How do you remove an outlet?
REMOVE it. Not replace it.
I can find a million videos and guide on how to replace one but nothing on how to safely remove it.
Specifically I want to know what im suppose to do with the wires.
I was going to put Wire Caps on all of them wrap Eleatic tape around it, shove them in the wall and put a plastic plate over the hole.
But the ONE video I found on outlet removal did this while specifically saying "don't worry i'm not going to leave it like this, don't everybody panic, I'm going to properly remove it later this is just temporary." WITHOUT SAYING HOW TO FRICKING DO IT PROPERLY IN THE VIDEO ABOUT DOING IT PROPERLY.
What do I do with the wires so my house doesn't burn down?
I want this outlet gone.
I would just leave em taped up and put drywall over the hole.
Is there another outlet nearby? That single outlet may be downstream of another one, so you could go back to the other outlet and pull the wire out. But this also means make sure there’s not an outlet downstream of the one you want to remove. If there is another one, then I would leave the box and connect those wires and cover the box with the fresh drywall.
Wait for sparky anon with his NEC book and decide if you want to do all that work.
>I would just leave em taped up and put drywall over the hole.
not a good idea
someone might mistake it for a regular wall and drive a fastener through it
He said his house not his rental property or commercial lease
it's against code either way, junction boxes can not be concealed or rendered inaccessible without damaging the structure or finish of a building
Against code
against code dude
not my problem
>put drywall over the hole.
Never, EVER fricking bury your box.
OP already did and a resident PrepHole "electrician" signed off on it. Stop bumping this shit thread
buried my dick in your mom's box.
well since you seem to be moronic, it would be best to not do it.
1. Check it with your voltage pen
1. Turn off breakers/fuses until your pen doesnt light up
2. Cut the outlet out
3. Wirenut the wires
4. Use a spackle kit to cover over the hole
So, leave hot wires in the wall?
They have wirenuts on them
Theyre not hot if they arent being used
They might as well be inert
If it bugs you leaving a capped-off wire in your wall, you can always follow it back to the previous outlet in the daisy chain and disconnect the wire from that outlet too.
>leave hot wires in the wall?
Yes, unless you want to rip out all your drywall to remove the wire all the way back to the panel. Do you think there's a problem with having hot wires in your wall? Because your walls are full of hot wires.
Also, most of the time there is more on a circuit than one single outlet. So if you remove the outlet, the wires would need to stay and be connected together so that the other things on the circuit will still function.
Unless that outlet happens to be at the very end of a circuit, in which case you could remove the outlet and also remove the wire back to the previous outlet/switch/light in the circuit.
Most of the wires in your walls are hot. You are surrounded by them. Install wire nuts on the end of each conductor (don't worry about the ground). Cover everything with electrical tape (cut with scissors) that does not have contaminants on the adhesive (dust, dirt, fingerprints). Pry out the box. Shove cable into wall. Patch hole. Forget about it and go on with life.
t. Electrician
Came here for this.
All the gays saying capping wires and placing them in the wall is dangerous are completely moronic.
You have LIVE wires running all through your house. Hell some of those wires are 240v. Capping wires and shoving them into a wall is no more dangerous than any of the other wires THAT ARE LITERALLY HOT AND RUNNING THROUGH YOUR WALL.
The more I lurk here the more disappointed i get in this board.
>10 year tradesman
All of those live wires in your walls are insulated and are only outside of their sheathing inside of work boxes. There is no way to terminate the cable without stripping the insulation and to pretend that unsheathed wire is exactly the same as sheathed is just stupid. No matter what, if you drive a screw into it, it'll spark and trip the breaker. If you drive a screw into an insulated cable the spark is somewhat contained inside the sheathing. If you drive a screw into it unsheathed the spark could catch on insulation paper inside the wall. Neither of you are electricians, your attic rats at best
>t. has 'house must be up to code' as the first line in his grindr profile
I am so happy that you are seething with anger. Stay mad, ok? lel
>t. Electrician
if you're going to start capitalizing 'electrician', then we might as well do the same with Truck Driver, Janitor, and Glory Hole Cum Dumpster
The reason it is capitalized is because I hold three state-issued licenses. It is an official title.
