Replacing outlets and switches

Our house sat empty for a few years before we bought it. I noticed that several of the outlets had broken plastic and exposed live metal parts. In the bathroom and kitchen Ground Fault Circuit Interrupted (GFCI) outlets had not been installed. Most of the switches were in pretty rough shape. I opted to replace them all. One thing I found out is that most electrical contractors are not interested in small jobs. It is just not worth there time to come and replace a few outlets. Most municipalities will allow a homeowner to replace outlets and switches on their own.

I set out to do this project myself. For this I purchased Leviton Commercial Grade outlets and switches. They were slightly more expensive, but I always like to overbuild everything anyway. I put GFCI outlets in both of the bathroom and on the kitchen counter top outlets, as required by the NEC.
Of course, you always want to turn off the circuit breaker on the outlet in question before you do any work. Electricity is often taken for granted, however, there is a lot of energy in that power panel and one mistake could lead to a shock, a burn or worse. I have a “circuit alert” (GB GVD-504A) non-contact voltage probe. It works by detecting the voltage field. It voltage is present, it will beep and the red light will flash.

Once you have determined it is safe to do so, you can remove the plate. There should be three wires about 6 inches long coming out of the box connected to the outlet.
The black wire is hot and gets connected to the brass colored or yellow screw. The white wire is neutral and gets connected to the silver colored screw. The green wire (many times this wire is bare) is ground and gets connected to the green screw. If you do not have a ground wire, you cannot use a standard 3 pronged outlet. For that situation you can either run a ground wire to the electrical ground which is recommended or you can use a GFCI outlet. The GFCI outlet will protect users from grounding, which is essentially what a shock is.

Once the outlets are replaced, I like to test them with a GB electrical circuit (GB GRT-500) tester before I plug anything into them. This shows you that everything is good.

Switches are similar to outlets, with a few exceptions. There are several different kinds of switches, 2 way (on and off) 3 way (on and off from 2 locations) and 4 way (on and off from 3 locations). Three and four way switches can be confusing, even if you are simply replacing the switch because some switches are laid out differently than others. I suggest buy a book about electrical house wiring such as “Electrical Wiring Residential” by Ray Mullin, before you undertake a three way or four way switch.

2 way switches are pretty straight forward. You will have two wires connected to the side of the switch. Once the power is verified to be off, carefully remove the switch from the box. There should be about six inches or so of wire to work with. Unscrew the terminal screws and remove the wires. Then replace with a new switch and reinstall switch into box. Be careful that the switch terminals do not come in contact with the metal box after the switch is reinstalled.

Here is a video from Expert Village showing the installation of a GFCI outlet:

Here is a video about switch wiring: