METAL ELECTRICAL OUTLET BOX

 

While building a new laundry in the 1936 Hill House in Little Rock, I happened upon this metal outlet box. The bathroom I'd demolished, turning it partly into the newly expanded kitchen but mostly into a new laundry center, presented me with this, and since I try to keep up with the codes (as well as understanding how conductive metal outlet boxes are), I decided to trade it in for a newer ABS plastic box.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a frugal Yankee that reuses EVERYTHING. But if any kind of electrical hazard can be avoided, I’ll hide my frugal environmentalist face and use plastic. It won’t shock you and it won’t start a fire.

The old metal box, which I dated to the late sixties, had been refitted with a new 3 prong (grounded) receptacle and 12 gauge grounded shielded cable (aka Romex). But a past electrician had not replaced the metal box, as it was in the wall and would have made someone in the past cut it out and replaster around it, a labor-intensive process. But I had torn out the whole wall, so changing it to plastic was easy for me.

But this is not about plastic vs. metal.

It is about something far more likely to start a fire in your lovely, treasured Old Home.

 

Mice love to get themselves into tight little places, and once they’ve found one, they make it cozy by lining that space with anything soft. In this case it was a bit of blown-in cellulose insulation I had installed in the upper attic crawl in the mid 20oughts. Cellulose insulation is mixture of pulverized paper and shredded wood products that, if untreated, would  create a serious fire hazard. It insulates very well. But, since it is treated with fire retardants, it won’t even smolder if a match or coal falls into it. At least that's what they say; I've not the temerity to try it.

I’m not so sure what would happen if the cellulose got wet and shorted out the circuit. A spark? Or a white-hot arc that has no regard for the wet insulation and finds more handy fuel close by? Such as my 300 year-old framing timbers?

I will not take that chance.

Looking into all the other outlet boxes in the house, I found no further rodent hotels.

But if you’ve had a recent experience with meeses in your house, you might want to check your outlets. You don’t have to pull them from their boxes, as in the picture. Using a flat screwdriver to remove the tiny screw in the middle of the plate (be careful, and don’t stick it into the outlet hole…AAAAUUuuughhh!), you can remove the plastic cover, and peering in with a flashlight, see if any collected effluvia might crowd the posts (the screws that hold the wires).

DO NOT TOUCH THE WIRES OR ANYTHING IN THE BOX!

It’s most likely free of rodent effluvia, but if you see fluffy wads of material, LEAVE IT ALONE and call an electrician. If I were you, I wouldn’t even put the plastic cover back on. I’d quietly pack a bag and sneak out the back door, then hop a bus for Mexico.

 

Sorry, I got carried away. You can stop in McAllen.

But do call an electrician if you find anything in one of your outlet boxes; there might be more.