I went to put in an outlet with charging ports and found this monstrosity behind the wall plate. The box is filled with expanding foam, I’m guessing as some kind of support? Then painted all over. I scraped it all out, put in outlet spacers and its much better. I think there’s foam around the box too, but I’m not gonna worry about that (yet).
Now I get to spend next weekend replacing all the outlets in the house just in case there’s any more sketchy “fixes” 🫠
After cleaning and replacing:
Great work! When I bought my house I bought some contractor packs of outlets, covers, and light switches. I went around and replaced all of the outlets and switches in the house. Took a few days but while I was doing it I write down which outlet or switch was powered by which circuit so now I have a fairly complete map of the electrical in the house. Totally worth it IMHO
Dad did that in the early 80s. Replaced the 2-prong outlets with 3-prong. Not sure if he was able to attach a ground. House was built in the late 50s, apparently grounding wasn’t a thing. :)
Honestly, this should be a to do for any new homeowner - the process is easy and the tools are cheap! At bare minimum, everyone should own an outlet tester and just wander around plugging it into stuff.
You would be shocked (or, at least you will be if you don’t test) to find out how many outlets have a loose/missing connection or are wired backwards. Takes 30 seconds to fix and could save you a lot of headache.
i just use a paperclip… also tests the circuit breaker.
Done this twice now with both houses I have owned. The main reason, I absolutely hate attempting to plug something in only to have it fall out of the outlet. It annoys the shit out of me.
It’s also not safe around kids or pets and it’s a fire hazard.
I also like outlets on a switch to be upside down so you can visually see them easily.
To add to what you suggest: I make a habit of verifying and writing the breaker number on the back side of the faceplate each time I have to remove/replace one.
Always re-check before digging into the wiring obviously, but man I don’t know how many trips up and down the basement stairs that has saved me over the years!
I need to do this again. I did the same thing when I moved into this house but somewhere along the line lost the map