Update your bathroom's decor with new lighting.
If you're looking to update and improve the decor of your bathroom, adding new lighting is an excellent way to begin. When adding a new light, one of the key considerations is provide electrical power to the lighting fixture. Tapping into an existing electrical outlet is a logical and simple way to solve your problem.
Instructions
1. Turn off the electricity to the circuit you'll be working on by turning off the circuit breaker. Check to make sure you've turned off the correct circuit breaker by plugging a lamp or other electrical device into the outlet you'll be using, and noting when it turns off. Inform other members of the household you'll be working on the circuit and instruct them not to turn it on without your permission.
2. Determine the location for your bathroom light. The light will need the support of a stud if mounted on the wall, or a joist if mounted in the ceiling, so plan accordingly. In roughed-in construction, you can find these easily. If you're working with a finished room, use a stud finder to locate an appropriately place stud or joist. Cut an opening for the light with a keyhole saw, sizing it according to the directions supplied with your particular fixture.
3. Remove the cover for the electrical outlet by taking out the face plate's center screw. Undo the screws at the top and bottom of the outlet and pull it out of the gang box
4. Route a length of two-conductor electrical wiring from the light fixture location to your electrical outlet. In roughed-in construction, route it along the simplest, most direct path and secure the wire with cable staples. In finished construction you may have a more difficult job. In most cases you can route the wire between existing joists, then drop it down the wall to the electrical outlet.
5. Pull several inches of the wiring into the gang box and out the front of the electrical outlet's gang box. Remove 1/2 inch of insulation from each of the wire's leads with a set of wire strippers. Loosen the unused silver and brass colored screws, one on either side of the outlet. Place the wire with the white jacket under the silver screw and tighten, and the black-jacketed wire under the brass screw and tighten.
6. Mount your light onto the joist or stud you've chosen, according to the directions supplied with the light. Strip 1/2 inch of insulation from the electrical wire's leads and attach them to the two conductors of the light's electrical connections. These will be either screws, as in Step 5, or short lengths of color coded wire. If the latter, match the colors of the wire and twist a wire nut over the connections.
7. Turn the circuit's power back on and test the light (make sure the light is "on" if it has its own switch). If it works, turn the power back off, remount the electrical outlet in the gang box and replace the cover. If it doesn't work, turn the power off and check the wiring connections.
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