I was going to replace an electrical outlet today, but then I tapped on it with a screwdriver; and all is not as it appears!!!!

Years ago before I got this house, they put up thick Red Oak boards for Insulation / wall paneling on 2 walls in the Living Room. Well, one of the electrical outlets is recessed in behind the Oak Boards. Not a problem, I thought ! Just cut out around the Oak Boards , and pull the old outlet out along with the cover plate. I get the screwdriver out, and give the cover plate a couple of taps.




Apparently , when they installed the 2 prong outlet , they boxed the whole outlet in with white STYROFOAM material. No metal or Plastic box of any kind. Anyone ever heard of this being done, and what's the best way to fix it. The "cover plate IS the White Styrofoam surrounding the old 2 prong outlet.

It sounds like patch work electrical mess. If the boards are sturdy and they should be . Get you a finished wall electrical box. It has ears on it that secure it when you turn the screws to tighten it. Of course pull your wire thru it first then push it back into the wall behind the boards. I would remove all the styrofoam to make room for it.

Got a bunch of the blue boxes. I wonder what they hid behind the Styrofoam ?

I just found out that Electricity did not come to my Town until 1923. That could be one of the original outlets with the original wiring in the wall.

A 2 prong outlet is bad news. More than likely old BX cable which is at least 65 yrs old minimum.You more than likely will have brittle insulation when you start fooling with the wiring.If you are not comfortable you had better pay somebody.

Is that foam behind every wall or just the boxes? Can you run new wiring with modern wire anywhere? It's not that hard to rewire a place that is already wired just do a wire at a time easy peasy.

When we rewired the house about 20 years ago, they put all new wire in , except for the living room and 2 of the bedrooms. I have seen what was behind the old outlets that were replaced. None of them had this stuff around the outlet . This is the only outlet that has the Styrofoam.

got some pictures?????????

They may have done that because cold air was whistling in around the outlet. The styrafoam insulated the cavity and plugged up the air leak.

This was in the making for code for awhile, trying to build tighter houses.

2 prong wiring is paper wrapped and/or aluminum wires that are not to code today
There is NO ground wire present.
Our old farmhouse had this wiring and I had to run new 12/2 WG to receptacles 14/2 to lights WG
Its cheap insurance to INVEST in new wiring.

Are you sure its styrafoam? Outside walls might have been foamed. Urea formaldamide.
Just cut away that that's not needed.
just

Any wall thicker than 3/4" or so and those old work boxes aren't going to work.

The "old work" blue box will work on a thicker wall if the ears are removed and the opening in the wood is just big enough to get the box in. Screws can be inserted thru any of the 4 holes located at the corners. Careful on the cutting, to big is not always a great thing.