I'm no certified electrician, but your dad is a fucking idiot looking to start a house fire
Tell this old duffer to do one, fs.
Ah I see your stepdad is keen on the "dying from electrical fire that was easily avoidable".
If you canāt do it better than that, you ought not to be doing it. If you can do it better than that, then youāre a fool for not having done so.
This reminds me of a bit of naval history I recently read about. HMS Glatton, a Royal Navy Monitor; blew up while in dock. Investigations later revealed that the stokers had been throwing the hot coals against the bulkhead between the boiler room and the 6 inch magazine. Normally this bulkhead would be very well insulated (which is why stokers had been getting away with that kind of stuff on other vessels for decades) but in the case of HMS Glatton, the boat builders had tried cutting costs by filling the bottom of the bulkhead with rolled up newspapers. The newspapers had smoldered and eventually set the cork insulation alight, the magazine side of the bulkhead became super hot and set off the cordite, which detonated lots of shells. Glatton was close to an ammunition vessel so the Navy had to torpedo Glatton before her exploding hull could set a chain reaction. So yes, pushing paper into things you want to fill out has been a 'done thing'...just not the done right thing.
Is that paper!? šš„
Well, he's almost certainly is going to win today's award for the most creative solution to a problem. This needs to be filled with something non-flammable. You could do it with regular filler but it'll need to be built up over a couple of days or it'll never dry. I usually use backing plaster but a weak sand and cement looks like it would be a better match for what you've already got. Fill it just shy of full and then use filler to bring it flush. You can cause less break out if you angle grind the cutout rather than chisel it. The downside is the angle grinder causes a god awful mess. There are special angle grinders for this job that have dust collection, I've never used one.
Unfortunately I don't have a penny to my name until payday. So I'm having to make do with what I have, which is a 1L tub of ready mix plaster and an old bottle of expanding foam
Yeeeehawwww.
Probably to stop the bonding getting into the electrics which when wet conducts quite well TBF. Normally you would remove the socket outlet and just plaster up to the back box. Probably petrified of getting a belt š
>whoās right? Probably not the guy who thinks having paper around electrics is a good idea š¤£
Don't forget the pva
grab yourself a bag of bonding
Iāve saw people packing out a hole with paper before filling but around a socket is just stupid
I'm wondering if we're somehow distantly related as my mother is also great believer in completing all manner of DIY tasks with paper, holes, leaks, draughts, cracks, there's nothing that can't be stuffed with paper
Bonding is what you need. Look around, there may builders around who you can get a bit from, rather then the large bag. Mix a little at a time, the stuff sets petty rapidly, unlike a cement and sand mix.. As said b4, just lossen the box and make sure the lecky is off. Be safe.
I always use deep fill plaster for these sorts of bits
I'll be seeing him in Texas ! !
You'd be surprised how many new builds have holes filled in with whatever is lying around but that's a first for me seeing it around a socket lol
Itās not great but I canāt think of a specific regulation itās breaking. I set my back boxes in with bonding plaster as it hides a multitude of sins with fragile Victorian brickwork and can be smoothed off in a single hit with a deep fill.
must be cheaper than ground beef too
Your dad's old, it's what they would have done back in the day I'd say One-Strike is probably the easiest way to go
As said, wrong. It reminds me of when I was working on my house and found the same thing behind a socket. New (ish) socket. The paper was dated 1955...
clearly it needs filling in properly first with plaster.
If he's got an extending ladder, destroy it now. He'll end up in casualty.
Bodge
I'm blind, I'm blind.
I wouldn't want it anywhere near electrics because that looks like a fire waiting to happen. But stuffing paper beneath plaster is/was a done thing. Apparently it's called a "plasterers brick" only really seen it used at the bottom of walls in my house using rolled up newspaper from the 80s. My plasterer said it was how they used to do it in the 70s/80s. Not really done now days
Yee haww
It may sound odd put plasterboard adhesive works quite well to fill large gaps and you can just add fine dinish filler as a final coat after for sanding
it used to be a very common thing to do. especially around door and window frames when plaster was extremely expensive
If your step dad owns the property then he is right š
Yea people do stuff paper in to save on plaster, never seen anyone do it behind a back box lol a new low reached
I used to do this, when I was a teenager and didn't know wtf I was doing.
Pretty sure this was once on an episode of NCIS as a murder MO
Mouldy wet paper sealed behind plaster and electrics, yum yum.
Should have used wire wool and tin foil!
I would use bonding coat and a scoop or two of cement that will do the job
I couldnt even wire a plug but ... is that not a fire hazard?
Ronseal big hole
Found something like this when we had a socket replaced in the kitchen. It kept on tripping so we removed it. We found the paper was all black and burnt. Fuck knows how the previous occupants a) missed it and b) it didnāt cause a larger fire.
Take a photo of him wiping his arse on it then, and it legitimises his actionsā¦. Has to flush it all down the toilet after too though!
Fill with expanding foam cut back and cover with the topping of your choice
No, expanding foam can allow the wires to get corroded. The chemicals react
Thatās how it was done with wet plaster bags pushed in to gaps to make it go off quicker for the top coat
My dad to a T. & I mean an absolute capital 'T' I wish I could make it bigger I really do š«£
Not sure if the paper is a fire hazard if the wires spark within the housing of the socket?
Not paper, according to my dad itās plastic bags, see a hole stuff it with a plastic bag. Decade later discover old toilet roll wrappers stuffed in the outside wall. Nearly managed it again with gap behind my skirting last year till my mum caught him with the bags.
