Moving a light switch?

[Jamie Buxton]

I want to stand a piece of furniture in front of a wall that has a light switch in it. I'd like to move the switch about 12" to the left. Actually I'd add a new old-work box, run romex from the existing box to the new box, put the switch in the new box, and put a blank cover plate on the old box. The hitch is that the existing box is on the right side of the stud. That is, the added romex must pass through that stud. Is there some way to do this without doing drywall/tape/texture/paint work? Maybe bore through the left wall of the existing box and the stud? (It is a plastic box.) Or maybe remove just a little sheetrock and cover the gap with an oversize cover plate?

[Carroll Courtney]

Is there an attic above the switch location or is there a second floor?Sometimes the switch may be feed from a plug or the feed may be at the light itself.First find out if there is 2 wires and a ground or if 2 sets of wires,that will help to know if your dealing with the wires from the light and the feed or if just the light---Carroll

[Jim O'Dell]

Is there a way to get the old box out without destroying the sheetrock? Maybe push the edge away from the stud back so the box mostly clears the drywall, then pry it away from the stud? (Or destroy the original plastic box to get it out, it's not like you need to save it.) If so, then cut your new opening and check to make sure the cavity is clear and drill a hole above where the old box was. Run your wire and use two of the new "old work" boxes and you'd be good to go. Make sense? Jim.

[Peter Stahl]

I've cut boxes out before by prying them a little then cutting the nails with a sawzall between the box and the stud. Getting back though the hole can be tricky. You could leave it drop down in the wall, shouldn't hurt anything there.

[Dan Hintz]

Not removing drywall is probably not going not be possible. To stay within code, you need to staple the wire within 8"(?) of the box... tough to do without getting in there.

[Steve Meliza]

I thought there were exceptions to the stapling rules for work done inside finished walls.

EDIT: There is an exception in NEC 2011, see 334.30(B)(1):

(B) Unsupported Cables. Nonmetallic-sheathed cable shall be permitted to be unsupported where the cable:
(1) Is fished between access points through concealed spaces in finished buildings or structures and supporting is impracticable.

Otherwise you need support within 12" of a box and every 4.5'. Horizontal runs that go through a hole or notch counts as being secured at that point according to 334.30(A)

[Matt Meiser]

A Multimaster or similar works great for hacking apart a plastic box inside a wall to get it out of the way (whether that ends up meaning down inside the wall cavity or the trash can depends on your luck, skill, and desire--if you desire it in the trash and have skills like mine, luck will have it in the wall cavity :D)

[Prashun Patel]

If it's only 12", and the patch will be hidden by the furniture anyway, I'd do the straightforward thing: cut the drywall, drill thru the stud, staple, and put in a proper new box. I'd leave the old box because it'll make moving it back easy. Besides, you'd need one if you don't have enough slack in the existing wire go to the new box without extending.

I'm no Mud-chaelangelo, but can say that 12" patches are fairly easy to hide well.

What's on the other side of the wall. Can you excavate from there if it's less conspicuous?

[Larry Browning]

What the main resistance to cutting into the drywall and patching it? About the only thing I can think of would be matching the paint if you don't have extra in a can somewhere. Even if that is the case, most paint stores can match a sample almost perfectly. Believe me, you will save yourself time and frustration if you just accept that you are going to have to do a little drywall patching. It will probably be quicker and certainly less of a hassle.
Just my 2 cents.

[Dan Hintz]

(1) Is fished between access points through concealed spaces in finished buildings or structures and supporting is impracticable.
I don't know what the proper definition of "concealed space" is in this context... so you could be right, I just don't know. I'd lean towards the safe side...

[Steve Meliza]

NEC 2011 Article 100

Concealed. Rendered inaccessible by the structure or finish of the building. Wires concealed in raceways are considered concealed, even though they may become accessible by withdrawing them.

[Ben Hatcher]

You can probably angle a ship auger bit in through the new hole to drill through the stud. A duplex box would probably make things easier, too.

[Chris Padilla]

I strung speaker through my ceiling doing the following:

Find a combination of hole saws such that one can be used to cut a patch for the other. If possible, use a drill press to punch out a drywall disc and then you don't have a pilot hole to deal with. Use as small a hole as possible in the drywall and a long drill bit to drill a hole through the stud that will get the romex over (14/2, I presume?). I then "glued" the drywall patch in with mud and lightly textured and repainted. It was pretty painless but the speaker wire was small diameter and easy to fish over...even through 5 or 6 ceiling joists.

