How to Remove Standard Vanity Lights From the Wall

Remove Existing Light

• 1

  Turn off the power to the vanity light by removing the correct fuse from the fuse box or by shutting off the circuit breaker in the main electrical box.

• 2

  Hold the shade with one hand while loosening the thumbscrews at the base of the shade with your other hand. Remove the shade from the fixture. Remove any remaining shades in the same fashion. Skip this step if your vanity fixture does not have separate shades.

• 3

  Remove the bulbs from the fixture. Locate the small thumbscrews on the faceplate of the fixture mounted to the wall. Remove the thumbscrews by twisting them off in a counterclockwise direction. Pull the light out slightly from the wall to expose the wiring at the rear of the fixture.

• 4

  Hold a no-touch electrical tester near the wiring at the rear of the fixture to ensure the current has been shut off. Twist the wire nuts at the wire junctions in a counterclockwise direction and remove them. Untwist the bare wires with a pair of pliers. Remove the fixture ground wire from the electrical junction box by removing the retaining screw with a Phillips screwdriver.

• 5

  Remove the fixture from the wall. Remove the light fixture cross bar from the junction box by twisting out the retaining screws with a Phillips screwdriver. Remove the cross bar.

Install Replacement Light

• 6

  Attach the cross bar that came with the replacement vanity light to the electrical junction box on the wall with the screws provided. Tighten the screws with a Phillips screwdriver.

• 7

  Hold the fixture near the junction box. Twist the bare end of the black wire from the box to the black wire from the fixture. Twist a wire nut onto the bare wires until tight. Connect the white wire from the box to the white wire from the fixture in the same manner. Attach the ground wire from the fixture to the green grounding screw on the cross bar. Tighten the screw with a Phillips screwdriver.

• 8

  Push wires into the box. Line up the holes in the fixture face plate with the threaded studs on the cross bar. Push the fixture into place. Thread thumbscrews on the exposed threads protruding the face plate to secure the fixture to the wall.

• 9

  Install the light bulbs and the shades onto the fixture. Restore the electrical power to the circuit and test the fixture at the wall switch.