How to connect electrical wires that are too short inside the wall
Short electrical wires with zero slack make it nearly impossible to pull outlets or fixtures far enough out of the wall box to work on them safely. Extending the short leads inside the box using push-in lever connectors, such as Wagos, provides the extra wire length needed to complete the installation.
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.
- 1disconnecting waygos and feeding into an old-work box using a pigtailDid this help you?
- 2calling a licensed electrician or independent local electricianDid this help you?
- 3Twisting and wiggling the wire back and forth to remove it from the old outlet without cuttingDid this help you?
- 4Cutting the wires as close to the old outlet as possible and pigtailing longer leads with wire nuts or Wago connectorsDid 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.
“This outlet also doesn’t come out very far from the wall.”source ↗
“I’m worried not enough of the wire will actually be inside the box. It’s flush with the drywall right now and has zero more to give.”source ↗
“Those wires won’t come out any more than where they’re at in this photo, I was pulling on it to get this photo”source ↗
“My whole house is wired like this and it sucks, I use Wagos to extend whatever I’m working on”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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- 2What to do with loose wires and no ceiling box
- 5How to run cables through a wall without cutting drywall
- 5How to run a cable through a tight crawl space without entering