[l008com]

This is an ongoing problem I have. I'm tearing down most of the old wallboard in my house and putting up new blue board to be plastered. I've always had trouble lining up the holes so that when I put up the sheets of wallboard, the electrical boxes stick right through perfectly. It doesn't help that none of my walls are level, or straight, and none of my ceilings are level, or straight.

Here is the work I did today. Here is the process I used. First I cut the piece of blue board to width, that was easy enough. Then I assembled the sheetrock lift I'm borrowing (I've used the lift many times, i'm not new to the lift), loaded my piece in, and cranked it up so that the top edge of the sheet was as flush up against the ceiling as I could get it.

The piece was still in the lift so the bottom edge was still half to a foot away from the studs. I then used the edge of my small square to eyeball line up the sides of the box against the wall board (which was covering the front of the box). Then I drew the vertical lines and they came out well. The crossed out vertical line was a change I made long before any cutting began.

Then I tried to measure the height, holding the square against the bottom of the box and keeping my eyes at the same height, seeing where the bottom edge of the sheetrock crossed the line. That gave me the distance the box was up from the bottom edge of the sheet rock. Add the height of the box to that to get the top edge and then I had a pencil square drawn out.

I took the sheet down, cut it, put it back up, and of course it didn't fit. The sides were spot on but the hole was about 1/4 inch or so too high. The bottom edge was too high too, the photo was taken after I cut the bottom a little lower. These side mount boxes are flexy, and without the receptacle 'flaps' catching the sheet rock, things just aren't as solid as they could be.

The switch cover does cover the entire hole so its not as bad as it could be. But this is just one example of how I have a real hard time getting things like this perfect. If my walls and floor and ceiling were straight and flush, this would be a whole lot easier. But with the relatively small tolerances you have to deal with when doing this, I really struggle to get it right.

So the question is, are there other better techniques for doing this? I have a lot more wall board to replace and a lot more outlets to cut out.

 

[Oldmaster]

Put soft crayon or cheap lipstick on the boxes. Set the drywall against it and press and imprint will be your guide.

 

[l008com]

Put soft crayon or cheap lipstick on the boxes. Set the drywall against it and press and imprint will be your guide.

I like that idea, but the problem is these are already populated boxes, and when i remove the switches or outlets and lay them flat, they are sticking out. So you can't really push the sheet rock flat against the edges of the box, know what I mean?

 

[Nealtw]

With light switches just pull the wires you can just nut the 2 wires together and the light will be on . With outlets and lights just put wire nuts on the individual wires.

 

[mark sr]

measure twice cut once

Seems like you have to pay more attention when measuring/cutting out for electrical boxes BUT it generally isn't a big deal to prefill any gaps that cause concern.

 

[chandler48]

Always measure from the ceiling down, since you will be jamming the sheetrock to the top when installed. Measuring from the floor up will give you the wrong location. I have seen worse cuts in sheetrock. Mud guys will take care of the gaps, so there isn't a big problem in what you pictured.

 

[Yodaman]

Pull the switches, and receptacles. Cap the potential hot wires with wire nuts.
Fold them in to the rear of the box. Invest in a Roto-zip cutter.
With little practice you will have perfect openings.