How to tile over new sockets?

margiemoo

am I meant to fill this before tiling my splashback? Not sure what to do here?

EricL

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's marvellous to have you join us, and thank you for sharing your question about tiling around your wall socket.

I suggest getting the actual power point socket and temporarily mounting it to its actual position. Don't wire it up, the goal is to determine where the power point will be located in the fixture. Once you have it in place use a marker to draw an outline of the power point. Be careful not to accidentally mark the cover with the marker.

Once the position has been marked remove the power point. You now have an idea of where the power point will be and where you'll need to tile up to. Because part of the tile will be going over steel, I suggest using Selleys 290ml Hold Up Construction Adhesive on the steel surface. The rest of the tile can be mounted with regular tile adhesive so there is no need to fill in the cavity in the wall.

Once you start tiling, you'll have a better idea of where the tiles will be going over the power point and how much to trim off.

Please remember to wear personal protection such as gloves, goggles and a mask when working on your tiled splashback.

Let me call on our experienced members @homeinmelbourne, @Dave-1 and @Adam_W for their recommendations.

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

margiemoo

Thanks Eric. A great help!

😜

Dave-1

Good Morning @margiemoo

Have you decided on what power points you are going to use? I like @EricL's suggestion about placing the one you want over the hole and marking it out. One thing to remember is on the back of the GPO (power point) will be the bump of connectors. When I have been installing them Sometimes I have cut the hole too small or the original hole is too small. The plate looks like you can move around the outlet a little but be aware of that center hole.

Also remember that you will have the mud and then the width of the tile so longer screws may be necasary. I found my kitchen splashback had a depth of two tiles plus mud the other week when I had to replace a gpo.

As Eric said, I wouldnt be filling the hole with anything. The mounting screw holes Id possible put the screws in to the plate so they are standing before you tile, that way you wont get anything in the threads.

Dave