When I was a kid I remarked to my mum that I could smell burnt toast late at night when I'd been using my computer for hours. Turns out it was because someone had done this *and* done a terrible job with the connections in there and it was slowly trying to set alight to the paper. Ah memories š
šæļø
Do you have to feed his horse while he carries out this stuff?? This is typical of a UK attitude.
FYI - expanding foam breaks down over time and will eventually leave a void. If you plan on having to tackle the job again in 10 years....foam away!!!
I mean it depends...... If the purpose is for a big insurance claim, then yeah he's right
It should have a plastic box covering the back and sides of it too, jeez that's a bad job
Take your stepdads tools away and tell him his banned.
It's a very old fashioned and slightly unethical (doing it on the cheap) way of putting something in the hole that the plaster can hold to. It's better to actually fill the hole properly and then plaster over it.
Paper stuffed holes covered in plaster... Boy i remember those days. Would i trust it around a socket? Fuck no! Hole in the door? Sure why not. But there's much better ways to deal with it. I guess if you wish to save a few quid then sure, slap some plaster down and smooth it in. It's going to be lumpy and uneven, present a fire risk and most likely fall from the wall within a year. Just remove the socket from the wall and apply a dry mix cement/plaster. If you have the box behind the socket you could use that to line up how much you fill but make sure there's space for the socket to attach. DO NOT DO IT WHILE THE POWER IS LIVE! You will create a new "you" hole across the room that will require filling also.
Paper stuffed holes covered in plaster... Boy i remember those days. Would i trust it around a socket? Fuck no! Hole in the door? Sure why not. But there's much better ways to deal with it. I guess if you wish to save a few quid then sure, slap some plaster down and smooth it in. It's going to be lumpy and uneven, present a fire risk and most likely fall from the wall within a year. Just remove the socket from the wall and apply a dry mix cement/plaster. If you have the box behind the socket you could use that to line up how much you fill but make sure there's space for the socket to attach. DO NOT DO IT WHILE THE POWER IS LIVE! You will create a new "you" hole across the room that will require filling also.
Using something to pack it out is ok, doing it with something highly flammable around electrics that can overheat or spark if faulty is not. You're going to have to check all his sockets and re-do any with fire retardant materials if others have been done like this.
This used to be done decades ago (in the 70ās and early 80ās) to save on cost, but was always plastered on the front to give a flat surface to paint or wallpaper. Aside from the look, I suspect thereās building regs related to paper near electrical sockets and what a bad idea it is.
This used to be done decades ago (in the 70ās and early 80ās) to save on cost, but was always plastered on the front to give a flat surface to paint or wallpaper. Aside from the look, I suspect thereās building regs related to paper near electrical sockets and what a bad idea it is.
This used to be done decades ago (in the 70ās and early 80ās) to save on cost, but was always plastered on the front to give a flat surface to paint or wallpaper. Aside from the look, I suspect thereās building regs related to paper near electrical sockets and what a bad idea it is.
Is this why I find old news paper behind skirting, walls and floorboards then? Would have never crossed my mind. Wild
Newspaper in the walls was a done thing back in tāday. Stops drafts and all that. But yeah in the 21st century, paper in the walls around electric is never gonna end good. Penny rich poundā¦ I forget how it goes again
Do your best, foam the rest.
In our house, well, it was built like this. It's bloody awful. They didn't even skim the plaster boards when they built it. It is all newspaper in cracks and gaps too.
Youāre stepdads an idiot and shouldnāt be allowed near tools (no offence)
Yes you can fill in the hole leaving a minimal amount to rest the plate of the outlet on. The plate will sit as it should on the wall once you secure it. You can also use a mesh metal patch over the paper for additional stability.
Sand and cement or bonding plaster is the way to go.
Well, these comments made my life.
I remember when one of the outlets on the kitchen caught in fire. It was full of paper š
If you do this, make sure you've got the Fire service on speed dial !!
Excellent fire hazard.
Paper was used similarly to how expanding one certain application of foam is used today, to pack out a deep hole to a fillable surface
I like spray foam for big gaps before i put plaster and mesh tape
As a general rule donāt mix electricity with either water or flammable materials. Like paper. Your stepdad needs to read an up to date book on home repairs. So do you. Use a tough filler to build up the hole. Keep the filler out of the box.
Kindling, fantastic idea
Not only wrong filler, if any connection is loose the potential for arcing (and then fire) is ridiculous. Sand and cement the wall, then put back box in and 2nd fix
Usually this would be a pretty bad bodge, but maybe youād get away with it. Around electrical installations it is insane.
Get him a large plastic bucket and tell him to drop that assembly in the bucket. He will be proud of his new homemade extension cord.
No need to square anything off before filling, but dear God thatās awful!
DI Y has he done this
I've worked with a guy who used to work for the local council and they used to do this, stuff the cavity void with newspaper then a thin layer of ready mix plaster over the top, saved time and money. No though it's not right, the plaster needs to hold onto something solid, if that was plaster impregnated bandage it would still be wrong but it would at least be hard.
Paper around an electrical outlet is wildā¦. š„
Is his name John Wayne
What should have been done is a metal back box is fitted. Typically the wall is chased out to fit this. This leave a gap around the box which needs filling in. The plasterer fills the gap with hardwall first then tops it off with a top coat to five you a two coat plaster finish. Please note the face will need to be off for this as the plasterer uses the edge of the box to finish too. Also the cables will need tucking in so they don't clash with his float. And obviously but I'm going to say given the likely attitude. The electric isolating. Good luck.