Kellington and Son: Replacing a Wall Mounted Light Fixture

Tools Required:	Materials Required:
Flathead screwdriver	New light fixture
Phillips screwdriver
Voltmeter (Highly recommended)
Needle nose/channel lock pliers (optional)

With the holidays fast approaching, my phone has been ringing with requests from family members to stay in our guest bedrooms. While my wife and I are (typically) happy to host, our guest bedrooms and bathroom have quietly slipped to the bottom of our home remodeling list and are in great need of repair.

Fortunately for our guests this year, I was able to find a few hours to replace the existing light fixture in the guest bathroom with a new one. The timing was great because a Lowe's just opened up a few blocks from our house…no more 10 minute drive to the nearest Home Depot. My wife and I went on the Friday after it opened. Since it was a Friday night and it had just rained, it was nice and quiet in the store. We were able to pick out the fixture we (she) wanted and were back home with a total trip time of 20 minutes.

My wife insisted I install it that night, but I had to remind her I would have to shut the power off to the room and since it was already dark out I wouldn't be able to see, so she settled for me putting it in on Saturday morning. Here is a picture of the nasty old one we're replacing.

With the daylight shining brightly into the bathroom the following morning, I set to work. Fortunately this kind of project is easy and takes an hour (at the most).

Step 1: Shut off the Electricity

This is huge, electricity is dangerous and it WILL KILL YOU if you don’t treat it with the respect it deserves. First shut off the power to the exiting light fixture by placing the switch (or switches if the light is controlled from multiple ones) in the "off" position so the existing fixture is not emitting any light.

Now find your circuit breaker box and shut off the breaker switch that controls power to the light fixture you're replacing. Hopefully the switches are labeled. If not, you'll have to experiment by shutting each breaker switch off one at a time until you find the one you need.

If there are other people in your home, it's a good idea to put a piece of tape over the breaker switch and tell them what you're doing and tell them not to touch the breaker panel (especially the taped-over switch) or else they will end up hurting (or killing) you. Hopefully they aren't out to get you :)

Step 2: Removing Exiting Fixture

Find the thumbscrews that are holding the existing fixture to the wall and unscrew them with your fingers. They may be stuck in place from years of existing; if you can't get them out with your meat hooks, use needle nose or channel lock pliers.

After you've removed the thumbscrews, pull the fixture away from the wall. If the wall has been painted around the fixture, use a knife or razor blade to cut the paint so you don't peel off huge chunks of it. Pull the fixture away and stretch out the wires (removing them from the electrical box in the wall). Be careful not to touch any of the exposed copper of the wires.

If you have a voltmeter or multi-meter, turn it on and set it to the continuity setting (that's one that looks like a wi-fi signal). Touch the tips of the two probes together. The meter should emit a sound or display there is continuity on the monitor (refer to the meter's manufacturer's instructions for details).

Now place the black probe in the wire nut that's connecting the black wires together. Place the red probe in the wire nut holding all the white wires together. The meter should not react (that is make no indication of continuity). If it does, you did not shut off the power to this electrical box. If this is the case, go back to step one! I don't want you to kill yourself and presumably you don't either.

When the meter does not react, power is shut off to the electrical box and you may now remove the fixture. remove all of the wire nuts (The plastic coned shaped things connecting the wires) by twisting them in a counterclockwise manner.

Once this is done, the existing fixture is no longer attached to the wall. Discard it in an appropriate (and legal) manner. Now you need to remove the mounting bracket. The bracket is screwed into the electrical box. Take a screwdriver and unscrew the exposed screws (there are probably two of them).

After these screws are out, pull on the bracket to remove it from the wall. You may have to cut around the edges with a knife or razor blade to prevent chunks of paint from peeling off.

Step 3: Installing the Mounting Bracket

Take the mounting bracket from the new light fixture and screw it into the electrical box according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Now adjust any moving parts into the position that orients the fixture best (typically horizontally/parallel with the ceiling/floor) and tighten those screws to keep it from sliding around.

Step 4: Wiring the New Fixture

Extend all the wires on the new fixture so they're in a straight(ish) line. Take all the exposed copper tips from the black wires on the new fixtures and put them together.

Take the tips of all the black wires and cram them into a wire nut as far as you can. Then start twisting the nut in a clockwise direction with your other hand. Keep twisting until the black coating on the wires start twisting together like a DNA strand. Tug on the wires, if they come out of the nut, they didn't secure and you'll have to try again. If they don't pop out when you give them a tug, the nut grabbed the wires correctly.

Repeat this step for all the white wires and then again for the bare copper wire.

Step 5: Mounting the Fixture

Now cram all the wires back into the electrical box behind the mounting bracket and push the fixture flush against the wall. Line up the mounting bracket so the mounting thumbscrews slide through the fixture.

While holding the fixture in place, tighten the thumbscrews (or caps) to secure the fixture to the mounting bracket. You're almost finished and your project should look like this:

Step 6: Finishing Touches

There should be bulb housing for each bulb socket on the fixture. You'll need to remove the screw(s)/nut(s) that hold the housing before putting the housing in. For my project, the housing nuts were part of the bulb socket. Some fixtures use regular screws that squeeze the housing in place above the socket (refer to your new fixture's manufacturer's instructions for clarification).