Let the Cover Plate Align a Multi-Gang Switch Box

The Problem

A three-gang box goes in, all three switches get screwed down tight, and then the cover plate goes on and every one of them is a degree or two out — one leaning left, one sitting proud, the gaps around the toggles uneven. Fixing it by eye means loosening one, guessing, retightening, holding the plate up again, and finding you've pushed the neighbour out of true.

The switches aren't fighting you. Device screws pass through slots rather than holes, so there's play by design, and tightening each switch on its own locks in whatever angle it happened to be sitting at.

The Technique

Let the plate do the aligning, because the plate is the only thing that knows where the switches should be.

1. Turn the breaker off and confirm the circuit is dead.
2. Back each switch's mounting screws off until the device is snug rather than tight — it should shift when pushed but not flop about under its own weight. That's the whole setting the technique depends on.
3. Fit the cover plate over all three. Its openings are cut to the exact spacing, so as it seats it pushes each switch into the position it needs to be in.
4. Take the plate back off. Because the switches were snug rather than loose, they hold the position the plate just gave them instead of sagging out of it.
5. Tighten the mounting screws down properly, then fit the cover plate for good.

The switches end up aligned to the plate rather than to your eye, which is the standard they're actually judged against.