Mount A Vintage Porcelain Light Fixture

You can typically locate vintage light fixtures at garage sales and antique stores. These older lights are often very decorative in appearance with porcelain domes and intricate metalwork. If you have a vintage porcelain light fixture you can mount it in much the same way as modern fixtures, as long as the wiring is free of damage. If you are unsure about the wiring, take the fixture to an electrician for inspection before mounting it in your home.

Instructions

1. Cut off all the power to the room where you want to install the vintage fixture. The best way to do this is to turn the light on in the room. Then locate the home's main fuse box and flip off fuses until you locate the one that turns off the light.

2. Remove the existing light fixture by unscrewing the finial or side screws until the dome detaches. Then unscrew the light bulb and locate the center nut that holds it to the ceiling. Turn the nut counterclockwise until it comes off and lower the fixture down from the ceiling.

3. Look at the black and white wires above the light and unscrew the plastic caps that secure them together. Untwist the wires and then set the fixture aside. If you see a green ground wire, which may also be copper, untwist it as well.

4. Hold a crossbar mounting bracket, also called a strap, up to the ceiling by sliding the center hole on the bracket over the metal post that emerges from the ceiling opening. Place the supplied nut on the threaded post and tighten it fully by turning it clockwise.

5. Pick up the vintage porcelain fixture and raise it up to the ceiling. Attach the black wires from the ceiling and the fixture together by twisting the ends and then screwing on a wire nut. Repeat the process with the white wires and the green or copper wires.

6. Push the vintage porcelain fixture up as far as possible against the ceiling, aligning the two small threaded posts in the crossbar mount through the holes in the base of the fixture. Screw the small caps, supplied with the crossbar, onto the ends of the threaded posts to hold the fixture to the ceiling.

7. Insert a light bulb into the vintage fixture and then install the porcelain dome, if it is separate from the base. Domes attach in various ways. Some have a nut in the center that screws on, while others have side screws that tighten against the base.

8. Turn the power back on to test the power connection to the new vintage light fixture.

Tags: from ceiling, center that, light bulb, light fixture, porcelain fixture