I recently installed a sliding door closet which unfortunately butts right up with an electrical outlet and prevents one of the doors from opening up all the way. What I'd like to do is move the outlet to the left about 1 foot and put a flat plate over the old gang box.

Haven't done it yet, but my game plan is detailed below. Mind telling me if I'm missing any steps? FYI, this is brand new construction, the outlet appears to be in the middle of the run (2 lines of Romex are inside the gang box), and I will have to cross 1 stud...

1) Cut hole in drywall above old gang box and across stud.
2) Cut hole in drywall where new gang box will be installed.
3) Notch stud to fit wiring.
4) Fish 2 lengths of wiring between the old and new gang box (1 for power in, 1 for power out to next receptacle in series).
5) Inside the old gang box, wire nut the existing in/out cables to the new wiring.
6) Inside the new gang box, strip the wiring and connect it to the receptacle just as it was in the old gang box.
7) On the stud, add a nail plate over the notch.
8) Patch drywall.

Thoughts, comments, or concerns? And should I tape my wire nuts?

 

Welcome to the forums.

If your intentions are to leave the old junction box in place and put a blank on then leave the wiring as it is. Just add a two wire piece of cable from that old box to the new one. Splice all three together in old box.

............. and no..... don't tape your wire nuts. Make sure splices are made carefully so that the wire nut covers all bare wire.

 

You need to meet the receptacle spacing rules so that no space is more than 6 foot from a receptacle. I would install one to the side of the new door and run a new cable from there to the other side.

You may not need to notch the stud, but pull the cable back to the new box. You may need to pull a staple.

Tape not required on a wire nut.

 

I see, so if I splice the 2 cables that are in the current box with the wiring to the new box, I'll have properly provided power to the next receptacle in the series and my new receptacle? Anything special I need to do with the ground wire?

Moving the receptacle over a foot still falls within the 6 foot rule, so no worries there.

And apologies if this is a "n00b" question, but does the attached picture give any indicators as to the gauge/type of wiring? I assume the gold exposed part indicates copper, but does the sheath color give any clues as to the gauge?

 

Yes. The three sets of wires in your original box are the feed in, the feed out to the next existing receptacle, and the feed to your new receptacle location.

Yes. Your existing box appears to be metal. If so, it needs to be bonded to ground, using a green, hex-head ground screw. If none of the three ground wires in that box is long enough to crimp around the ground screw before being spliced to the other two, you can cut a 6" - 8" pigtail of bare copper to make that connection or use a ground tail (a ground screw with a piece of green wire already crimped around it).

If you use a metal old work box (recommended) for your new location it will need to be similarly bonded to ground.

Best practice is to also bond the new receptacle to ground. That's required if it isn't a self-grounding receptacle. The new receptacle should also be tamper-resistant.

The only piece of sheath that I can see appears to be white. In recent years that would indicate 14-2/G cable. However, all type NM cable had white sheathing not too long ago.

The real answer is that you need to match the conductor size to the size of the circuit. Use 14-2/G cable to extend a 15A circuit; use 12-2/G cable to extend a 20A circuit.

 

That looks to be #14 wiring and that box is plastic.

You can check what size breaker protects that circuit.... if it's a 15A then #14 is your wire size.

 

Very helpful info! This house was just built back in November and this circuit is 15A, so I'd say it is safe to say this is 14-2/G wiring

Regarding the ground, in the existing box, the feed in/out grounds are twisted together, then crimped into 1 wire, which then is attached to the receptacle green ground screw. If I need to attach those wires to the box, where inside the box should I screw this special ground screw?

And if I go with a blue plastic old work box for the new receptacle, do I need to do anything special for grounding, or can I just attach to the green screw on the receptacle and be good to go?

 

The grounds must be spliced together with a pigtail to the device if one exists. Since the box is plastic you do not need to connect to it.

 

Just curious,can we assume that this is not a pocket door?you mentioned the door butts up to it.
Geo

 

Nope, not a pocket door - just a sliding door that touches the outlet.

Another thought. What if all it wanted to do was disable that outlet? Could I just wire nut the 2 existing cables together, throw a plate over it, and call it a day? Would that still be up to code? Just not sure if I'm feeling like doing drywall work today.

 

So long as you splice the individual conductors together (not the cables) and your remaining receptacles are located so as to meet the maximum spacing requirement, yes.

 

If you are going to use a blank plate why not just leave the receptacle where it is? the blank plate will be the same thickness as the receptacle plate.

 

Removing the receptacle gives more space in the box and helps meet box fill requirements.

 

Ok, so I just finished. Haven't turned the power back on cause I wanted the group to double-check my work. The only thing I'm not sure of is the ground (see below)...

1) The neutrals before they get the wire nut.



2) The neutral after the wire nut, and the hots before their wire nut.



3) The ground. Notice in the back of the box the ground has already been twisted together and crimped. I just had one neutral cable to work with, so I folded over the end and put a green wire nut on it.




Did I do everything correctly?

 

Since there is a crimp sleeve on the ground wires..... you don't need the green wire nut.

Looks good.

 

We are up and running. Thanks for your help everyone!!!

 

Also the bare is the grounding conductor, not the neutral.

 

You're right. On #3, I made a type and incorrectly referred to the ground as the neutral. ;-)