Installing Outdoor Pendant Lights

Prepare

Installing a hanging pendant light outdoors can bring old-world charm to your home, especially when used on a front porch. Stylish and inexpensive, they are simple to install as long as you follow some safety precautions.

First, make sure you have a ladder, screwdriver, electrical wire nuts, and a circuit tester. Next, turn off the power to the house. Make sure that no one who is still in the home turns the power back on while you are working.

Remove

Place the ladder under the old light fixture. Use a screwdriver to remove the light faceplate. Next, detach the wires running from the light to the electrical box. Separate the black wires first, then the white, then detach the ground wire.

Remove the mounting bracket. This is the hardware that attaches the light to the electrical box and holds it in place. At this point, you can carefully lower the light fixture to the ground.

Attach

Lift the new light fixture into place and attach the mounting bracket with screws. Then attach the wires. Match up the colors, and use an electrical wire nut to attach them together by holding the ends of the wires next to each other, and screwing the nut on top of them. Attach the ground wire last.

Finally, attach the faceplate. You might need to coil up some of the pendant light's chain inside of the faceplate, to make the light shorter. Make sure it is not hanging so low that it is possible for someone to hit their head on it.

Resources

• Video by Bob Vila on installing a porch light