Stay mad, loser. LMAO!!!!
>I hold three state-issued licenses.
You can actually get by with just one if you use your real name. But then you can't escape warranty related fixes by disappearing and reappearing with a new name and license.
>You can actually get by with just one
FALSE. Some states do not have reciprocity agreements.
>FALSE. Some states do not have reciprocity agreements.
Did you read the post before responding or did you just skip to the part where you're shitting out words?
I get it. You're mad, and you will probably stay that way. I'm ok with that. The simple fact is this: You do not have a state-issued Electrician license, therefore you do not have the ability to speak on the subject with any understanding, experience, or knowledge. You may now return to playing with your funko-pop collection.
>The simple fact is this: You do not have a state-issued Electrician license
Was this you?
>Pry out the box. Shove cable into wall. Patch hole. Forget about it and go on with life.
Because one of is state licensed and it isn't you.
you mad bro? le epic troll for the win xDddd like a boss
It still shouldn’t be capitalized. You should have stayed in school
frick both of you I don't capitalize anything I don't feel like.
>It is an official title.
That's what I was going to do in the first place but everyone else says it wrong.
I'm putting a giant wall mounted mirror over it, that's why I need it REMOVED. So I have a flat surface.
THEN HOW DO I DO IT TO CODE
>I guess I'll be the first one to ask the obvious.
Why?
BECAUSE I WANT IT GONE?
Why is not important. Why does every person online tell me why I should keep it, or how to move it instead of just answering 'Here is the up to code way to remove an outlet". I can not find that anywhere on the internet and I spent over an hour looking.
>1. outlet has one(1) jacketed wire bundle running to it
I have no way of seeing it, I can't get to it from the celling but it looks like it only has one set of wires running down.
It was a Mexican wiring job, whole house was. Some of the lighting is just wired directly without a box.
It sounds like I just need to hire an electrician at this point.
Why is it impossible for you people to imagine a scenario were an outlet is in the way of something?
Imagine googling "How to cancel gym membership" and every result is 'Why would you want to do that? Think of your health, try changing to another gym, try building a home gym,.."
Are you all in the pocket of big electric?
>Why is it impossible for you people to imagine a scenario were an outlet is in the way of something?
>Imagine googling "How to cancel gym membership" and every result is 'Why would you want to do that? Think of your health, try changing to another gym, try building a home gym,.."
>Are you all in the pocket of big electric?
chuck is that you?
>THEN HOW DO I DO IT TO CODE
Disconnect the wires at the next upstream point from the receptacle that you're trying to remove. Whether that's the next outlet over, a circuit breaker, etc. Once they are 'dead' wires, then you're not hiding a junction box anymore and NEC no longer applies at all
great, thanks.
That's to much for me, so I'll pay someone who can do it
So this whole thread was a character arc revealing that you really are in fact a moronic homosexual. I guessed about halfway through but appreciate the conclusion.
Anon, the simple fact that I spent forever searching on the internet for the proper way to do this, then went on PrepHole to make this thread, instead of just doing it the way I thought up should tell you that I don't know anything about electrical work.
A gym membership costs money.