[Jason Roehl]

I wouldn't disturb the paint or drywall. I second the notion of cutting out the existing switch box (I've done it with tin snips--old plastic is typically pretty brittle). Once you have the old box out, locate and cut out for the new box in the new location. One of those two holes should give you close enough access to the intervening stud to drill a 3/4" hole through it. Fish the new Romex through the hole, then poke the old and new wiring into the new boxes, install the remodel boxes and wire up the wire nuts and new switch as appropriate. Apply coverplates and you're done.

Dan, new wiring is fished into existing walls in remodels all the time in most of the country without it being stapled anywhere along its length. It's a perfectly acceptable, normal practice. In fact, it's much preferable to disturbing walls that may have several coats of lead paint on them in their history (not that the OP's do), but there's no need to make the job bigger than what it is. Heck, my first house (now 105+ years old) had oak studs with plaster and lath walls. No nails or cable staples were going into that old oak, hand-driven or otherwise.

[Jamie Buxton]

I'm resisting doing the drywall work because matching texture and paint color is difficult. Also the site is a ways away from home, so I'd likely be making multiple trips to apply mud and texture and paint.

Several people have proposed ways to cut out the existing box. I don't see how that helps. The existing romex is long enough to get into that box, but not long enough to get there and then to the new box which will be a foot away.

Here's a different approach that's occured to me.... Stores are full of wood cover plates for electrical boxes -- outlet covers, switch covers, and blanks. I don't understand why they're code-legal, but their profusion makes me think that they are accepted. So how 'bout I make a super-jumbo blank cover plate from wood? I cut a hole in the sheetrock beside the existing box. The hole is big enough that I can reach in with a right-angle drill head, and bore a hole straight through the existing stud. I fish my romex, (crudely) patch the hole in the sheetrock, and screw on my super-jumbo blank cover plate. The cover plate covers the box and the patch job. Can anybody see a problem with this?

[Jason Roehl]

Several people have proposed ways to cut out the existing box. I don't see how that helps. The existing romex is long enough to get into that box, but not long enough to get there and then to the new box which will be a foot away.



You would leave the old Romex in the original location--just add a short length to it to get to the new location. Use wire nuts to hook black to black, white to white, and copper to copper. You would wire the new switch exactly as the old. You just have to cut the old box out to get that short new piece of Romex and the old Romex into a replacement (remodel) box, and the new Romex through the hole in the stud. However, since the new Romex is connected to the original, those connections have to be in an accessible box.

[Art Mulder]

Several people have proposed ways to cut out the existing box. I don't see how that helps. The existing romex is long enough to get into that box, but not long enough to get there and then to the new box which will be a foot away.

What maybe isn't clear is that you are cutting out the existing box in order to give yourself room to cut a hole through the stud without cutting a hole in the drywall. AND THEN you put a new box BACK in that location, as well as in the new location. Then put on a cover plate there and Bob's Yer Uncle.

[Jamie Buxton]

What maybe isn't clear is that you are cutting out the existing box in order to give yourself room to cut a hole through the stud without cutting a hole in the drywall. AND THEN you put a new box BACK in that location, as well as in the new location. Then put on a cover plate there and Bob's Yer Uncle.

Say I manage to cut out the electrical box. Now I have a hole in the sheetrock that's about 2 1/4" by 3 1/2" tall, with a stud at one side. What tools do I use to stick through that opening to bore a hole sideways through that stud?

[Jerome Stanek]

Just use a speed bore drill bit the hole may be on a slight angle.

[Jim O'Dell]

I'd use a long drill bit and drill above the opening. It would be at an upward angle, but that shouldn't be an issue. Put the extension piece of wire through and fish it to the new opening (in the real world, curve the wire some so it ends up close to the new opening and grab it with your free hand:p) You replace the original box you cut out so that you have a safe place to wire nut the extension to the old wiring. You can't leave it in the wall cavity, it has to be accessible in an electrical box. Put a solid plastic plate on there, and wire and install the switch in the new spot and box. If something goes wrong, you can always fall back to cutting out and patching the drywall either with texture or decorative wooden panel. ;)
When we moved in to the current house, my wife's piano studio she teaches in is immediately off the entry. I cut a walk through in the wall so students and parents didn't have to go into the family room, make a u-turn at the kitchen, and back into the studio. The entry had some wild wallpaper on it (gone now). I cut the doorway (non load bearing wall) installed new king studs, header and jack studs and trimmed it out. All without disturbing the wall paper on the remaining wall. If you think through the project, there are almost always ways to get around the obvious way of doing things. Jim.