Do it Yourself Outdoor Lighting: Floodlights

Floodlights increase safety around your home.

Floodlights are an important part of the outdoor lighting of your home. Installing floodlights on the front of your garage will increase the safety of your home by helping visitors and you see at night. The added light also will help protect your home from crime. Most floodlights come with a sensor that turns the lights on with movement. The process of installing the new lights is simple and should only take a few hours.

Things You'll Need

• Screwdriver
• Outlet extension box
• Metal conduit
• Conduit/cable connectors
• Hack saw
• 14/2 nonmetallic cable
• 7/8 inch spade drill bit
• Drill
• Floodlights
• Wire nuts

Instructions

1. Shut off the electricity to the garage at the circuit breaker in your home.

2. Unscrew one of the existing outlet boxes in the garage. Take the extension box and find the metal mounting plate that is included. Screw the mounting plate into the electrical box in the wall.

3. Push the knockout plug from the top of the extension box with a screwdriver. Push a conduit connector into the top of the extension box. Screw the extension box to the mounting plate with the provided screws.

4. Run the metal conduit from the electrical extension box to the desired floodlight placement. Run the conduit up the wall of the garage and along the ceiling. Use conduit connectors to connect the separate pieces of conduit and cut the conduit to size with hack saw. Run a 14/2 nonmetallic cable through the conduit.

5. Drill a hole through the garage wall with a 7/8-inch diameter spade drill bit and an electric drill. This hole should be located where the floodlights are to be placed.

6. Run the electric cable from metal conduit through the hole in the garage wall.

7. Attach a cable connector to the bottom of a round outlet box. Run the cable through the cable connector. Screw the outlet box into wall with a 2-inch galvanized screw.

8. Attach the floodlight to the round electrical box per manufacturer directions. Connect the wires by matching similar colors and twisting together the bare ends of the wires. Screw a wire nut over the ends of the wires. Screw the floodlight into place per manufacturer directions.

9. Connect the wires in the electric cable to the wires in the electric box inside the garage. Match the similar colored wires. Twist together the ends of the wires and thread a wire nut on the ends of the paired wires.

10. Turn on the power to the garage and test the floodlights to ensure that they work.

References

• This Old House: How to Install a Garage Floodlight