Steve,
Good find and good question. Glad you brought it up. Yes, normally thats the case and you usually do the rough in electrical work then drywall then put in all the switches and outlets later. Since my father-in-law did all the electrical work and lives 1000 miles away, it was just easier to do it that way than having to make two trips. This way you can actually use the outlets and switches as well, plus we know everything works prior to the drywall going up. It allowed me to play around with where I wanted the switches, cans, etc. In the early pictures I had sconces in the HT room and later removed them. I also moved a bunch of cans several times and changed out positions of some outlets and switches a few times. It allows you to get a feel for how things are laid out without having to wait for the drywall to go up (too late then anyway).
A few things to point out. First, as you eluded to, you can't just stick a rotozip tool in there and carve out the box once the drywall goes up. This is a preference thing though. I prefer to measure and cut with a dywall saw and razor knife. The rotozip (I have a Dremel with a drywall bit) gets pretty messy with all the dust. I only used my Dremel when I had to. Same with the cans, I measured the outer edges, drew the box, found the center of the square and used a circle tool/drywall saw to cut it out. I tried the lipstick trick, but preferred to do it this way (and didn't want to ruin all my lipstick, er.. my wife's lipstick... yeah, thats the ticket).
We also took off those little "ears" on the top and bottom of all the outlets and most of the switches were we could. These little ears extend past the basic box size and are a pain in the ass because they get in the way of the drywall when you're putting it on the wall and you have to trim the drywall for them. By removing the four ears (not the center ones) you can slap the drywall up with the outlet/switch in place pretty easily. The dimmers that were installed had to be unscrewed from box and pulled through the hole then rescrewed back in the box since those particular (rocker type) dimmers have "fins" for heat dispersement and extend past the outside of the switch box. The wires were not removed from the dimmer, the outlet just hung out out of the box an inch or two just until the drywall went up. Electricians please chime in here, but I believe those ears were used when plaster walls were popular and are not really needed, although the give some support of the switch/outlet againest the drywall. The ears have a little line across them and with a few bends using a plier, then pop right off.
Of course, you probably want to turn the power off to that circuit in the area you're drywalling so you don't put a screw through a live wire. I didn't, but its probably a smart thing to do.
Bud
Good find and good question. Glad you brought it up. Yes, normally thats the case and you usually do the rough in electrical work then drywall then put in all the switches and outlets later. Since my father-in-law did all the electrical work and lives 1000 miles away, it was just easier to do it that way than having to make two trips. This way you can actually use the outlets and switches as well, plus we know everything works prior to the drywall going up. It allowed me to play around with where I wanted the switches, cans, etc. In the early pictures I had sconces in the HT room and later removed them. I also moved a bunch of cans several times and changed out positions of some outlets and switches a few times. It allows you to get a feel for how things are laid out without having to wait for the drywall to go up (too late then anyway).
A few things to point out. First, as you eluded to, you can't just stick a rotozip tool in there and carve out the box once the drywall goes up. This is a preference thing though. I prefer to measure and cut with a dywall saw and razor knife. The rotozip (I have a Dremel with a drywall bit) gets pretty messy with all the dust. I only used my Dremel when I had to. Same with the cans, I measured the outer edges, drew the box, found the center of the square and used a circle tool/drywall saw to cut it out. I tried the lipstick trick, but preferred to do it this way (and didn't want to ruin all my lipstick, er.. my wife's lipstick... yeah, thats the ticket).
We also took off those little "ears" on the top and bottom of all the outlets and most of the switches were we could. These little ears extend past the basic box size and are a pain in the ass because they get in the way of the drywall when you're putting it on the wall and you have to trim the drywall for them. By removing the four ears (not the center ones) you can slap the drywall up with the outlet/switch in place pretty easily. The dimmers that were installed had to be unscrewed from box and pulled through the hole then rescrewed back in the box since those particular (rocker type) dimmers have "fins" for heat dispersement and extend past the outside of the switch box. The wires were not removed from the dimmer, the outlet just hung out out of the box an inch or two just until the drywall went up. Electricians please chime in here, but I believe those ears were used when plaster walls were popular and are not really needed, although the give some support of the switch/outlet againest the drywall. The ears have a little line across them and with a few bends using a plier, then pop right off.
Of course, you probably want to turn the power off to that circuit in the area you're drywalling so you don't put a screw through a live wire. I didn't, but its probably a smart thing to do.
Bud
