bathroom light fixture

Today I knocked off another project that’s been hanging over my head for a while:replacing the bathroom light fixture in our master bath. We bought a new fixture at IKEA almost two years ago and I hadn’t gotten around to putting it in yet! I put it off because it involved moving the j-box in the ceiling, and going up in the attic is kind of a pain in the ass. However, the wife and kids went to a playdate and then swim lessons today, and I had a good four hours of time to myself. I also wanted to do it in the morning since it gets so hot up there in the afternoon.

First I turned off the power at the circuit breaker. Always a good idea to spend some time labeling the individual switches in your circuit breaker box, if they’re not already. I have an older house, so my box has been rewired a couple of times (prior to my owning it). I went through and made sure I knew which switch turned off which outlets and lights so that I could do electrical repairs without shutting off the power to the whole house. If in doubt, just turn off the main breaker, which should shut off everything. HOWEVER, DO NOT trust that this is always the case. Use a circuit tester before you take apart any existing wiring to make sure the power is off. I shocked the hell out of myself at our old house trying to fix the rangetop. I had the power turned off at the main breaker, got busy disassembling the range, and the next thing I knew I was laying on the kitchen floor. Some nimrod had somehow bypassed the circuit breaker panel to install the electric range! So always, always test the circuit you’re working on before taking it apart.

Next I opened the fixture to check it out and make sure there weren’t any surprises. I laid out all the parts and figured out how they went together. I held up the mounting part against the ceiling where I wanted it, marked a spot roughly in the middle, and drilled a hole up into the attic so I had a reference point.

Then I went in the attic to scout it out. I used to climb from the top of my old wooden six foot ladder (Danger! Not a step! it says, but how else was I going to get up there?) to the shelves in the closet, and hoist myself in from there. I eventually bought a sixteen foot extension ladder to be able to get on the roof more easily, and it works great to get in the attic too. I figured I’d better go up and make sure I could relocate the j-box (short for junction box) to an existing stud so I didn’t have to install a new one. However, if you don’t have stud exactly where you want to hang your new light, it’s not hard to put one between existing joists. When I managed to get to the area over my bathroom, I found that I could add a small piece of two-by-four to an existing stud and the old box would work fine. So, I dragged my toolbox up into the attic and got to work.

It helps to have kneepads to climb around in the attic. I also took up a length of board to lay across the studs where I was going to end up working. I found the j-box and pried it loose from the rafter stud, then pulled out the house wiring. I had to pry a couple of tacks loose along the length of the wire to get it where I wanted it -- I just kept them in pretty good shape and carefully hammered them back in along it’s new path when I was done. I used the j-box as a template and scratched a line in the drywall where I needed a hole, making sure that it was in the right place to attach to the stud. Using a drywall saw, I started a cut in the hole I had drilled from below and made my way around the circle. I made sure the j-box hung through the hole flush with the ceiling (easier to seal from below that way) and put the wires back in. Then I nailed it to my modified stud and I was ready to get back out of the attic.

Tip that I figured out too late: cover the area below where you’ll be working. I had a lot of dust to clean up in the bathroom when I was done, and I hadn’t covered or moved our toothbrushes or anything. I had to run them through the dishwasher, and I had to vacuum way more than I would have if I had just put down a drop cloth before I went into the attic.

After that, hanging the light was fairly easy; the one we bought had a separate wiring harness with a connector plug attached to the mounting plate so I didn’t have to hang the whole fixture from the wires before screwing it into the j-box. If your fixture does not come with this luxury, you might need someone else to hold up the fixture while you attach the wiring. The wiring is color-coded; white to white, black to black. Green or bare aluminum are ground wires; they should be attached to a ground screw or the ground wire in your existing wiring. Use wire nuts and make sure the bare ends of the wires are the same length to make them easier to connect to each other. Make sure your wire nuts are the right size to screw the threaded part down to the plastic sheathing on each wire and cover up the bare wire. Twist the wires nuts hard enough to make the wires wrap around each other a bit and are firmly secured.

