How You Can Mount Lights on Vinyl Siding
Vinyl siding is sturdy, attractive, and relatively low-cost compared with completely different siding selections, harking back to brick and wood. It lasts, too. As quickly because it’s up on your own home, it’s staying there for about 30 years. Nevertheless what when you want to add lighting in your porch or above the storage? Do it’s good to rip off a little bit of siding? That seems like a critical hassle.
Thankfully, no large-scale demolition is necessary. All that you need to do is drill a niche and use a useful mounting block significantly made for vinyl siding. I’m a licensed electrician, and I’ve spent many hours on punch lists and alter orders. Returning to a enterprise in order so as to add stuff that wasn’t on the distinctive prints could also be irritating, nevertheless vinyl siding mounting blocks make the strategy quite a bit less complicated.
Beneath, I’ll introduce you to the thought, and offers helpful solutions so you’ll kind out the enterprise your self.
What Is a Vinyl Mounting Block?
A vinyl mounting block provides a flat flooring on which to mount a light-weight fixture. Vinyl siding, equivalent to wood clapboard and aluminum siding, is attached to your personal dwelling in “laps,” or prolonged horizontal boards that overlap each other to take care of out the climate. This uneven flooring makes it troublesome to place in a light-weight fixture with out leaving gaps or inflicting the siding to buckle. Vinyl mounting blocks might be discovered for practically any lap and securely preserve lights upright.
When Do You Need a Vinyl Mounting Block?
A mounting block is required anytime a light-weight should be hooked as much as the uneven lap of the siding. Listed below are two seemingly situations, the one distinction being whether or not or not {{the electrical}} wiring is ready and prepared for you or it’s good to pull it later.
In an excellent scenario, when your own home was being constructed, an electrician would pull wire or run pipe by the use of the partitions to every place you’d like a light-weight and mount an accessible electrical area on a stud behind the siding. The siding installer would work throughout the sector so {{that a}} delicate may probably be put in later. The electrician would come once more after the siding was up and arrange the block and lightweight.
There could also be one different scenario (perhaps one you’re coping with now) the place you gained’t have the current wiring or area. Don’t worry. It’s further labor-intensive than merely mounting a light-weight, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a doable DIY enterprise. As quickly as you understand the place you want the sunshine, you’ll carry a cable from a close-by electrical provide to the location, poke it by the use of to the floor, and mount the block and lightweight.
How To Arrange a Vinyl Mounting Block
First, be sure to buy a block with the equivalent lap dimension as your siding. Mounting blocks can be found various lap sizes and hues to match your present siding. In accordance with the Nationwide Electrical Code (NEC), lights should be secured to {{an electrical}} area. So while you don’t have one at your new location, guarantee to buy a mounting block with an built-in area.
If you already have a light-weight or wires on the situation, say, you’re altering an outdated mount that’s cracked or an unpleasant color, rejoice. All it’s good to do is flip off {the electrical} vitality to the circuit (on a regular basis examine with a non-contact voltage tester to make sure), take away the sunshine and block, and trade it by threading the wire by the use of the model new block, seating it on the siding, and making the connections.
Within the occasion you’re starting from scratch, resolve the place you’ll get vitality first. A single delicate fixture makes use of little or no juice — half an amp with a 60-watt bulb — so the best method is to faucet into an present lighting circuit. See when you may entry a storage delicate or completely different shut by delicate fixture, flip off the power, and produce a same-sized Romex cable from the sunshine to your new location. Fishing wires could possibly be a bit of dicey, nevertheless think about me, there’s on a regular basis a way.
Drill a small (half-inch or so) hole by the use of your siding, and pull the cable by the use of. Defend the cable by placing in a connector throughout the block, and feed the wire by the use of. Join the block to the stud, if present, or the wood sheathing behind the siding, together with a bead of sealant to forestall water intrusion. Make {{the electrical}} connections on the delicate, join the sunshine to the block, and activate the power.
FAQ
How do I protect the sunshine fixture after it’s put in?
Periodically study the sunshine. Within the occasion you see sagging, gaps or free caulk, flip off the power sooner than attempting to re-seat the fixture. Within the occasion you experience flickering, buzzing, weird smells or sparks, flip off the power and title a licensed electrician.
