How To Add An Outlet To A Finished Wall 

All My Favorite Tools Used On This Video - www.amazon.com/shop/everydayhomerepairs

I’m an electrician with 48 years experience and was still impressed. Good job.

Industrial electrician here - this tutorial was brilliant. It’s so annoying when someone shows how to run wire and they have a big ol basement under it to run it through - ya obviously that’s easy if you got that but most people don’t. The trim trick and even pre-installing the connector was very clever and as someone who does work on his own house I really appreciate it - thanks and bravo! 👏🏻

I love the consistency and professionalism of having your plate screws at 12 and 6 or 3 and 9. That’s the finishing touch that gives the job a better look but no can tell why. Nice touch.

You are literally a life saver! I’m going through tough times as a teenage girl and my parents are going through a divorce, and my mom has not the first clue on how to do anything with basic home repair. I thought I would just learn all of this myself! Thank you!

handy tip .... NEVER ASSUME both outlets on a box are connected together ... test BOTH sockets on an outlet to ensure power is off ... the resulting shock when one finds out someone wired 2 different circuits into one socket is enough to make you never make that assumption ever again

This is, without a doubt, one of the best videos I've watched on home work/remodeling. Well explained without all the added unnecessary blather. Thank you.

As an experienced craftsman and past electrician I watched your video expecting a train wreck/ hack job. Boy was I surprised. You did an excellent job! I will be adding you to my list of people to recommend. Great work!

This is the best electrical tutorial I have ever seen. I have been an electrician for over 16 years and I usually don't recommend people do their own electrical, but from now on I am going to direct them to your chanel.

Once in a while we bump into a video so informative we cannot but think every video should be made in the same way. This video is simply packed with tricks and useful info. Awesome!

6:28 all these years and I never considered attaching the NM clamp to the cable first, before installing it in the box. Learn something new every day.

This is literally the first video I've ever seen that shows exactly what I've been wanting to do and exactly how to do it. Thank you!

A good man knows his own limitations, a great man admits them and refers you to a great caulk guy! Y'all helped me wire and seal my new kitchen! Thanks guys!👍

Thank you for vacuuming the open bays out before you started the work. It's what I do. I see so many SLOBS just leave everything. I had to go behind one of my corner kitchen cabinets to run a wire and found coffee cups, rags, actual garbage. I felt like contacting the contractor who did that work... to come pick up their garbage. Being clean is a quick and easy way to NEVER leave a tool behind.

As an electrician I am genuinely happy to see nothing scabby here. Well done

That's a nice technique, I have used it several times over the years. Nicely demonstrated. I have a pro tip for you. When you use an old work box for a new outlet, many times the cover plate doesn't meet flush with the wall - there can be a small gap between the cover plate and the wall. When this happens, you can avoid this gap by breaking off the tabs (ears with loops) on the top and bottom of the outlet. These outlet ears are scored so that they are easy to break off - the outlet is designed for this. You can see the top ears clearly at 9:26 in the video. When you break those tabs off, the remaining top part of outlet will then set closer to the wall, in between the blue tabs on the top and bottom of the electrical box, which hold the box to the wall on the edge of the hole in the drywall. This allows the outlet to be seated closer to the wall and the plate will also seat closer to the wall, eliminating the gap.

As a licensed plumber, I felt compelled to watch this to the end, because us trades need to know EVERYTHING about all the other trades right! I'm glad I did because wow, you explained all this very clearly, and the good tips were coming fast and furious! I'll use this some of this knowledge somewhere I'm sure, maybe in my own trade. Thanks!

33 year electrician here. Great video! I also never considered removing base board to do that type of install. What a great idea and so much easier to fix than drilling out holes in the drywall!

Brilliant!!! I'm a retired master electrician with almost 60 years experience - why did I never think of this????? Many thanks!

This is probably the best do-it-yourself video I have seen on RU-vid yet. And not just that but all of the comments I have read have provided as much information as the video. And no flame wars. Great!

Really nice job, and great video. I'm a 67 yo electrical engineer and do my own home improvements including finishing my basement. That's a clever trick to take the wiring down to the baseboard. Nice job describing the potential gotcha's like stud holes where your trim nails will go, clipping the old trim nails instead of yanking, and strain relief/protection on the cable going into the metal box.