Then line up the screws on your fixture to the holes on the j-box and you should be pretty close to done. Fixtures vary widely, and some need extra attention even after they are attached to the wiring. In my case I had to do a bit of leveling since the fixture is a four-lamp bar hung from two adjustable wires. That was it. Then... cleanup.

interior door handles

Today I finished a job I started... hm... two years ago? We bought all new interior door handles to replace the existing (circa 1971) handles, and I installed about 10 of them, but somehow left three undone. I put the last three on a shelf and never got around to getting them in until today. It’s one of those fairly simple projects that you put off because it’s so simple, and it ends up never getting done. Well, today was the day.

When I say fairly simple, I should distinguish between interior and exterior handles and between installing and replacing. Interior handles are easier because they don’t have to keep out burglars, and replacing is easier than installing because the holes already exist.

Removing the existing door handles requires a Phillips screwdriver with a fairly long shaft. Screws on most interior door handles are close enough to the knob to prevent the screwdriver blades from engaging the screw straight on. A longer shaft helps engage the screw just enough to be able to loosen it, without having to use a stubby or offset screwdriver (time consuming). I have a 4“ Phillips bit for my drill that works like a charm. This is where your variable speed drill comes in handy; you can very gently reverse the screw out until you’re sure you won’t strip it, but you get the benefit of speed once you get it going. The bolt comes out of the edge of the door pretty easily; no explanation required, right? OK.

Your replacement handle should come with corresponding parts for everything you just removed. In my case, one of the handles I was replacing was on one side of a double door that had the strike plate but not a bolt. That meant that the previous handles were not integrated, meaning there was no hole all the way through the door for the two parts of the set to meet in the middle, they were just screwed on the face of the door on either side. I had to bore a new hole for my new handles, just like you would if you were installing a handle on a new door. You need a kind of drill bit called a hole saw to cut holes the size you need for handle installation; usually a door handle needs a 2 5/8 inch circle but handle sets vary, so I have a bunch of various sizes of hole saw in case I need ‘em.

For most installations you use the template provided in your handle set to determine the backset for the hole; it needs to be an exact distance from the edge of the door to meet up with the inner workings of the bolt. In this case I just had to make a hole for the handle in the same spot as the previous handles. I started on one side with the hole saw and went about halfway through. Then I changed to a regular drill bit, and made a hole all the way through the door using the guide hole created by the hole saw. Then I changed back to the hole saw and started from the other side following the guide hole; this way you don’t get a bunch of splintering when you break through with the hole saw. Then it’s just a matter of putting the two halves of your handle set together in the new hole and screwing them tight.

Replacing a bolt and a strike plate can be slightly trickier if the existing holes are not exactly the same as the ones you need for your new set. This may require a small amount of chiseling away at the edge of the existing hole to make it large enough for the new hardware. (PUT THE NEW BOLT IN FIRST. The placement of the strike plate is determined by where the bolt hits the door frame). If you have a wood chisel, great; but if you don’t, a utility knife and standard screwdriver will do in a pinch. The faceplate for the bolt and the edge of the strike plate require a shallow outline around the deeper hole for the bolt. This edge can be widened by slicing around the new plate with your utility knife to the depth of your plate (not much more than 5 or 7 millimeters, usually) and chiseling out the border with a small (smaller means a sharper blade) standard screwdriver. Be careful and go slow with the utility knife; it can get away from you if you are trying too hard. Make several shallow cuts instead of one deep one.

If you have to carve out some of the bolt hole you really do need a chisel. This happens with newer strike plates sometimes; you need it to rest closer to the edge of the door for the bolt to engage. Be careful that you don’t dig out so much of the frame that the structure is weakened; if the bolt won’t engage without just a little modification of the existing strike plate hole there’s something wrong with the door and the bolt installation. However, you do also need try to get enough space between the old screw holes and the new ones that you don’t weaken or blow out your new holes. Drill a pilot hole first, it keeps your new screws from cracking the wood.

That's about it -- if you have any questions, let me know! There’s a bit more to installing new hardware on a new door; you need to use the templates that come with the set to drill the required holes, and you’ll need a couple of different sized hole saws, and you’ll have to chisel out the faceplate areas. It’s also critical to drill pilot holes for your new installation before putting the screws in. Other than that, it’s pretty straightforward and what I have just described pretty much covers it. Most locksets come with comprehensive directions if you’re unsure. The only other thing I would add is that even though I am a huge fan of cordless drills, you need a pretty powerful and tough one to drill a lot of door handle holes. A corded drill works quite a bit better, faster and more reliably.