New Zealand electrical outlets are not the same as North American outlets. In Canada and the US, electrical outlets are recessed into the wall and they have a little face plate that covers them so that they are (basically) flush with the wall. Here in New Zealand however the electrical components are built right into a raised plate. These plates are designed to sit on top of the wall and they are then covered by another thin plate that covers the screw holes that you would use to mount the plate to a wall. I would estimate the plate sits about 1.5 cm (half an inch) above the surface of the wall. So the idea of a flush or semi-flush electrical outlet is pretty much non-existent.
So what do you do when it comes to tiling? Well, in Canada, you'd get an item that is designed to allow you to mount the electrical outlet to sit flush on top of the tiles. Then you'd put the face plate on top of the outlet just as you would if it were mounted flush to the wall. Here as I mentioned, the plate is already sitting 1.5 cm above the wall, so If you tiled around it, then the outlet would be flush with the tiles. No problem right?
Wrong! As I mentioned, the electrical components are built into the plate, so if I were to tile and grout around the outlets, I'd never be able to get access to the innards of the outlet unless I destroyed the tile work. So what do you do?
Well, like in Canada, you need a spacer that will pull the plate (further) off the wall.
Oh, so this spacer will allow the outlet to sit flush with the tile?
No, no, no, no. Don't be silly! The space you purchase is basically a hollow plastic casing that the electrical outlet sits on top of that raises the outlet about twice as high as the original outlet height. So instead of the outlet sitting about 1.5 cm above the wall, it is now sitting about 4.5 cm above the tile! The example below (the middle piece) is to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. The only difference is the ones here in NZ are about twice as thick.
Ok, I get it, NZ needs to have their outlets raised well above the wall. Fine! So I bought three spacers for the three outlets that I would be tiling around. So, I'll just unscrew the outlets, and slip the spacer around the outlet so that it sit behind the plate. Or at least that was the plan. Much like a manhole cover can't fall down a manhole, there was no configuration that I could manage that would allow me to slip the spacer behind the outlet unless I disconnected the wires from the back of the outlet.
Now, New Zealand does not use the same voltage as they do in North America. Instead of 110, they use 220 volts. That's right, the same voltage that is used to power an industrial dish washer in Canada is what they use for a toaster here! So, I turned off the power, took a photo of the exact placement of the wires within the outlet, and disconnected the wires. I then slipped the spacer behind the outlet, threaded the wires through the spacer, reconnected the wires into the outlet (using the photo as a guide) and then went back to the power box and flicked the switch... No explosion? No smell of burning wall? Hooray! I did it properly!
I did the exact same thing for the next outlet in the series: power off, disconnect wires, put spacer between wall and outlet, reconnect wires, power on... No explosion! In your face, Tesla!
Finally I came to the third outlet, and that is where my luck turned. Due to the placement of this outlet I had to pull the wires out from the wall a bit in order to get better leverage with the spacer. Unfortunately, pulling the wires out proved much easier than pushing them back in! Due to the awkward location and the stiffness of the wires, every time I tried to fasten the outlet back to the wall, one of the wires would be stripped off of the electrical outlet. This happened again and again and again until I broke the piece that holds the wire in place within the socket. FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!
So I went back to the hardware store and purchased what I thought was normal switch, but as it turns out was a different kind of switch. Apparently the type of switch I had was something totally different. So, long story short (oh it's much too late for that), I had to call an electrician to come in and fix my wiring problem. Because like I said earlier, NZ uses 220 volts in their wiring, and I don't look good with a perm!
So the electrician has come and gone; it only took him about 10 minutes to fix the problem. But the good thing is, I can now finish tiling without any issues with electrical outlets. Other than the fact that they are raised about 12 metres off the wall that is!
Ok, I get it, NZ needs to have their outlets raised well above the wall. Fine! So I bought three spacers for the three outlets that I would be tiling around. So, I'll just unscrew the outlets, and slip the spacer around the outlet so that it sit behind the plate. Or at least that was the plan. Much like a manhole cover can't fall down a manhole, there was no configuration that I could manage that would allow me to slip the spacer behind the outlet unless I disconnected the wires from the back of the outlet.
Now, New Zealand does not use the same voltage as they do in North America. Instead of 110, they use 220 volts. That's right, the same voltage that is used to power an industrial dish washer in Canada is what they use for a toaster here! So, I turned off the power, took a photo of the exact placement of the wires within the outlet, and disconnected the wires. I then slipped the spacer behind the outlet, threaded the wires through the spacer, reconnected the wires into the outlet (using the photo as a guide) and then went back to the power box and flicked the switch... No explosion? No smell of burning wall? Hooray! I did it properly!
I did the exact same thing for the next outlet in the series: power off, disconnect wires, put spacer between wall and outlet, reconnect wires, power on... No explosion! In your face, Tesla!
Finally I came to the third outlet, and that is where my luck turned. Due to the placement of this outlet I had to pull the wires out from the wall a bit in order to get better leverage with the spacer. Unfortunately, pulling the wires out proved much easier than pushing them back in! Due to the awkward location and the stiffness of the wires, every time I tried to fasten the outlet back to the wall, one of the wires would be stripped off of the electrical outlet. This happened again and again and again until I broke the piece that holds the wire in place within the socket. FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!
So I went back to the hardware store and purchased what I thought was normal switch, but as it turns out was a different kind of switch. Apparently the type of switch I had was something totally different. So, long story short (oh it's much too late for that), I had to call an electrician to come in and fix my wiring problem. Because like I said earlier, NZ uses 220 volts in their wiring, and I don't look good with a perm!
So the electrician has come and gone; it only took him about 10 minutes to fix the problem. But the good thing is, I can now finish tiling without any issues with electrical outlets. Other than the fact that they are raised about 12 metres off the wall that is!
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