An unused socket doesn't cost you anything or harm you in anyway.
code states you need an actual blank cover over it even if the outlet is removed and the existing wires wire-nutted together
the correct thing to do is hire an electrician to remove the outlet, since you're obviously moronic, then mount the wall mirror with stand-offs
you may want to hire a professional for the mirror too judging by your posts lmao
>I have no way of seeing it, I can't get to it from the celling but it looks like it only has one set of wires running down.
turn off the power
unscrew the fricking wall plate and then unscrew the fricking plug if you still cannot determine it.
it sounds like you are already comfortable climbing into the atic so if it does in fact have just one wire bundle going to it, then you have a to code way of removing it.
the to code way in this case is to follow that wire through the attic to wherever it goes, which almost aleways is to another outlet, then remove the wall plate for that outlet and carefully pull the outlet out of the wall and figure out which bundle/terminals are to that wire and fricking cut it off.
job done tape up both ends, put the plug back together youre keeping, and put drywall over the one youre not.
there is nothing in the code that says you have to remove the wire from the house, it can exist in the walls as long as there is no power connected to it.
Post mirror.
>Why is it impossible for you people to imagine a scenario were an outlet is in the way of something?
Because they don't exist. You're just schizo.
if you want it removed by code, you have to remove the outlet from the stud, then rewire all of the connections from the box you just removed(remove all wires attached to the box to their connections and have a direct run from the boxes/panel the outlet was connected to)
You're better off just putting a plate over it.
One option is to cut out a portion of the wall and see where the wiring goes to, if there is enough wire to relocate the outlet somewhere(like above the mirror or next to it), then do that. Otherwise you can relocate the wiring, put it in a junction box, attach to stud, then put one of those white metal covers on it, pic related. You can even paint them(turn off breaker when painting it, or just paint the cover while it's off then let it dry then put it on.
This adheres to code.
If it's a GFCI outlet there is a reason for it and you have to have a gfci outlet on the first electrical box in the circuit. If you removed it without putting a gfci on the new first box, your circuit is no longer GFCI protected and it could cause an electrocution.
If you don't want to follow code, you could put every connection in a junction box and leave it in the wall
If you REALLY don't want to follow code, then just remove it from the stud, put a plate on it, hide it in the wall, then patch new drywall on the area where the outlet was
make sure you turn the breaker off when you do any of this
Take the outlet out. Leave the box and the wires. Cover the ends with wire nuts and tape.Stick a piece of foam into the box. Cover it up with your mirror. Done.
Don’t make permanent changes to mount something that is not permanent like a mirror.
>I was going to put Wire Caps on all of them wrap Eleatic tape around it, shove them in the wall and put a plastic plate over the hole.
there's nothing wrong with this, that guy in the video is probably a schizo
I don't know why you'd ever want to remove an outlet but...
I'd just kill power,
Take the outlet out
Wire nut and tape all conductors in the outlet box
Put a blank wall plate over it.
I wouldn't drywall over it. Seems dumb and unnecessarily irreversible. There's nothing wrong with a blank plate.
Looks ugly and i KNOW theres an outlet there. At that point why not just have an outlet?
>i KNOW theres an outlet there
That's an important safety benefit to future occupants and workers because it indicates live wires are in the wall.
What if im the only one who will live here
Will it be your tomb?
If hes drywalling over it and later drills into it, yes kek
>anon drills the wall
>1/4" drill bit hits the exact 1/4" where not one, but two wires are exactly lined up
>these two wires are inexplicably fastened in place and unable to flex out of the way of the drill bit
>despite encountering this new resistance, anon continues to drill
>he perfectly shreds the insulation of both wires, with the drill bit exactly lined up between them
>a small flash occurs (inside the wall) and anons drill bit turns slightly black
>electrical fires don't happen
gtfo
Covering a junction box is a code violation, and while the risk from doing so is quite low, it's still not a good practice. The same thing can be said for tons of other poor wiring practices...
Have you ever started working on a house and found decades of shitty hackjob fixes from handymen that all added up to an abominable total picture? Shitty fixes are a slippery slope
most electrical fires involve 50 year old breakers, or no breaker, or oversized breaker, with daisychained extension cords running space heaters to keep brown people warm.
NOT. MY. PROBLEM.
Most
for me they end up being a good spot for putting a wireless switch so i don't have to mount it directly on the wall like a pimple
Ask yourself that, why not just have an outlet then? You never included any logical reason why you'd want it removed. Better to have and not need than need and not have, especially if something is already in the "have" state without needing to do any work and "not have" would require extra work to make happen.