Residential electrician here. BEST RU-vid tutorial I've come across. He didn't miss a thing for old work! In a perfect world, a romex staple would be placed below the box to secure the wire, but it's not a perfect world. This however, in my opinion was a perfect install. PS We dont use wago connectors because they're expensive lol

HVAC mechanic with 20+ years experience here. The way he connected the box connector to the wire first and used it to fish through the box is brilliant. I will be using that trick in the future for hard to get at boxes.

Doing your work behind the trim is genius

Excellent! I've done work like this in my home for the past 30+ years, and your videos are a must have for people like me. Thank you for your invaluable info for the home handy-man...Like me!

I been a sparky for 30 years and I still picked up a couple tricks here. I love the use of a magnet and the block to keep your cut level. Cheers Pal.

I love when someone makes a video that is clear and clever (watch alot of car fix videos). Too many guys don't carefully explain the steps - this guy is fantastic!

I liked this. I have done this. The most pleasing thing to me is telling people to be consistent.. vertical or horizontal with the plate screws. That's not just OCD, it is a professional look.

I appreciate that you acknowledge you are not great at caulking and refer to another channel. (Regardless if you are affiliated or not). This gives you MORE credibility in my opinion. Great video.

if you want to strengthen the box and keep it from damaging the drywall. only a very small amount of drywall is keeping the box secure. put some glue on 2 pieces of lath about 4" long and glue it to the top and bottom inside of the drywall where the tabs hold the outlet in place. I then use claps and let them dry. it will dissipate the stress from pulling the plug from the outlet.

I did this to hide an alarm wire & thought I was a mad genius🤣 Best tutorial and love how you clean as you go. Excellent work!!

This was awesome! I just finished a project where I had to pull trim work off and I do a lot of electrical work, but I had never combined the two. Thank you so much!

Ive been looking for a video like this for MONTHS! Not one other video had the idea of removing the trim! I didn't think of that and now I know I can do what I need to without a professional! Thanks!

I do love watching someone who knows what they are doing and can explain while they work. May you live long and prosper!

Very nice tutorial. The wire couplers looked cool so had to slow down that part haha.

Good work. I’m a Journey Electrician and I learned something today. I do comercial and industrial on my day job. But I’m constantly doing side work in Peoples homes and businesses so always trying to pick up tricks on fishing wires especially across studs. I done that type of stuff but it was the baseboard trick that I thought was slick

If you hear a loud bang this weekend around Palm Beach county Florida. That's me trying to do this and forgetting some of the steps .👍👍👍 Great video 👍👍👍

I've been doing this stuff for over 50 years (as a DIYer) and I have to tell you, I learned SO MUCH from watching this. You are my new hero! Thank you!!

Thanks so much for this video! I just finished adding an outlet, extending from a hallway through two closet walls into our mechanicals closet (GFCI) for a hot water recirculating system. I had to notch corner studs but everything worked as you showed. Enjoying the outcome!

Thanks for this video. Brilliant method and very clearly explained. I have one suggestion which you might want to consider. Before you reinstall the trim, it might be a good idea to caulk the cut lines on the reinstalled drywall piece. This would preserve the integrity of the air sealing in the house for those trying to maintain a tight house with low ACH. This caulking will be covered by the trim so it doesn't have to be pretty.

You just blew my mind. I was getting sick of cutting drywall and drilling through the stud and then muddying sanding texturing and painting this just saves so much time you are awesome

Nice! I've been doing this kind of stuff for 65 years and I still learned something - good job!

Clean and very well done. I'd even say that this is cleaner than some electricians would even try. I appreciate the methodic, organized, clean way you demonstrated this work. 5 stars.

Ingenious and crafty. I need extra extension so bad since I moved in to my old fixer-upper home. Your video helps me out immensely. I don't have extra breaker space in the box and my electric loads are light (desktop pc and a light. Occasional vacuum cleaner) so this suits me PERFECT A+ 👍

I’ve done a lot of electrical work in my life but this is the first time I’ve seen this trick. It’s quite brilliant. Thank you for the edu.

