How to cover an old outdoor electrical box and hide exposed wire
Leaving an abandoned outdoor junction box exposed after removing a light fixture creates an eyesore and safety hazard. The difficulty lies in safely sealing the hole while concealing leftover wires like a relocated fixture lead, which homeowners struggle to accomplish cleanly without a proper cover.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Hiring an electricianDid this help you?
- 2Installing a new box and running the wire inside the wall with a waterproof coverDid this help you?
- 3Look online for a style junction box made of different material and for outdoor purposes and remove the originalDid this help you?
- 4Use a larger piece of sheet metal to go between the fixture and the boxDid this help you?
- 5Installing an old work box with a blank plateDid this help you?
- 6Using an oversized blank wall plate secured with drywall anchors or toggle boltsDid this help you?
- 7Hanging a picture, painting, or shelf over the holeDid this help you?
- 8Plastering over the hole and painting itDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I removed a whole house fan and its switch leaving this hole behind. I don’t feel like patching it in case a subsequent owner wants to reconnect the wiring and install another fan.”source ↗
“There’s no switch box to screw a wall plate into. There’s plaster and lath about 1.5 inches thick.”source ↗
“Is there a plate/cover product that can hook into a hole like this? I’m kind of looking for a toggle/plate kind of solution.”source ↗
“Need ideas on how to cover this junction box.”source ↗
“How do I cover this hole that originally had a light but was removed because our newly added pagoda is in the way? we installed a new light under with a new orange wire ourselves and it seems to work. I know there are covers for the 4in hole but how can I also hide the orange wire and make it look decent?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2How to hide a surface-mounted electrical panel
- 2How to convert an electrical box into an outdoor outlet
- 3How to secure a loose metal electrical box on metal studs?
- 3New kitchen cabinets covered an electrical outlet
- 3How to cover exposed AC and utility lines on a wall
- 3How to waterproof low voltage wire nuts outside