Learning how to install a light fixture is easy for you to learn. Save money by not having to hire an expensive handyman anymore. When you are done with this project, you will be enjoying your work every day. Lets get started with installing a new light fixture quickly and easily.
Safety
It’s important to have a good pair of safety goggles whenever you are doing work above yourself. There is a risk something might fall in your eyes. A small piece of debris may come down when you take down the old light fixture, or doing some of the work that you don’t want in your eyes. Therefore it’s important to put on some safety goggles that fit comfortably.
The only other piece of recommended safety equipment is a pair of work gloves. These may not be easy to use for parts of this project because you need some dexterity that the gloves can take away.
Switch The Breaker Off
This step is by far the most important. Turning off the power at the breaker will allow you to work safely, without any worry of electric shock.
Find out more information about the topic How To Reset A circuit Breaker. This article will explain to you all you need to know when switching a breaker at the breaker box. Learn what to look for at the box when the breaker is tripped. Switch the tripped breaker back on safely and efficiently.
It’s easier to tell which breaker your light is on if you have someone who can stand in the room and tell you when the power is off. Now you can use the voltage detector to be certain the power is shut off. It’s better to be redundant than sorry, especially when working with electricity.
You also need to realize you won’t have the luxury of using the light in the room. For this reason, you may want to install the light fixture in the daytime. This will hopefully allow enough daylight through the window for you to work comfortably.
If there isn’t enough natural light in the room, you can fix this problem by plugging in a lamp in a room with power using an extension cord.
Pro Tip: If looking for the right breaker, you can plug in something like a radio into an outlet that is on that circuit. Turn the radio on and turn the volume up high enough to hear it from the breaker box. When you switch the correct one off, the radio will switch off, letting you know in real time.
Remove Old Light Fixture
Now you can remove the old lamp from the ceiling. The main tool for this is a screwdriver, but a wire stripper with a built in wire cutter is also helpful.
Each ceiling lamp is different, but it’s not hard to figure out how to remove it. The main thing to start with is the lamp shade. Some of the common ways to remove them is a thumb screw, or they may twist off.
Once the shade is off you want to take the bulbs out and put them in a place they won’t get broken. Use the screwdriver to remove the machine screws holding it to the ceiling.
To disconnect the fixture from the ceiling, you can twist off the wire nuts and disconnect it that way. Another option is to use the wire cutter on your wire stripper to snip the wires just above the wire nuts.
Disclaimer: Only cut the wires in the ceiling if there is enough length to strip the ends, and be able to work on them. If you believe the lengths might be too small to easily work on, try to twist the wires to disconnect them instead. Make sure you have wire that’s long enough before they get cut.
Attach The New Light Fixture
When attaching the wires, make sure you are connecting the white wire from the fixture to the white wire in the ceiling. Some ceilings may have a piece of different color wire that is not white. The white wire is neutral, and the black (or other color) wire is hot.
Connect the copper grounding wire in the fixture to the copper wire coming out of the ceiling using a wire nut. If there is no grounding wire in your ceiling, but your light fixture has a mounting bracket with a green screw in it, you can connect the wire to this screw. If that is not present you can fold the grounding wire up and stick it aside.
Hold the two black wires together and twist in a clockwise direction. Then take a wire nut that comes with your new light fixture and twist it onto these wires in the same direction. Do this step with the white wire as well.
Switch The Breacker On
Go ahead and turn your breaker back on at this point. You want to do this before installing the light cover. This gives you less items to remove if one of the previous steps wasn’t done correctly.
If your light fixture is not LED, now is when you would put the light bulbs in. If you turn on the light switch and it doesn’t come on, that means one or both of your wires are not installed correctly. Turn the breaker off and take the fixture back off.
If you turn on the light switch and it comes on you can put the lamp shade on according to the directions that came with your light fixture.
Conclusion
And now you have successfully installed a new light fixture. You can enjoy your work while deciding what room is next to get a new light. As you can see this job wasn’t that hard. As long as you follow all the steps completely, you can rest assured the light will be installed correctly.
Thank you for reading Remodel Upgrade. Here I am dedicated to helping you turn your home into your own private sanctuary.
Happy Remodeling,
-Kevin
Kevin
I grew up in a family where my dad and several uncles were general contractors. They took me to the jobsites, and also taught me so much about home maintenance. I remember spending several summers in high school helping my father build houses. It gave me so much knowledge that I am excited to share!