Been an electrician for 40 years and a contractor for 30. Never thought of this. Now I want to buy and learn how to use a brad nailer. Great job!

The second outlet protrudes past the finish plate because the four ear tabs weren't broken off where they contact the blue box. Break them off so the outlet is at the same depth as an outlet whose ears contact the drywall. Don't use an inch drill bit so close to the end of a stud, especially if the wall is load bearing. Use a half inch bit.

Great video! Did this exact thing but my walls had insulation so it took a bit more finagling. I found out my existing outlet already had another outlet chained off of it. The builders did the speed connector/backstab. I took those out and combined all 3 outlets into a wire nut with pig tail.

If you live in an older house, I would confirm the studs are in the right place. I constantly find different spacing on mine, but it was originally built in 1918, so things get a bit wonky.

I have done some electrical projects of my own. I have never run across a need to use this kind of setup. But, seeing this is so clear to me of how easy it is. Thank you.

I saw this video just before Christmas. Then I followed the process and added lights to a non-illuminated closet. Thank you for doing this video. I learned something and now we have seen the light in our closet.

Hi, I'm a British Electrician and I watched out of interest to see the difference between our system and yours. So apart from the voltage (ours being 230v ac) I thought I heard you say you used a 12 guage or 3mm cable, where we use either a 2.5mm + 1.5mm cpc or ground in your case for a ring main system or a 4mm + 1.5mm cpc for a radial system. Our colours are different too, we use Brown for live, Blue for Neutral and we use a green/yellow sleeve for our bare cpc, which you appear to omit. Appart from that the obvious back box and socket types was the fitting you used to protect the cable entering the box, yours being a solid fitting with a locking ring, which is, in my opinion superior to the rubber grommits we use. If any of your viewers are curious about British electrical systems they should look for Artisan Electrical on RU-vid. I really enjoyed your video, though👍🇬🇧🇺🇸

Removing the baseboard is genius. So glad I found your channel.

You deserve as much viewership and recognition as my boy Jeff over at ‘Home RenoVision’. Keep up the good work, you’re helping a lot of folks out.

I’m not afraid of having to do a little mudding, caulking and painting but, OMG; this tip is brilliant. I’m now imagining never running out of outlets. The Husband isn’t convinced but I’m getting myself a WAGO kit and fixing a bunch of stuff myself. Done waiting.

Was looking for something else, but this was brilliant and I will put it to good use in the future! Thank you for taking the time to share, you are an inspiration.

I've been a contractor 30+ years. I wasn't sold on this process at first. But this guy covered all the issues. I'm impressed and can back him up. Thanks for not being a hack- good job!

Hard to express how terrific this video is. No wasted time, everything shown and explained. The standard for RU-vid.

IBEW retired ten years. I like the tool you used to removed the trim. I never saw one before. Never did much residential work, but with with daughters who own homes I am always adding outlets or lighting in closed work situations. Nice video. Rather than using a plastic old work box I cut the nails off a plastic nail on box and drywall screw it to a stud.

This was very clear and looked pretty simple until 7:20. I'm not experienced enough with all the terminology et cetera. A lot to learn. Thank you.

This was amazing. I have no basement or attic and have been trying to figure out how to do exactly this. Thank you so much for sharing your techniques.

Well done!! Pretty straight forward for most homeowners to DIY! Your channel is an absolute pleasure to watch as you convey all the information clearly and concisely. No filler words nor any gab just to fill up air time!!! Your production is on par with a professional broadcast and you should be commended for putting out such a polished product!!!

Good Job, finally someone showing it the right way. As a license electrician its nice to see the code followed and solid advice.

I am about to start remodeling a bathroom including a new vanity with a sink. There never was a light above the sink, but there's an outlet on the wall to the left of the sink. I'm going to install a light on the wall where the back of the vanity will sit, and plan to tap off of the outlet. I knew I had seen this video before and thought I had saved it, which I didn't. At the time, I didn't know that it would come in handy. Now that I have my plans made I have to run romex through 2 walls that come together at a 90 degree angle. Your video makes it look easy, and it probably is. I'm going to take my time making the cuts and running the wire. I have the luxury of time for a change because the bathroom is on the top floor (we have 3 levels which includes a nice finished basement) and rarely gets used, but it needs to be remodeled. I'm so glad I found this video and appreciate your example and explanation! I'm really anxious to take on this challenge!

