How to convert an electrical box into an outdoor outlet
You can convert an exposed box into an outdoor outlet by drawing power from an existing indoor source, but this is difficult when the nearest interior outlet is 8 to 10 feet away. Without an outlet directly on the opposite wall to easily tie into, the required electrical wiring often feels like magic to homeowners. This distance and complexity prevents easy DIY installations and leads people to hire a professional to finish the job.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Get an outdoors rated box and put a GFCI outlet in it.
- 2Replacing the outdoor light fixture with a porch light that has a built-in GFCI or non-switched outlet
- 3Piggybacking off a nearby interior circuit or wall switch box
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Hello, I recently bought a 1956 house that has no electrical outlet outside.”source ↗
“I plan to hire someone to do it since electricity is magic to me.”source ↗
“There is not an outlet directly on the interior wall, but there is an outlet like 8-10 feet away”source ↗
“How should I terminate this electrical box or convert it into an outdoor outlet”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 15How to replace two-prong outlets with three-prong without rewiring
- 3How to cover an old outdoor electrical box and hide exposed wire
- 3How to secure a loose metal electrical box on metal studs?
- 3New kitchen cabinets covered an electrical outlet
- 2How to hide a surface-mounted electrical panel
- 2What do red wires mean in a 3-gang switch box?