Installing a light in a closet is an easy project for most homeowners.
The closet is one room in your house where you often need light the most. If there is an outlet on a wall near the closet, you can run a wire to power a light with minimal danger of overloading the circuit. You may have to remove a section of drywall to run the wire, but the rest of the job involves only simple electrical connections. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Trace the back of a renovation switch box on the wall at the location of the new switch. Cut out a hole for the box with a drywall saw. Make the hole large enough for the back of the box to fit through while small enough so that the outside edge of the box sits on top of the drywall. Trace and cut a hole in the same way for the light fixture box.
2. Turn off the power to the nearest electrical outlet and unscrew it from the electrical box. Feed a length of electrical wire into the back of the box, removing a small piece of drywall behind the box to do this, if necessary. Run this wire through the wall to the hole you cut for the switch box.
3. Run another length of wire from the switch box to the light. You may have to remove a piece of drywall at the top of the wall to route the wire over the top plate of the wall so you can get it over to the light. Pull all the wires from their respective holes so you have 8 inches of slack. Then, if possible, staple the wire to studs or ceiling joists.
4. Remove about 6 inches of sheathing from the ends of all the wires with a utility knife, and then use a wire stripper to remove 1/2 inch of insulation from the ends of all the black and white wires.
5. Connect the wires to the circuit by attaching to the receptacle. Connect the black wire to the empty brass lug on the receptacle and the white wire to the silver lug. Do this by inserting the ends of the wires into self-clamping holes on the back, behind the lugs, or by making hooks on the ends with pliers, wrapping them around the lugs, and tightening them with a screwdriver. Then twist the ground wires together.
6. Push the wires through the holes in the back of the switch box, then attach the box to the wall by hooking the screws to the drywall and tightening them. The box should fit snugly against the wall. Connect the switch by connecting the black wires to the brass screws and the ground wires to the green grounding screw. Then twist the white wires together and screw on a wire cap. Finally, push the wires into the box, screw the switch onto the box, and attach the cover plate.
7. Push the wires through the light fixture box, then attach it to the drywall. Then screw the light fixture adapter that came with the light onto the box. Twist the black wire from the light together with the black wire from the circuit, then twist the white and ground wires together in the same way. Cap the white and black wires and push the wires into the box. Finally, screw the light fixture onto the adapter plate using the screws provided.
8. Turn the power back on and test the light.
Tags: light fixture, black wire, ground wires, wire from, wires into, wires together, black wire from