I did electrical work in the navy, but avoiding drywall work is why I hesitated to do work on my home. This was super easy, and I'll be using this for sure.

FANTASTIC content here. Using the trim to prevent this from being a drywall and paint project is like the drywall dust clouds parting and seeing the DIY blue sky for the first time. Love this!

Sometimes the most obvious solution, is the most elusive. Can't believe I"d have not thought to do it this way! Excellent!

It's so interesting watching different countries do their wiring and their style of outlets. In Australia we don't use a box behind the outlet. We rarely use solid core wire. We can put a lot more wires into our terminals on the outlet and all our outlets have switches to turn each outlet off.

So i just did this a couple months back....if I could, I would recommend anytime you're going through a stud like that with a drill, to bore holes for the romex, use a 90° adapter with a 1/4" end spade bit that works with impacts. You can get the bit more horizontal and don't have to lay down and push super hard at an angle. And I recommend Spyder Stinger bits. 🙂 Good video bud. Edit: I'm not saying the adapter or an installation driver (What I have, a Milwaukee M12 with multiple driving bits) is the BEST way to go about it.... I'm just simply saying that in my experience, putting holes in old work, a 90° adapter or installation driver is a great tool to have in your back pocket.

I loved that you accounted for the little things like drilling your holes above the drywall cutline to ensure your (or future) baseboard brad nails don't hit the wiring. Also, well done on pre-attaching the cable clamp. A "push-in" style would have made that potentially somewhat easier, but the threaded ones are of course super secure. The only issue with this strategy really is when the homebuilder cheaped out and installed 2 1/4" casing as baseboard...it'd be pretty tough to achieve this with only

Yeah, I did this about 6 inches off the floor. Wish I saw this video before and saved myself hours of extra work.

Thanks for this! Gonna tie into an existing outlet to make a small bank of outlets behind a TV. Clever shirt BTW!

Actually, the Knockout on the back bottom is the one you should have removed, and then you should have stubbed your wire down thru the existing box, and run the wire over to the new box. That way you're not trying to fish thru a hole. Much easier to do. I've done electrical work for YEARS and that's how it's done. You don't have to worry about your wire falling out if you twist your grounds together, and that way the wires don't have an pressure on the hole it goes thru. Works like a charm. The other reason I do that, is because the wire coming up thru the middle of the Box gets in the way of the receptacle itself. And I'll never ever use those types of connectors. Twisting wires together keeps the load off the connector, and puts it on the wire. Those devices are to cheap to handle many of the loads people will plug into those outlets. Mainly, Vacuum cleaners.

What a great video. This is one of the best do it yourself videos I've ever watched. Thank you

Thank you for this video. We’ve installed a few outlets and this method will help us save the customer a few hundred and while also allowing us to make additional profit. A win win method. The only addition I would make is wire protectors mounted to the studs, to avoid the off chance of a screw or nail going into the wire during a later renovation.

Great video. The only thing i could add is flip-flopping the side of the stud you are drilling so that the angles of the holes create a wave pattern through the studs with the cable, making it much easier to pull 👍

Never would have thought to go down through the base. Just saved me alot of drywall repair thank you!

Good job. Taking the yoke tabs off the outlet on the old work box is the only thing I would do too

I'm just finishing a new build -- a 600 sqft beach house. I asked the electrician to place the outlets, and then double them. The extra cost was tiny, and the effort negligible. Some have laughed at all of my outlets, but I love them!

I love the play on DIY-er! I’m about to use this very helpful lesson info to put an outlet on the opposite side of the wall, six feet over. Thank you for sharing this method!

Nice video. I would recommend installing metal stud guards on the studs where your wire is ran just as another form of protection.

