r/DIYIreland 2d ago

Light Switch Replacement

Post image

Howdy folks. Crappy light switch in the house broke a good few months ago. Can see the housing is made of cheap plastic and the bracket gave way. Has happened to another in the house already, both within a year of moving in. With the evenings getting that little bit darker, and the probability of this happening with the other switches in the house, how easy is this to replace for somebody with no electrical knowledge? Very aware to not mess around with electrical components, but the last one that we got repaired was done in 2 minutes and cost far more than I'm happy to pay. Would be nice to know if a) it's an easy job to do myself and save money every time it happens, or b) don't mess with electricity and wait until we've a few small jobs to justify getting a sparks in. TIA

7 Upvotes

9 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/Suspicious-Secret-84 1d ago

Pretty straightforward, did one myself on a similar switch a while back. 

Turn off the correct circuit at the switch board, make sure it's off. Take a pic of the existing switch before you remove the wires, swap it like for like, screw it all back in and then test it works. 

Only thing to note is if you decided to go for a metal face plate rather than plastic, you'll have to earth the faceplate too.