Wtf is your problem with outlets guy
Put a metal plate before you drywall it so some DIY moron doesnt drill into it and kill themselves
Just hang a picture over it, WA LA
I guess I'll be the first one to ask the obvious.
Why?
Okay so you need to first inspect YOUR outlet because there are three or more different scenarios and answers.
1. outlet has one(1) jacketed wire bundle running to it
2. outlet has two jacketed wire bundles running to it and the linking bars in the outlet are not cut
3. outlet has two jacketed wire bundles running to it and the linking bars in the outlet ARE cut
4. outlet BOX has three jacketed wire bundles going to it, two are combined in the back of the box, with short leads going to outlet, and the third wire bundle goes to the outlet and the linking bars are cut
5. ???? mexican wiring unknown
in scenario 1 you need to cut the power and go to the next closest outlet and disconnect all the wires and then attempt to isolate the other end of the wires that go to your removal outlet. if you are successful in isolating this then you can simply cut it off or tape it up and leave it.
in 3, same deal but the extra set of wires goes to a wall switch somewhere and you have to find that and isolate it there too.
in 2, you are fricked, isolating the wires would cut power to more outlets than intended. you can just join them in the box but it is against code to cover it up with drywall.
in 4, same as two but the third wire goes to a light switch.
in 5, buy one of those 6 way outlet breakout things that screws onto the plug and cut the hot and neutral pins off, leaving the ground, and screw it to the outlet then strip out the screw. this disables the outlet and you dont have to deal with that shit
Wire nuts and a blank plate. if you want it fully removed you need to find the romex in the attic, cut it, wire nuts and electrical tape wrapped in a junction box. Then the wires to your outlet are dead and you can just patch the hole. Chances are high thought that there are more outlets connected to that outlet so you will need to make sure you have a way to feed the rest of the circuit. Just hire an electrician honestly because you don't know what you're doing. Fricking do not hide live wire ends in the wall. Wire nuts or not that shit is not okay.
Undo wires, twist wires as if they were connected to the socket, cover it with pic related.
You can try putting drywall over the thing, but id rather just put a plate
I'm gluing a giant mirror to the wall, a plate bumping out would ruin everything.
>I'm gluing a giant mirror to the wall
That sounds really moronic.
Properly screw it on and you'd have some space between it.
>Some space in-between for bugs and dust to collect
Why would I want that?
Why are you worried about dust you cannot see?
Unless the only furniture you own is a futon, you have plenty of niches and hidden spaces everywhere already.
Having a spider living behind your mirror won't hurt.
>>Some space in-between for bugs and dust to collect
lmao what the frick
this wouldnt happen and most people don't glue mirrors to the wall
you can get decent mounting brackets that make it almost flush
>I'm gluing a giant mirror to the wall,
Just a reminder when you remove an outlet and ask about the code,
Article 210.52(A)(1)
>Receptacles shall be installed such that no point measured horizontally along the floor line of any wall space is more than 6ft from a receptacle outlet.
You might be putting a receptacle right back where you removed it if you wish to not have a code violation.
So because the original builder put an outlet in, there must be an outlet forever? What the frick?
>So because the original builder put an outlet in, there must be an outlet forever? What the frick?
That's not what it says or what I said, but it would be easiest to just put it back. You could comply with the code by doing something more difficult and expensive.
>Receptacles shall be installed such that no point measured horizontally along the floor line of any wall space is more than 6ft from a receptacle outlet.
This sounds like a scam engineered by Big Outlet
Glueing a mirror sounds cool until it cracks and you get to chisel off said glue and glass. Frame that fricker attractively to simulate being Caucasian.
I had the joy of doing that fixing shit for my bros rental property. It was at that point I figured out the best material for tenants is sand-filled tires like a shoot house as they destroy everything else.