I would recommend (urge) using BX armored metal clad cable for this!! Very easily a new owner may nail through non metallic cable while changing or installing taller base moulding!! Nail plates are good at the studs, but a stray nail may hit even between studs. Thats why i would say armored cable for this job is a must!!

Norwegian electrician here, so weird but also so happy to see an american use WAGOs. There are so many lies going around in american sparky-circles about WAGOs. The whole world used wire nuts, but we (everyone except north america) moved on to WAGOs and they have become the new industry standard. They are a german invention and if you know anything about germans its gotta be strict procedure, efficiency and safety.

Great video !! Thank you for explaining in detail without "talking just to hear yourself talk " as many people tend to do. I'd like to offer an additional tip if I may concerning the cutting of the drywall : I've found that using a slightly sharpened scraper blade on the oscillating tool instead of a standard toothed blade cuts just as well and generates far less dust. Also, I'm sure that people who hire you appreciate your cleaning up the area when finished - sure, it takes a few more seconds, but it results in repeat business and positive referrals !

Now this is a video! Straight to the point, logical and clean! Thank you, great info here!

Great video! One thing I would add… when I use my trim puller… I place a wide putty knife blade between the wall surface and the trim puller; thus, preventing any damage to the wall.

Wow! Speaking as a 12 year old domestic farm animal that is also a first time home owner living with my clueless parents who don't know the first thing about DIY, your channel has been a real life saver! Thanks so much!

Don’t know if anyone else mentioned this but at 5:05 in case you drill the conductors passage too close to the edge of a stud NEC I believe states that if your hole where a conductor passes through is less than 3/4” away from either edge of the stud, protection is required to prevent puncturing the conductor as he stated. Protection can be in the shape of a metal nail plate or similar approved product. I’ve seen a insert

Good video! One tip, when using old work boxes you can remove the ears off the outlet so the outlet recesses better into the box and its cover will sit flush. Ears are useful on new work boxes so you can get the outlet stable against drywall, especially if the box is recessed a little. On old work boxes, the box itself has ears for that stability so you don't need the extra set on the outlet - and the box accommodates this with the center being recessed a 1/8 inch from the ears on the box corners. The *de-eared* outlet will sit perfect in that recess allowing a clean cover plate flush on the wall.

I've been remodeling forever, yet I learned more tricks in this video than I've learned in a lifetime! Great, informative video.

Great video, you can tell you’re a professional. I’ve always wondered how to do this

Actually this is going to help me with an outlet at my job I need to add. Completely random to show on my feed. Kudos

Yes, I liked the way to vacuum cleaned the floor as you go. And I like the way you used painter's taped above the studs to identify the studs for re-nailing the dry wall and baseboard. Planning is everything. Awesome video, short and to the point. You're the man!!!

New subscriber after watching this. One of the best, clearest descriptions of the work I’ve seen on RU-vid. Very well done. Look forward to seeing your other videos.

Good tip, I never would have thought about that. Now I can fix my bedroom that was built in the 50s before people had more than 3 electronics in each room.. lol

Excellent instruction. The background information adds clarity and insight into the work. Excellent video production and commentary.

Your video taught me a great deal. Until now I've been more surgical at this type of work--cutting smaller holes just at the studs, then passing the wire through notches and kick plates. But that leads to occasional difficulties remounting the trim or sheetrock between the added space of the kick plates and their nail-repelling properties. Your method, with the wholesale removal of the sheetrock at the beginning, avoids all those problems and only adds a little extra cleanup. Thank you for showing us!

Scott, I just found your channel via my recommendations. I had no idea who you were and what your channel was about--I was just interested in this video. However, you have completely blown me away with how straightforward and informative you are in your videos. I am by no means a pro, and I wouldn't even call myself a DIYer just yet, but I think that I can definitely begin tackling more home projects well with guidance from your videos. Just let me say this: you make some of the best tutorials I have ever seen. Please keep up the great work!

OUTSTANDING! Was exactly the video I was looking for, same project as you but would need to go further, around the corner from your new outlet and never dawned on me to pull trim and run it. Liked, saved, subbed! Thank you!

Good video. Bonus: Small nail-plates or collars will also protect wires passing through studs from being punctured by drywall fasteners.