I screwed my socket plate back on every few weeks for two years: the day I pulled the box out of the wall, I saw what the little metal lugs had done to the board
For two years, I kept tightening the screws on a wobbly hallway socket, thinking I was solving the problem. When I finally pulled the box out, I discovered the metal lugs had pulverized the plasterboard into powder. Here’s what went wrong and the surprisingly simple fix.