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- Project Guide: Installing Landscape Lighting
Installing Landscape Lighting
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Tools:
• Stiff wire or coat hanger
Available Only at Your Local Store:
• 14-gauge UF cable
Follow These Steps
Step One
| Determine Your Fixture and Switch Locations |
| 1. | Decide what feature you want to light, such as a flowerbed, shrub or other landscape ornament, and select your fixture. |
| 2. | Decide where to put the light switch to operate your new fixture. For this project guide, we’ll assume it is located on the inside of an exterior wall, directly above where the cable will exit the house and enter the conduit. |
| 3. | Measure from the fixture location to the location at your house where you will install the light switch and from the switch location to the breaker panel. This will give you the amount of UF cable you need. Remember to add 30% to the amount you purchase. |
Step Two
| Install the Light Switch Box |
| 1. | Use a stud finder to locate the wall studs on either side of the location for your new light switch. You’ll want to install the remodeling box for the switch between two studs, not adjacent to a stud, at about 60 in. up from the floor. |
| 2. | Hold the remodeling box up to the wall in the location where it will be installed. Trace around the box with a pencil to mark the area to be cut. |
| 3. | Use a utility knife to score the drywall paper along the outline of the box. |
| 4. | Use a drywall knife to carefully cut out the hole. Go slowly to ensure you don’t cut any wires behind the wall. |
| 5. | Push the remodeling box into the hole for a test fit. It should fit snugly, but you shouldn’t have to force it. |
Step Three
| Dig the Trench |
| 1. | Dig a trench from the location at the house where the power cable will exit to the fixture location, at least 18 in. deep in most areas, for the UF cable that will carry power to the new light. |
| 2. | For specific instructions on how to run outdoor conduit, see our How to Install Electrical Conduit Outdoors Project Guide. |
Step Four
| Drill a Hole in the Ceiling or Floor for the Cable |
| 1. | If you’ll be running cable through the ceiling, carefully drill a hole with a 1/8 in. drill bit through the ceiling above the new switch location. If you’ll be running cable through your basement or crawl space, drill into the baseboard or floor right next to the baseboard instead. |
| 2. | Insert a stiff wire or straightened coat hanger into the hole. |
| 3. | In your attic or basement, look for a two-by-four beam adjacent to the protruding stiff wire. In an attic, this beam is the top of the wall, known as the top plate. In a basement, it’s the bottom of the wall, known as the bottom plate. |
| 4. | If the two-by-four is under a piece of plywood, or covered in some other way, measure 2-1/2 in. from the reference wire toward the two-by-four and drill there. That should put the hole in the middle of the plate. |
| 5. | Check with a flashlight to be sure there are no electrical wires or plumbing pipes behind the walls where you will be working. |
Step Five
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Run the Cable
Note: These next steps are easier to perform if you have an assistant. Station the assistant at the new wall box opening, while you go into the attic or basement. If you don’t have an assistant, you’ll need to go back and forth between the attic or basement and the wall box. |
| 1. | In your attic, use the spade bit to drill a hole through the top plate, directly above the new electrical box location. If you’re running cable through a basement or crawlspace, drill a hole in the bottom plate directly below the box. |
| 2. | Feed your fish tape into the wall opening, pushing it up into the hole you made in the top plate. If you’re running cable through a basement or crawl space, push it down to the hole in the bottom plate. You may need to insert the end of a coat hanger into the hole to pull the end of the fish tape through the hole. |
If you encounter a fire block, proceed with Step Six. If you do not encounter a fire block, go directly to Step Seven below.
Step Six
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Running Cable Past a Fire Block
A fire block is a horizontal beam of wood running between the wall studs. You can drill a hole through the fire block or create a notch to accommodate the wire. To drill a hole: |
| 1. | Insert a long flexible drill bit through the opening for the electrical box and position it on the center of the fire block. |
| 2. | Drill through the fire block. |
To cut a notch:
| 1. | Cut into the drywall at the location of the wall block. |
| 2. | Use a sharp chisel and a hammer to cut a 3/4 in. wide by 1 in. deep notch in the fire block as a conduit for the cable. Pull the cable past the fire block following the instructions in Step Seven below. |
| 3. | After you have fished the cable through the notch, cover the notch with a metal nail plate to protect the cable from nail damage. |
| 4. | Patch over the drywall hole. See our Patching Large Holes in Wallboard Project Guide for step-by-step instructions. |
Step Seven
| Pull the Cable Through the Wall |
| 1. | From the attic, basement or crawl space, use electrical tape to secure one end of the cable to the hook on the fish tape. |
| 2. | At the wall opening, carefully and steadily retract the fish tape, pulling the cable to the wall opening. Be careful not to create friction that can tear the cable’s sheathing and avoid kinks that could damage the cable. Leave about 6 in. of cable hanging from the wall box. |
| 3. | Using the same methods, run the UF cable from the wall box down to the opening to the outside, through the conduit, into the trench (where it does not have to be in conduit) and to your light fixture. |
Step Eight
| Wire the Light Fixture and Switch |
| 1. | Follow the manufacturer’s instructions to wire and mount your light fixture. |
| 2. | To wire the light switch, cut and strip the ends of the black wires and connect them to the two brass terminals. When connecting a wire to the terminal screw, turn the loop on the end of the wire in the same direction as the screw threads, to ensure it screws down tightly. |
| 3. | Connect the white wires to the silver terminal screws and the ground wires to the green grounding screws. |
Step Nine
| Connect the Cable to the GFCI Circuit Breaker |
| 1. | Turn off the main breaker in your breaker panel. |
| 2. | Be aware that even with the main breaker off, the wires coming from the power company are still energized. Be careful when working in the breaker panel. |
| 3. | Attach the green and white wires to the ground/neutral bar. |
| 4. | Attach the red and black wires to a GFCI circuit breaker. |
Step Ten
| Turn on the Power, Test Your Light, Get it Inspected |
| 1. | Turn the power back on at the breaker panel and circuit breaker. |
| 2. | Test that your light switch and light fixture are working. |
| 3. | Before burying the UF cable, call the electrical inspector to schedule your wiring inspection. |
| 4. | Once your wiring has passed inspection, bury the cable. |
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