I removed a giant wall-to-wall mirror from the 80s. 3 giant pieces glued to the wall with what looked like locktite. One of them the glue had peeled off completely and the mirror was just standing under its own weight.
Also the mirror in the middle was larger and had a hole cut for an outlet. And the wall plate was also a piece of mirrored glass.
They sell blank covers which are the easiest way. Remove receptacle, dead end wires with nuts (I prefer Bofadeez brand) then screw on cover and done.
This is an easy question, I'm not sure why you are getting so many moronic responses.
What I would do is, cut the breaker to the outlet. If you don't know which one it is, just cut all the breakers and use a headlamp to see while you are working. Open up the outlet and take it apart. Now cap all 3 wires, tightly and shove everything back into the wall. Use scab boards, drywall, and drywall mud to do your patch. When you have done it properly and sanded, you can paint it and it's gone completely.
NOW. Like everyone said, it's safe, but it's not actually up to code. To make it up to code, you can cap the wires and put an outlet cover on where the outlet was OR you can cut into the drywall and keep removing wire until you reach the wire origin point and remove from where the connection starts.
But anyways, frick code. Just cap the wires in the wall and drywall over it.
>drywall over a live open box
absolute cringe
Just remove the recepticle and wire nut the wires. Then put a blank cover on the box. That will be to code.
Why not just take the outer plate off the wall. Then it will be flush so you can hang a mirror there
>having open electrical boxes
moronic
Covered by a mirror who gives a frick.
what if the homeowner sells the house or dies and nobody knows about it?
>remove mirror
>oh gee isnt that convenient, weve got an outlet right here
>what a great guy [previous home owner]
Bro what if he drills through it!
if the entire wall is going to be covered with a mirror then that means you dont give a shit what is behind it, just cut a large area of drywall out and check out what's behind it, reroute the wires then put the drywall back on
honestly dude, why not just put it in a junction box and leave it in the wall? it's not code but I have 2 junction boxes hidden in my wall right now
make sure the box is completely covered and you tie the wire nuts correctly though
make sure nobody is able to puncture the box with a screw(check both sides of the wall)
see if you can mount the box to the side of the stud while making sure it doesn't protrude outside the wall
I'm not going to read this shitty thread. "Code" requires you to put in a junction box, fuse the wires together, and then leave a permanent ugly metal plate on your wall for the rest of forever to remind you that an outlet was once there. Its moronic, its gay, and there's no reason to do it besides to make some autistic homosexual happy somewhere.
UPDATE and Backstory:
I was doing all these renovations because the POA is having all the houses inspected in the whole development and a lot of shit in my place, is not up to code.
They called and I ended up being one of the first on the list.
I capped the wired and drywalled over the outlet like I wanted to do from the start.
I just said frick it let's see what he says.
Inspector showed up, looked around outside for a few minutes, checked the breaker, asked if there were any problems, and left.
My whole place passed inspection and is up to code.
This must be how my box less light switches passed the first time.
Time to install the wall mirror.
Thanks PrepHole
Yup thats how code works in the real world. And if you were an electrician he wouldnt have even showed up, just maybe called.
inspection is a joke. when I had power run to my shed the electrician was talking about all the different inspectors he ran in to. he told me that an inspector is usually someone with some kind of construction experience but that when an electrical inspection happens you don't always get an inspector that is an electrician. which can be good or bad. if they are not an electrician they might ding you on something that is up to code (but they don't know the code), or the do like the guy who came out. opened the electrical boxes. poked at stuff, wiggled lines and conduit not related to them being out there, and passing it. it was a joke.
just like the home inspection that my house got when I bought it.
congrats on being a moronic homosexual
i hope your house burns down, it probably will
t. The insane homosexuals that demanded arc fault breakers be mandated because of a generous estimate it would prevent roughly sixty (60) house fires a year in a nation of 350 million people.
a couple years ago I needed to strip paint from a small engine. I went to get paint stripper and all the paint stripper had been nerfed.
when I looked in to it, I found that they removed all the methylene chloride based paint strippers because in 60 years about 1 dozen idiots who didn't read the instructions tried to strip their bathtubs without proper ventilation. these idiots died and now you can't buy the stuff that works in any hardware store.
you have to buy it from a place that sells aircraft parts. luckily I found a brand new can of it at an estate sale.
it won't. can you be certain your house has nothing like that in it?
