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She-who-shall-not-be-disobeyed is asking for a new electrical outlet on the back side of the house. Being the Good Boy that I am, I am willing to oblige her.

If I were to surface mount the electrical box on the brick, and then add the weatherproof cover on top of that, even my manly giveadamn has to admit that having boxes stick 5.5" out from the wall is unsightly.

I have no problem taking the time and finding the tools to recess the electrical box into the brick so that only the weatherproof cover stands proud of the wall.

What I don't know, however, is the right way to secure the box into the newly-made hole. Several YouTube videos show folks using nothing more than mortar to secure the box in the hole, but I have difficulty believing that's the right way to do it.

If I were to cut a new hole in my house, how should I properly secure the box to the inside of the cavity?

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  • Quite a few houses with brick, it is only as siding with a normal stud/sheeting wall behind the brick. It will depend on how your house was built.
    – crip659
    Commented Apr 15, 2023 at 18:40
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    Don’t bust brick! Get a low profile in-use cover and you’re down to 3” of sticky-outy-ness.
    – Aloysius Defenestrate
    Commented Apr 15, 2023 at 21:12

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The problem with mortar only is it will eventually shrink and no longer hold the box in place.

Specially it that is a plug in, with repeated plug unplug action.

Thus recommended is to use screws in to the brick to hold it firmly in the place.

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For old work (already built homes) surface mounting a bell box with tapcon screws would be sufficient and if done cleanly won’t be much of an eye sore to anyone but yourself because you did the work lol but yes we do indeed have masonry boxes that are secured solely off mortar. When we do this typical brick ledges are 5-6” in depth meaning there’s no way we could butt the box up to the plywood and screw it in place, because there’s a code allowance for box depth. I believe the box can’t be more than 3/8” of an inch deeper than the finished wall if I remember correctly, don’t quote me on that though! So, we use some flexible conduit and stub it through the ply wood and connect our box to the conduit so it will be flush with the finished brick wall. Hope this helps.

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    This could definitely do with an edit to improve formatting to make it easier to read. Also, "if done cleanly" - please describe how to go about that. What does "the box can’t be more than 3/8” of an inch deeper than the finished wall" mean?
    – FreeMan
    Commented Dec 20, 2023 at 13:47
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I wouldn't cut into or remove bricks either. All our outdoor power points jut out off the wall. And they need to as the sockets are facing downwards to avoid water getting into the holes.

This means that the plugs have to come in from under. If you were to recess this type of box, it would require a rather large hole in the brickwork.

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    I like that style! North American inspectors wouldn’t, though, as we need a weather resistant cover that works while something is plugged in.
    – Aloysius Defenestrate
    Commented Apr 16, 2023 at 19:28

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