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Non-Wheeling Electrical help/suggestions

Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2013 10:42 am
by TJDave
Bathroom vanity lights. Bear with me on the lengthy explanation.

I am not sure which way to go on this one without costing a bunch of money, so I am looking for ideas.

Someone's great idea in 1999 when the house was built, has turned into a royal PITA.

I have replaced many light fixtures in my time, and it is usually very easy.
Not this time. The halogen light fixtures in the master bath are now completely out of commission. New halogen bulbs were a no go.

Easy replacement with the normal 4"-ish round light fixture attachment, which I assumed was behind these lights with the matching holes in the extra huge mirror. Right? WRONG!

Behind each existing vanity light is three small holes in the mirror. Two with threaded studs sticking out for mounting, and one conduit hole to the very left of each fixture with multiple wires. The three lights are all wired separately. :banghead The existing light has been discontinued, plus one of the shades is missing with no match available.

Below is a pic of the existing lights, and the style of what I thought would be a easy swap. I wanted to surprise the wife with new working lights in HER bathroom. If it was MY bathroom, I'd just hang a shop light and be done with it.

Any ideas besides a complete mirror removal wall cutting disaster? :lol:


Existing
Image

What didn't happen
Image

Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2013 5:14 pm
by tobyw
I'm assuming you have scoured all corners of the innerwebz and cannot find a replacement, not just the local box stores and/or KIE? If that's the case, considering the wall mirror has those holes in it, unless you are willing to live with the holes you're pretty much stuck with a wall patch job to consolidate the wiring into a single work box... Having just gone through a complete reno, I understand the PITA factor, believe me :?

Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2013 6:48 pm
by pascoscout
Are they each home run back to the switch (shouldn't be) or are they in series with one wire going back?

What about finding something that you like the look of (wood, metal, another mirror) and cutting it to fit over the spot where the lights where and then using the center hole to mount a new 4" round flush box and using the fixture you wanted?

Hard to tell if that would work from the picture but just a thought. Maybe a close up of the light fixture on the right would help.

Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2013 7:43 pm
by TJDave
One switch powers both fixtures. I guess they are tied together behind the wall & mirror somewhere.

Thanks for the replies.

KIE does not have a listing of various fixtures on their website. My best option is to take one down there and see if they can get something with the same mounting dimensions. Maybe I'll get lucky.

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 2:05 pm
by Badazcj8
I'd probably use the electrical / stud finder (mine blinks a specific light when it finds a hot wire behind the drywall), to locate where the wires come in. Then I'd pull a box in the middle above each fixture.

As for the existing holes in the mirror, the wires would no longer be hot, so I'd probably just go to the local hardware store, have some mirror cut to size, and hot glue it over the old mess.. It won't be perfect, but truth be known, most people wouldn't notice unless you pointed it out to them.