Changing a bathroom light can be as simple or difficult as you want to make it. There are a ton of variables, most notably the size of the light fixture you are replacing compared to the size of the light fixture you are installing.
Instructions
1. Start by removing the old light fixture. You'll want to cut around the edge of the light with the exacto-knife. Try not to dig the knife in to the wall. This will help eliminate any wall damage due to paint sticking to the old fixture.
2. Turn off the power. Go to your circuit breaker box and find the power supply for the bathroom you are going work in. This is vitally important as you don't want to electrocute yourself while removing the old fixture or attaching the new one. If you can't find the exact circuit breaker, turn off the main circuit breaker. Just remember that this shuts off all power to the house so things like refrigerators will not have power while you replace the light.
3. Remove the screws, bolt and other hardware that affixes the old light to the wall or ceiling. Once you've been able to pull the fixture clean away from the wall, the wiring should come out with it to some extent. Don't pull too hard as you don't want to damage the wiring.
4. Undo the wiring. There should be three separate lines per fixture; a red; a black; and a green which is the ground. You'll most likely need to disconnect the wire nuts (wire connectors). Once this is done, you can now remove the old fixture.
5. Reattach the wiring to your new fixture; red to red, black to black, and there should be a ground connection on the fixture to attach the green. Use the wire nuts (wire connectors) to put the wires together so that they won't come apart.
6. Place the fixture to the wall where you want to install it. Hopefully, you are just going to put a new fixture up over the previous hole left by the old fixture. If not, you have some major rewiring to do, and that's a whole new topic for discussion. Once, you put the new light up, you'll want to mark on the wall where your hardware goes. If you have studs behind the wall where the hardware is, that's a bonus. If not you'll have to use wall anchors to hold your light to the wall.
7. Screw the mounting hardware to the wall and make sure that the light is firmly held. Turn on your circuit breaker and then your switch to make sure that power is going in to the light. If the light doesn't come on, you may not have hooked the electrical up correctly. You'll have to cut the power and pull the light back down. Reconnect the wiring and then try it again.
Tags: circuit breaker, light fixture, wall where, bathroom light, fixture black