I find it hilarious when morons get all but hurt because you didn't do something exactly to code.
code is not a solid unwavering bible. code allows for all sorts of shit considered unsafe today.
move in to a house built before 1930 and it probably has knob and tube wiring. It's totally up to code, because code grandfathers all previous code for existing houses.
However it would behoove you to bring the house up to code at some point.
doing what OP did is no more "unsafe" than running wires to an outlet. Sure people know there is an outlet there but they have NO idea where the wires are behind it.
If he is putting a mirror over it I would write on the wall (behind the mirror) "there used to be an outlet here".
in my old house we had a switch that was broken and we were not sure where it went to. Possibly a fan mounted in the attic. I deleted the switch covered it, and put a note inside the box with what I thought it went to for the next guy.
>You may not: splice behind wall finished. Ever.
he just did.
Code nerds are the worse
Should've just covered the hole with the mirror instead of putting drywall over it
in the city I live in, if you want to replace your water heater, you need a permit... unless you have a licensed contractor do it. then you don't and you don't need an inspection. since they would have no way of knowing either way. I replaced. just like the 3 other water heaters I did in the past.
when my shed was wired for electricity (60amps) they ran the wire in a conduit under ground (that was already there). It was inspected. which was a joke the inspector did not seem to know how the wire was routed, and was checking the conduit that was installed 6 months prior when I had 220 run to my garage (no inspection needed).
later after it passed I did all the wiring inside the shed. I used 12AWG 2 wire (with ground) armored cable and installed all the outlet boxes and light fixtures. I made one mistake in that the clamps that hold the cable in the boxes did not have the dealybob that keeps the armored part of the cable from going in to the boxes. am I going to fix it? no. because my shed isn't doing 50 down a bumpy dirt road, and the likely hood I will be opening those boxes up in the next 25 years is almost zero, when I will fix them if I feel like it. I also installed a 50 amp 220 outlet outside so I can do welding.
inb4 I will get mine when the house gets sold and they do an inspection. HAHA! no, they didn't open a single outlet in my house when they did the inspection before I purchased it. they also did not catch a ton of stuff that I knew was a problem. they reported that I had to have a pan under my water heater, which is not true since it is not on a second floor, or over a basement.
if you want to do it like an electrician would, youll have to find the feed, and pull it back to somewhere accessible (such as an attic or basement), pull the load side wire(s) to somewhere accessible, and put a junction box at either end a rerun the wire between them somehow.
Lighten up fellas. OP just wants a huge mirror to watch himself have gay butt sex.
This thread became a clusterfrick. To remove the outlet and drywall over the hole, you gotta run wires from the next upstream point as other anon said.
You may not: splice behind wall finished. Ever.
>You may not: splice behind wall finished. Ever.
Here in reality there are tons done everyday.
Just did, feel free to cope and seethe
>I’m just going to pay a pro
Damn, why even ask the question and make a whole thread? This is like 2 days in a row somebody got reasonable advice on an easy job and totally gave up without trying at all.
Don’t ya gays have any curiosity? You never want to learn how to do a 10min job that requires minimal tools and not call a random dude to come into your home and take your money?
Wire nut them and put a blank outlet cover over them. Don't get rid of them if they're not causing a problem, the next person that buys the house may not have crippling asbergers and will probably want to restore them.
Why are you shilling roman electric co.?
Why don't you add wire chase it along the wall and have the socket left/right under the mirror?