apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

If you do it yourself, you will probably need to use a razor to cut around the edges of the outlets through the paint and then pry the outlet cover off. You should ask your landlord if they will pay for new covers (it would cheap and easier to do than trying to get the paint off the old ones).

Take a utility knife and gently score the edge of the wall plate to break the paint. Then you can remove the wall plates without taking paint off the wall if you're careful. I assume you're wanting to trash those plates and replace them with new ones.

As to the outlets, chances are that just plugging in an appliance will clear any paint. But to be safe -

Go get an electrical outlet tester from Home Depot or Lowes. One like this :

http://www.professionalequipment.com/electrical-outlet-gfci-tester-py-2/circuit-testers/

This little gadget will tell you if grounding has been compromised.

Replacing electrical outlets themselves is a 10 minute fix once you kill the power at the circuit breaker. Just follow the color code and use the checker tool to verify proper wiring.

Also, if you find out that the outlets are not grounded properly, or think that they might not be after you take the plate off (hanging extra cables, etc) if you are renting, its your landlord's duty to make sure that is in working condition.

You can't just score and pull -- there's a very well-painted-over screw there in the middle. So for photo #1, just plug in two-pronged things there. For photo #2, it's not working, so don't use it.

If this is in a coop, you have to ask not only the apartment owner, but also the building management. I know my coop has rules about anything like this.

If you do it yourself, and do it wrong, it could be a fire hazard. NOT worth the risk. Better you get a professional to do it - a licensed electrician.

I had the same problem in my coop & an electrician cost just $30 per outlet (all inclusive). I'd say that's a great deal to get it done properly & have peace of mind.

Pretentious - it should go without saying that the screws be removed. Those screws are child's play to remove, it's brain-dead simple.

Really - to be safe, you should shut the circuit off to do the "scoring". You need to carve both around the coverplate and around the actual receptacle to get the cover off and (A) if you slip or (B) if the box is not grounded properly, you are risking getting shocked. I second GothamTomato's suggestion of hiring an electrician.

Electricity is something that you should have a healthy respect for but it's not rocket science. I've been changing outlets and such for about 40 years so I guess I forget the intimidation factor. A $15 tester will tell you if the outlet is wired properly. All you have to do is plug it in and look at the LEDs. But if in doubt...by all means pay a licensed electrician.

If you live in NYC, by law only a licensed electrician can change out the actual receptacle. Anyone can pop on a new 79 cent outlet cover.

#2 is NOT an electrical outlet--it's probably an old TV antenna outlet or possibly a cable outlet--they look the same. A lot of buildings built after WWII were wired for the antenna on the roof--looks just like a cable outlet. It looks like it says "GYRO", is that correct?

If you're renting a co-op you should talk to the owner. Are you renting from the sponsor or a subsequent owner?

It may be that there are no ground wires. Also, it may be actual plaster over metal lathe rather than drywall.

Judging by the pictures, it looks like there may be more than one layer of paint on at least some of the outlets, especially the cable outlet. I'm wagering to bet that is an older connecter too, that cable connector and do you really know if it's to a cable system or an old roof antenna?

Wither way, you will need to clear the paint from the cable outlet before you can use it, but it may well be easier to have a new connector spliced onto the cable.

I would also second on getting a $15 tester and making sure the outlets are properly grounded at the very least.

I've never liked the idea of simply painting over such things, in the end, it never looks good and in this case, definately doesn't.

Good luck though

If you happen to damage the surrounding drywall in the process of removing the outlet plate, you can purchase an oversized plate to hide the problem area.

You'll have to try awfully hard to damage the drywall. LOL.

If you do damage the wall though, don't worry, that's one of the easiest fixes you can do. Just spackle it over with a wide putty knife, when completely dry use a *slightly* damp rag to smooth/even it out (don't need to sand), spray on some Spraytex brand texture (Home Depot, $12) if needed, and touch up with a little paint.

Um, with that much paint, you are almost CERTAINLY going to do damage to the surrounding walls, and that could snowball into expenses you'll possibly end up incurring since you are the one initiating the process.

And, just curious, since the owner didn't correct this situation while he/she lived there, what makes you think he/she has any real interest in doing it now?

OK, you've scored the outer edges of the plate, and you've managed to pry it off ,and it's off.

Now you still have paint on the actual outlet, itself.

If you are VERY careful with a small utility knife and don't let it slip into the socket, itself, you can gently scrape it off the plastic.

