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:
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