# block wall wiring in schools



## nitro71 (Sep 17, 2009)

Sounds about right. Check your local codes on using the EMT. In WA we are not allowed to use EMT inside block walls at ground level.


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## Interlock (Jul 14, 2010)

That's pretty much it. I usually put the whole bundle of EMT into a vice and cut it with a portaband into 40" lengths and use those to stub up while chasing the masons.


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## ampchamp (Jul 18, 2010)

yup,
i've always done that as well, if you make friends with the mason ( buy em a bottle or 2) they may even put em on for you .


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## william1978 (Sep 21, 2008)

That's how we did it, but we would rough as much as possible in the slab so there is very little over head to rough. We would use 1.25" mud rings.


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## ampchamp (Jul 18, 2010)

1.25" mud rings, i'm pretty sure thats what i used as well,TILE Rings


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## william1978 (Sep 21, 2008)

Yea that will make the mud ring flush with the face of the block.


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

ampchamp said:


> yup,
> i've always done that as well, if you make friends with the mason ( buy em a bottle or 2) they may even put em on for you .



A dozen Krispy Kremes goes a long way, too.


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## jwjrw (Jan 14, 2010)

We call em plaster rings. I had to google mud ring.:laughing:


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## Interlock (Jul 14, 2010)

jwjrw said:


> We call em plaster rings. I had to google mud ring.:laughing:


We call them tile rings because they are square in the corners. Mud rings or plaster rings have rounded corners.


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## jwjrw (Jan 14, 2010)

Interlock said:


> We call them tile rings because they are square in the corners. Mud rings or plaster rings have rounded corners.


 
The "mud ring" I googled was a raco 8777-0 and it appears to have rounded corners also. I have seen mud boxes which have square edges. I don't recall ever seeing "mud rings" here other than plaster rings? I'm gonna ask my supplier Monday.


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

Mud ring = plaster ring = rock ring = tile ring.

Only difference twist one and another is whether it's welded or drawn.


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## BuzzKill (Oct 27, 2008)

Tip the masons with beer and watch em mount your boxes, like a hawk, and throw mortar and mud in behind your boxes to level them out...it's like babysitting...a baby.


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

BuzzKill said:


> ..........it's like babysitting...a baby.


Until their diaper needs changed. Then they start crying like one.:laughing:


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## BuzzKill (Oct 27, 2008)

pretty much, they are a fussy bunch.


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## Podagrower (Mar 16, 2008)

Nothing like having a knife fight break out 30' in the air.


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## nitro71 (Sep 17, 2009)

If they screw with you, you've got two choices. Go all crazy on em and toss their stuff off the scaffold or take it for a while and get to know em. Number two option is usually the best.


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## JohnR (Apr 12, 2010)

Be willing to take their razzing but be just as willing to knock down the wall if they missed your location that you told them way too many times about.

Gets the point across real quick.:jester:

We always used what we call mud boxes instead of 2900 style. They are gangable like metal old works but deaf and the device mounting screwhole has a full metal tab that returns down toward the device. ............ oh forget it , I will post a pic. 
or rather PDF as that is what came up first. It is a catalog page from Raco.


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## RIVETER (Sep 26, 2009)

nitro71 said:


> Sounds about right. Check your local codes on using the EMT. In WA we are not allowed to use EMT inside block walls at ground level.


Could you explain why, and what ground level has to do with it?


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## Wireless (Jan 22, 2007)

JohnR said:


> Be willing to take their razzing but be just as willing to knock down the wall if they missed your location that you told them way too many times about.
> 
> Gets the point across real quick.:jester:
> 
> ...


 
Around these parts they are called Masonry boxes! I use them for switch boxes where dimmers are required, makes life alot easier.


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## nitro71 (Sep 17, 2009)

RIVETER said:


> Could you explain why, and what ground level has to do with it?


WA has code that supercedes the NEC. Called WAC/RCW. They must have decided that there was to much corrosion at ground level due to moisture. I just know that WAC prohibits EMT in block walls at ground level.


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## 220/221 (Sep 25, 2007)

Out here it's PVC and masonry boxes (extra deep 1,2,3 gang boxes with the KO's set way back). If you use this method, install your ground screw/pigtail ahead of time so you don't have to struggle with it later.

Duct tape the box openings too.


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## John Valdes (May 17, 2007)

jwjrw said:


> We call em plaster rings. I had to google mud ring.:laughing:


We call them "mud rings".



Interlock said:


> We call them tile rings because they are square in the corners. Mud rings or plaster rings have rounded corners.


Don't have the slightest idea what you are talking about. Square in the corners? Please explain.



nitro71 said:


> If they screw with you, you've got two choices. Go all crazy on em and toss their stuff off the scaffold or take it for a while and get to know em. Number two option is usually the best.


Or make better friends with the iron workers.



Wireless said:


> Around these parts they are called Masonry boxes! I use them for switch boxes where dimmers are required, makes life alot easier.


Yea, and they cost three/four times what a 1900 box and mud ring costs. To expensive on big jobs and usually when your setting boxes in block walls its a big job.


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## Wiredude (May 14, 2010)

John Valdes said:


> We call them "mud rings".
> 
> 
> 
> Don't have the slightest idea what you are talking about. Square in the corners? Please explain.


As I learned it a few years back when I was working at a supply house a "mud/plaster ring" is a pressed piece, where a "tile ring" is a bent and welded piece. This creates square, hard corners, making fitting tile around the piece easier, all straight cuts in the tile, etc. Using them behind drywall, either one works pretty much the same.


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