Once that's done, you can (because I have) take a TINY amount of nail polish remover on a piece of paper towel and wrap that around the head of a flat-head screw-driver and gently daub that onto the tiniest little remnants of paint that didn't come off with the scraping action. I'd say you'd want to do most of that scraping, though, while that face plate was actually on -- perhaps put BACK on -- because you don't want to do it when the hole is all raw and stuff, in case your hand slips while scraping.

I seriously sometimes wish I was an electrician so I could just change out the whole outlet myself, because they make new ones in some very nice colors.

Patrick, you'd have to seriously try to damage the wall. With patience and a sharp knife it's not a big deal. I've done this more times than I can count with paint worse than that.

I don't think I would go at the outlet with a putty knife. I did that ONCE. It threw me across the room and knocked me out cold. I was restoring my first apartment.

Now I count the outlets, switches, etc. and go to the hardware store to buy new before I call an electrician to do the replacements. It's a LOT cheaper if you buy your own replacement parts, and they all match.

If you damage the wall it takes two seconds to slap some Spackle on it.

TeamDecor - you don't go at an outlet with a putty knife. That's for the wall. LOL... :->

I got off wall paint in the past by soaking in alcohol. But if outlet plats are standardized enough, buying new might be the easiest way out.

We had the same exact thing going on with our outlets.
It took some care, but we replaced all of the switch plates
and/or receptacles. We're kind of lame over here, so if we did this, anyone can. Oh, just to be sure, we shut off the electricity to the outlets. What a difference clean, white and paint free outlets look and work. Home Depot has a large selection in all price ranges. Lutron being on the high end, but there are others. Good luck and go for it!

Basically, I think that the cost of the electrician is probably the most expensive part of that little dance, if you just decide to change them out.

If you get Lutron ones, or something pretty, then you're looking at money for the new outlets themselves, but otherwise just the outlets are really pretty cheap; like $1.50 each or somewhere near there.

Curtis, et al bring up a good point -- if those outlets are as old as they seem (judging by many layers of paint), chances are they are not a very nice color under there -- maybe black or really-bad-shade-of-ivory -- you will probably not find new outlet covers to match.

This may not be paint... in a lot of sponsor apartments/rental apartments they used to come in and PLASTER over everything -- outlets, switches, hooks on the wall, etc. -- just so the rooms would look clean and new.

What a city : )

Replace the whole thing, and do it yourself. The only difficult ones to replace are three way switches, and even those are doable if you study the wires before taking them off the old one.

Then there's the thought of if it's really old paint -- lead or something. Is that something you want to handle, scrape off and breathe in? You did say it was in possible layers.

That it takes a licesed electrician to change an outlet is a total scam!. While it may technically be against code to do it yourself, the code was written by licensed electricians to ensure that they would always get paid a lot of money to do these kinds of simple things. It doesn't take a licensed electrician in nearly all of the rest of the continent. Were talking three wires here.

If you have access to shut the power off, this is an exceptionally simple thing to do, and can be done for about $2 per outlet including the cover.

What kills me is the slumlords that paint over outlets and switches to begin with. It take maybe three minutes to take all of the outlet/switch covers off in a room before painting, and it looks so much better in the end.

Curtis:

While I wouldn't suggest changing out these outlets (the painting/plastering looks intense), it's pretty easy to change outlets for the general home. My parents repainted the whole downstairs of their house last year, and my dad decided that new outlets were in order. We replaced something like 20 outlets (both the plate and the plug-ins). It's actually not hard to do; my dad showed me once, and then we worked around the room doing the rest. It takes a little practice, but it's really satisfying once you have it done.

wow! thanks for all the comments! Just to clarify, all but one of the electrical outlets are like this, so to respond to Pretentious, as much as it seems like sound advice to use only 2-pronged plugs, that limits me completely. As for what I thought was a cable outlet, I'm not sure that that's what it is or if it's what some of you say might be an old outlet to a roof antenna. I guess I should figure that part out. The co-op owner had neither cable internet nor tv, but she did say that I could hook it up, so I don't think I'll find trouble getting permission from her to have whatever I need installed. GothamTomato, who was the licensed electrician that you used? Could I please have his/her contact info? As much as I'd like to make it a DIY project, I don't think I'm willing to risk any damage to an apartment that isn't my own. Thanks again for all your help! At least now I'll know if some shady electrician is just wasting time and overcharging, pretending to work on something just because he thinks I don't know any better. ;)

GothamTomato -

I too would love the name and contact info of the electrician you used if you have it handy. thanks.