[ZTWsquared]

Focus man, Focus.,Jan 13 2010, 11:37 AM Wrote:We are doing some work in our upstairs bathroom and I have come across something I have never seen before.  Our house was built in the 60's and aparently this wasn't uncommon back then. 

I took the light fixture off the wall above the mirror.  It was mounted directly to the wall, not the box.  There were only 2 wires, one white and one black.  So far I am good.  Now is where I am lost.  Instead of having a round box in the wall there in a rectangle box, like a single switch box on its side.  Can a new fixture be mounted to this box or will I need to replace the box with a round style box so the fixture can be mounted to it?

I will see if the wife can snap a picture of it and post it up for me.

Thanks in advance.
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Built in the '60s for sure there is a third wire grounding that box (assuming this was part of the new construction and your house was built to code) ...

If it was me I would open up that area around the box and confirm what you're dealing with - right now it's only conjecture.

In any event, I've seen lots of light fixtures attached to square boxes - IIRC the attaching points are essentially in the same location despite the different shape of the box - so from that perspective - assuming the existing box is grounded and assuming you can find the attachment points under the plaster, I think you would want to use that box.

The alternative (and a pretty good one) is to replace that box with a "reno" box - one that is designed to fit into an opening in the plaster or drywall that is just the same size as the box itself - but even then you have to deal with grounding the fixture - so not sure you can do anything before confirming the existence of the third wire.