DIY Interior Home Design

You do not need to be a certified electrician in order to safely replace older wall sockets with newer models, as long as you follow a few simple instructions to insure your safety and expediency of the task.

Before you begin working, you should make sure the wall socket is of the right size for the slots you have available. Although size is largely standardized, I have ran into more then a few outliers and ended up with a socket I could not use anywhere.

Make sure you have the right screws for the task. Not all new wall sockets come packaged with properly sized screws, and the older screws holding your current wall socket in place may be worn out and worn looking. Fortunately, you can buy screws virtually anywhere, and the sizes are fairly uniform; should be easy enough to match them to your new wall socket.

Finally, the last step before you begin the installation proper is making sure you have the right screwdriver. Not all screws are the same, and not everybody has an adaptable screwdriver laying around. You can usually buy a screwdriver anywhere screws are sold, just be sure the it matches the head of the screws you will be using. Often, if the match is poor you may end up ruining the screw head and making the job much harder for yourself.

Now that you are ready to begin, you should always make sure to turn off power to the room you will be replacing wall sockets in with your distributor box, usually found in the basement. This is a very important step; neglecting to follow it may result in a nasty shock of varying severity. It does not take much time and will guarantee your safety as you are installing your new wall sockets.

From there, the job should be fairly straightforward. Simply unscrew the older wall socket, dispose of or keep the screws for later, depending on their condition, and secure the new socket with the screws you have on hand.