Exterior Outlets on Vinyl for Dummies

exterior outlet box on vinyl siding

The nice people who publish all those niche websites that used to be eHow.com try to make their content look "authoritative" by adding a writer bio to each post. Back in the eHow days, most bios bragged about "communications" and English lit degrees, which tended to be a dead giveaway that the writer knew little or nothing about science, plumbing, or electrical work; despite having published hundreds of eHow articles on those same topics. In the new era, Leaf Group's "cleanup team" members have crafted bios for each of the niches in which the writer claims related experience or training... but are they any more qualified? Let's have a look at one post by someone who claims that, "She developed an affinity for home renovations at an early age, when her parents constantly renovated the family home." It's Mackenzie Maxwell, whom we found writing "How to Add an Exterior Outlet to Vinyl Siding" for HomeSteady.com.

Maxwell rewrote an old post by fourteen-time winner Elizabeth Knoll, for the most part doing little beyond rewording Liz's content. She sure as heck didn't correct any of the mistakes, and there were... several.

Mackenzie's chief mistake was in thinking that a new exterior outlet would be inset into the wall. That's not gonna happen. Just as in the image above, an exterior outlet on vinyl (or lap siding, brick, stucco, etc.) would be surface-mounted, which raises the question of why Maxwell instructs her readers to,

"Cut the Siding: To properly install your outdoor outlet, you must first cut away a small section of the vinyl siding. There are three ways to complete this task. You can use whichever of the three tools you have available and feel most comfortable operating. The first option is a circular saw. Use a fine-toothed, plywood-cutting blade in your saw for this project... "

We looked at Maxwell's "references," and none of them said to cut the siding. In fact, the only one that gave instructions specifically said "surface-mount." So where did the "Cut the Siding" come from? Daddy?

While that was a grave error, Maxwell botched several other points as well. For instance...

• "Turn your circuit breaker for your work area off and use a non-contact voltage tester to be sure there's no power going to that outlet." – Any voltage tester will work, Mackenzie. A competent DIYer would know that. Oh, yeah, and you meant circuit, not "area."
• "...unscrew the wires from the outlet and check the electrical box..." –  Nowhere did she say to take off the face plate and pull the outlet from the box before this step. Duh.
• "Break out your power drill, a 1/4-inch bit that is 18-inches-long [sic] and some safety goggles. Make sure you use a bit you can spare, since drilling through some materials may destroy it." – Her reference only said to use an 18-inch bit if you want to drill at an angle and place the exterior box lower than the interior. Even with 2-by-6 framing the wall is unlikely to be 18 inches thick. Oh, and the "destroy it"  business? That's about stucco, not vinyl... Idjit.
• "Next, connect the hot, neutral and ground wires to the interior outlet. You can put the faceplate back on this outlet and move the rest of the project outside." – That won't work unless the outlet is at the end of the run. Otherwise, you have to run pigtails to the new outlet. And wouldn't you re-mount the outlet in the box before reinstalling the face plate?

All this and more, such as saying you'll need silicone caulk but never mentioning it again; makes it obvious that Maxwell was no more qualified to write this content than Knoll. That's why Mackenzie is collecting her first Dumbass of the Day award. She wrote several articles for HomeSteady, though, so it just might not be her last...

DDIY - WIRING