Pro tip: Check your outlet boxes before you start tiling

I spent a whole weekend laying subway tile in my kitchen, got to the outlets, and realized the old boxes sat too deep in the wall. Had to chip out three tiles and buy box extenders, adding another 4 hours to a job I thought would take 2. Anyone else run into this kind of hidden prep work that just kills your timeline?

3 comments

3 Comments

river_allen23d ago

Totally feel your pain. I had basically the same thing happen with my bathroom reno except it was the opposite problem, my boxes stuck out too far and I had to rip out and reposition the drywall before I could even get the tile to lay flat. It took me a whole extra afternoon and I was so mad at myself for not checking first. The hidden stuff is always what gets you when you think you've got it all figured out.

clairen8523d ago

Oh man @river_allen I read somewhere that electrical boxes cause like half the reno headaches.

the_aaron23d ago

Yeah, "the hidden stuff is always what gets you" hits hard. It feels like that's the real pattern with any big project, the stuff you didn't even know to look for eats up way more time than the main job itself. Maybe that's just how life goes, you think you've got the obvious part figured out but it's always the little surprises hiding underneath that teach you the lesson.