Had a day last month where every outlet box was shallow

I was wiring up a kitchen remodel in a 1950s house over in Elmwood. Every single outlet box was one of those old shallow 1-1/2 inch steel boxes. I spent a whole afternoon trying to stuff 12-2 Romex and a GFCI into each one without pinching the wires. By the end, my fingers were sore from trying to fold the conductors just right. Has anyone else run into a whole house full of these shallow boxes, and what do you do besides swapping them out?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_morgan29d ago

Those shallow boxes are a nightmare. "Every single outlet box was one of those old shallow 1-1/2 inch steel boxes" is exactly the kind of day that makes you question all your life choices. I've been there with a whole house in a 50s ranch, and my fingers still ache just thinking about it. Honestly, swapping them out is the only real fix unless you want to risk pinching wires and dealing with a short later. I tried a few workarounds like using spacers or trimming the GFCI body, but it’s never clean. Bite the bullet and replace them. It’s time and money, but so worth it.

sullivan.finley29d ago

Yeah I read somewhere that those old steel boxes were only meant for like cloth wrapped wire and basic switches... not modern GFCI's with all that extra bulk. Makes me wonder how many houses are still running with those things barely holding everything together.