Roughing in a Receptacle Box

Roughing in a Receptacle Box

The author uses the blunt end of a utility knife to remove the knock outs in the box for the two cables.

Roughing in a Receptacle Box

The author will loop the cables before they enter the box. To gauge where to begin stripping off the outer jacket, he grips the cable at the bottom of the box with a finger and thumb.

Roughing in a Receptacle Box

Starting just below his thumb, the author carefully slits the outer jacket of the cable with a utility knife. For the second cable, the author begins the slit about 1 inch farther down.

Roughing in a Receptacle Box

After both cables have been stripped, the author feeds the first cable into the box in a loop. The loop gives the crew extra length in case one of the conductors gets damaged during drywalling.

Roughing in a Receptacle Box

After both cables have been fed into the box, the ground conductors are separated from the other conductors.

Roughing in a Receptacle Box

The author starts joining the two ground conductors by twisting them together by hand.

Roughing in a Receptacle Box

Next, the author uses pliers to tighten the twist.

Roughing in a Receptacle Box

Because just a single ground conductor is needed for the receptacle, the author cuts back one of the connectors at the twist.

Roughing in a Receptacle Box

The proper size copper crimp sleeve slides onto the twist, and pliers crimp the sleeve.

Roughing in a Receptacle Box

After pushing the twisted grounds to the back of the box, the author cuts all the conductors to a length of about 8 inches.

Roughing in a Receptacle Box

Finally, the author rolls and folds the bundle of conductors, pushing them as far into the box as possible.

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