I went to put in an outlet with charging ports and found this monstrosity behind the wall plate. The box is filled with expanding foam, I'm guessing as some kind of support? Then painted all over. I scraped it all out, put in outlet spacers and its much better. I think there's foam around the box too, but I'm not gonna worry about that (yet).
Now I get to spend next weekend replacing all the outlets in the house just in case there's any more sketchy "fixes" ๐ซ
After cleaning and replacing:
Is the outlet on an outside wall? At my last apartment, those outlets were a significant source of draft. Cheap-ass construction and all.
I'm glad that box didn't catch fire. Might want to do a check on your other outlets, especially ones with high sustained load.
Yup, it's an outside wall. That makes more sense about it being draft prevention! The outlet was loose so I just figured it was a way to get it supported. I'll be replacing every outlet in the house asap. The house was built in the 80's, so even if most outlets are fine, I'll sleep better knowing there's no 40+ year old outlets about to bite the dust.
Foam in the box is not the answer. Fire or toxic fumes are not an improvement over a draft. Keep the foam outside the box
They sell foam sheets that fit under the faceplate to block drafts, and are a much safer option
I've also seen / been recommended to stuff steel wool into gaps and fill with that foam to keep rodents from gnawing through.
Putting steel wool into an electrical box will definitely keep rodents out. (And hopefully just trip a breaker instead of starting a fire.)
But yeah, that's a good combo for non-electrical voids.
It's cute that you think there's a box there.
Most definitely.