robin591•27d agoProlific Poster

Found a guy mudding over outlet boxes last week and it drove me nuts

So I'm on this job in a basement finishing project, and the electrician already ran his rough-in. I come back to hang board, and the homeowner's buddy had already started taping. Idk what he was thinking, but he mudded right over a round outlet box like it wasn't there. I mean, you gotta at least cut your boxes out before you finish, right? Has anyone else run into people skipping the box cutouts and just burying them?

3 comments

3 Comments

piper77927d ago

I read an article not long ago that said some drywallers actually think this saves time, which is just crazy to me. They figure they'll find the box later with their knife or something, but it never works out that clean. You end up with a lumpy mess around the outlet and a nightmare for the trim guy. Plus, building codes in most places require those boxes to be accessible and flush with the finished surface. If an inspector catches that, you're ripping it all out and starting over anyway. How do these guys even get away with that kind of work?

nancyj1127d ago

@piper779, how do these guys sleep at night knowing they'll cause that much extra work?

olivia_moore27d ago

Blame it on the builder or GC, honestly. They're the ones who hire these guys and don't check the work until it's way too late, if ever. Plus, if the homeowner is paying per square foot for the drywall, they're not gonna push back when the job gets done faster. Seen whole neighborhoods go up with boxes buried like that because nobody wants to slow down the crew. The guy doing the drywall probably sleeps fine knowing he's already cashed the check and on to the next house.