Cut the clutter and save yourself some serious money!
I recently moved into a new home, and out of necessity had to mount my TV on the wall. I do like the look, but hated the fact that the power cords had to stretch to the bottom outlet. Although it may seem like a daunting task to relocate or add a new plug behind the TV, I assure you it isn't! Follow the steps below to get it done!
Tools you'll need:
Hardware:
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Tools you'll want:
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Step 1: Assess your setupMy TV was already mounted on the wall. So laying out where the wall box had to go was pretty simple. In order for this to work, your TV must cover the same stud cavity as the current outlet. In the picture the green lines are the studs, and the light orange is where you should have open space.WARNING! Make sure there are no horizontal studs across your wall before starting! If there are, then you'll need to re-attack this project.
TIP: use your stud finder to locate both the horizontal and vertical studs
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Step 2: Layout the locationThe best spot for you outlet is going to depend on the TV size and shape. Mine has a large lump on the lower half, so to accommodate larger plugs I chose to put it higher on the wall. Take your outlet box and use the level to position the box. Then trace an outline with a pencil.
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Step 3: Make the cut!
Now things are getting scary! Your about to cut a big ole hole in a perfectly good wall. Dont fret, patching drywall is pretty easy so although a mistake here would stink, its not the end of the world.
If your stud-finder has wire sensing capabilities, take a second here to verify that there are no wires behind this area.
Take your drywall knife and carefully cut out the your tracing.
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Step 4: TURN OFF THE POWER!Yes, this gets its own step. Don't be that guy or gal who fry's themselves doing a simple diy project! Locate your breaker box and turn off power to the outlet you will be working with. I like to use a cheap AV voltage probe to ensure the circuit is dead, but a lamp, fan, or anything you can plug in will also work. |
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Step 5: Remove outlet
Your about halfway there at this point! Go ahead and remove the face-plate and actual Outlet from the wall box. Dont take any wires off, just pull it out a ways and put it aside.
If you look up inside the box, you'll see I have two ROMEX lines coming in. The upper right hole is where I will be running the new line.
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Step 6: Go fishing
Now is when you will regret not having an electricians fish-tape on hand. This step is possible to complete without it, but I promise it will be a huge pain in your a#@.
Take the tape and shove it through one off the access holes in the wall box, then navigate it up the wall to your freshly cut hole. (This is where the horizontal stud would be an issue, you wouldn't be able to get the wire past it). Be patient as the insulation in the wall can make this a bit challenging. Also don't be afraid to stick your hand in the upper hole and feel for the tape with your fingers.
If you chose to do it with the ROMEX and not the tape, the process will be the same.
If your superman and manage to do this with the actual ROMEX then congrats! You can move on to the next step. For us mortals, we now need to pull the ROMEX back the way we came. To do this, use some electrical tape to secure the ROMEX to the fish-tape end. Carefully pull it back through the wall and into your lower outlet box.  |
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Step 7: Prep Wires for Lower OutletAlright time to start stripping. Woe now, keep your clothes on! I'm talking about wire stripping. You'll want to pull about a foot of ROMEX through the hole, and then use your utility knife to cut back the sheathing. Leave about an inch protruding into the wall box for code compliance.Take your wire strippers and remove about 1/2" from the ends of the black and white wires. You can fold up the red wire and tuck it away (it isn't used in this setup)  |
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Step 8: Connect to Lower Outlet
How this step works for you will depend on the type of outlet you have. Most construction from the last 15 years will have a setup as shown. On the back of the outlet you will see a small hole on both the black and white sides. Simply push the stripped wire ends into their corresponding holes.
White to white and black to black.
Twist the grounds together with the others in the box.  To finish, bend all the wires in an "S" shape to stuff them back in the wall. You can also go ahead and re-install the outlet and face-plate at this point. |
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Step 9: Install Upper Outlet Box
Now we will need to repeat the same steps for the upper box as we just did for the lower.
First pull about a foot of ROMEX a bottom access hole, then push the box into the wall. Don't be afraid to use a little force.
This is where using the tabbed type model is nice. All we have to do is turn the clamping screws on the top and bottom to secure the unit. Save your wrists and use an electric drill if you have one!
At this point I have also cut back the ROMEX sheathing, and stripped the wires, as we did in step 8.
Be sure to leave 1" of sheathing just as before.
To actually wire up the outlet, I used the traditional mounting poles on the side of the unit. You can just push the wires into the holes like we did before, which makes the process easier.
The pole mounting method requires you to bend a "C" shape into the stripped part of the wire. This is show zoomed in in the photo. It is considered good practice to pinch the loop closed around the pole screw.
Finish the hookup by repeating the process for all the wires. With that your pretty much done! Bend the wires into an "S" shape as before and stuff them into the wall box. Then your clear to install the outlet and face-plate. |
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WooHoo!! Your done! Go back out to the breaker panel and restore power to the circuit. Test it with your voltage probe or small appliance of choice. |
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Finish Up
Congrats on pulling this off! I would like to point out one small concern. Since we added another branch to an existing circuit run, you do pose the risk of overloading it. The chance of this happening is quite small because new TVs draw a comparable little amount of power, but if you find yourself popping the breaker that's why.
Feel free to post comments or questions if you get stuck somewhere.
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