If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you may already know that I’m doing my first-ever theme month here at Living (full-time): DIY July.  I need to get a move on with my home improvement tasks if I’m ever going to get this house on the market, so I figured I’d share some home improvement tips with you at the same time.

Fair warning: any hard-core DIYers reading these posts might be pretty disappointed.  I plan to spend this month on some fairly easy tasks, as I don’t think it would be fair to my readers to jump in with major rewiring projects or flooring installs.  And I hired someone to paint the outside of my house.  It is July and I melt.  (To be fair, I take some medications that put me at higher risk for heat stroke and temperatures much over 70F leave me with a fever)

I will say, I wish I had painted my own house.  In my entire life, no one has ever painted my house as cleanly as my mother and I have (and it’s not like I think we have any particular skill when it comes to house painting).  The problem is that professional painters just want to get the job done quickly and move on.  They never tape stuff off and when you say “aren’t you going to tape that off?” they scoff and say professionals don’t need tape.  Guess what?  They get paint all over the place and pretend they don’t see it.  Ugh, and don’t get me started on switch plates.

I won’t get started.  Let’s get on to the post!

Our first DIY July post is how to replace a doorbell button.  I feel like it’s a nice easy entry into wiring for any of you who have never taken on any electrical projects.  Plus, it’s an easy job to do without a lot of prep.  All you need is a flat-head screwdriver, a Philips-head screwdriver, and the replacement doorbell button.  I was disappointed in the doorbell selections at Lowe’s and Home Depot, so I ordered one on Amazon.

This job is so easy that I did it in five minutes while wearing a brand-new sundress.  The only downside to working in this particular sundress?  No pockets!  But hey, that’s what bras are for, right?

I needed to replace my doorbell because my painter completely covered my old one with paint so not only did it not look right, but it was sticking when you pressed it.  I’d complain about my painter, but it was really his teenage daughter.  I liked that he was teaching her the value of hard work by including her in the project so I didn’t have the heart to complain too much about the doorbell.

Time to get started!

First, make sure you have turned the power off to your doorbell!  This is by far the most important step.  Are you not sure which circuit to cut off at the breaker?  Cut them all off!!!  Do not replace your doorbell without turning off the power!!!  You will die!!!

Okay.  Now that the power is off you need to remove the old doorbell.  Unscrew the screws fastening the escutcheon to the wall.  Next, loosen the screws and pull the wires out.  Throw out that nasty old doorbell.

Now you want to loosen the screws on the new doorbell button.  Wrap one wire partly around each screw and tighten down to firmly attach the doorbell to the wires.  It doesn’t matter which wire goes on which side of the doorbell at all as the whole point of the button is to complete the circuit and allow power to flow through it.

Now you need to feed the wires back into the hole and press the button into place.  Place the escutcheon over the button and start your screws.  You want to get both started before you screw either in all the way.  Otherwise you’ll end up with a crooked doorbell.

Now finish screwing them in all the way.  Turn on the power and test it out!

And that’s it!  It took less than five minutes to do and now I have a shiny new button.  Plus, the one I bought lights up and the old one didn’t.  I don’t know that it matters, but it’s nice.

Save

Save

Save