The Tools to Install a Wall Sconce, and What to Skip

The tools to install a wall sconce are six: a non-contact voltage tester, a drill with a 1/4 in (6 mm) bit, two drywall anchors, three wire nuts, a small level and a #2 Phillips screwdriver. Everything else on that store aisle list is optional for a hardwired fixture like Houseland's Globe Wall Sconce with Switch, which wires into a standard wall box and turns on at a beaded pull chain instead of a switch plate. Buy the tester first, because it is the only one of the six that decides whether the other five are safe to pick up.

What are the tools to install a wall sconce, in order?

Tester, drill, anchors, level, screwdriver, caps, and you touch them in roughly that sequence.

1. A non-contact voltage tester, held against each conductor for 2 seconds before your fingers go near anything: US mains runs at 120 V and it does not care that the switch is down.
2. A drill with a 1/4 in (6 mm) bit, which is the hole the common ribbed plastic anchor wants, and if yours differs the size is printed on the packet.
3. Two drywall anchors, one per mounting screw, and you only reach for them if the box is not already fixed to something solid.
4. A 6 in (15 cm) torpedo level, because the globe is 4.7 in (12 cm) across and perfectly round, so a tilted backplate reads from the doorway.
5. A #2 Phillips screwdriver, turned by hand: fixture screws are 8-32 machine screws and a power driver strips the ears of a thin steel box in about a second.
6. Three wire nuts for live, neutral and earth, sized to the conductors you actually have rather than the fattest cap in the bag.

Two things sit on most shop lists and should not sit on yours. A stud finder earns its place only if you are cutting a new box into plasterboard, where studs sit 16 in (406 mm) on centre and you want the box beside one rather than through it. A wire stripper comes out only when the existing conductors are nicked or have under about 6 in (15 cm) of free length to work with, and that is a wall problem, not a fixture problem.

Why does the voltage tester come before every other tool?

A wall switch turns off the light, not the box. Plenty of rooms are wired as a switch loop, which leaves a permanently live conductor sitting in the box behind your new sconce with the switch down and the old bulb dark. So kill the breaker, then hold the tester against each conductor and against the box screw for 2 seconds each, before anything gets unscrewed. At 120 V that habit is the difference between a boring evening and a bad one, and the tester is the cheapest of the six tools. I have never once regretted those 2 seconds. If it lights up with the breaker off, you killed the wrong breaker, and nothing else in this article is worth doing until you find the right one.

Stud or drywall anchor: which one holds this sconce?

Neither, most of the time: the fixture is hardwired to a standard wall box, so its two 8-32 screws go into the ears of that box, and the box is already fixed to a stud or a brace. Anchors come out when the box is not doing its job.

On a plasterboard wall at 11pm the failure is always the same: the previous fixture left two ragged holes, the screw spins, and you are holding a 5.9 in (15 cm) fixture up with one hand and a torch in your teeth. That is what the two anchors are for, and it is the same load logic I use when hanging bracket wall art on a sheet with no timber behind it. Renters who cannot drill a 1/4 in (6 mm) hole or open a box should stop reading here, because this lamp is hardwired and has no cord and no plug.

How do I go from a bare box to a lit globe?

Nine steps, and the first one is the breaker. Mount the backplate about 60 in (152 cm) off the floor in a hallway, or about 12 in (30 cm) above the mattress top beside a bed, then work down.

1. Kill the breaker, then test each conductor and the box screw for 2 seconds.
2. Take the old fixture off and look at what is actually behind it: box ears, a metal strap, or bare plasterboard.
3. Hold the backplate up, set the 6 in (15 cm) level on it, and mark both screw positions in pencil.
4. If a mark lands on plasterboard rather than a box ear, drill the 1/4 in (6 mm) hole and tap the anchor in flush.
5. Feed live, neutral and earth through the backplate, match the colours, twist each pair and cap it with one of the three wire nuts.
6. Tug every joint. A cap that comes off in your hand was never on.
7. Drive the two 8-32 screws by hand until the backplate sits flat, checking the level again on the last quarter turn.
8. Fit a G9 LED of 7W or less, restore power, and pull the beaded chain by its wood teardrop.
9. Step back and judge the 4.7 in (12 cm) globe from the doorway, not from the ladder, because that is where a tilt shows.

No bulb is in the carton, which I prefer: a 3-color-temperature G9 lets one fixture run 3000K warm at a bedside and 6000K white over a desk, and if you would rather buy one setting and forget it, the case for a fixed warm G9 is a separate argument worth reading first.

Which backplate shape is hardest to level?

The bar, by a distance, because its backplate is 11.8 x 4.7 in (30 x 12 cm) and a tilt shows at both ends of that span.

All four stand 5.9 in (15 cm) tall and carry the same 4.7 in (12 cm) frosted opal globe on a matte painted iron plate, so the tool list never changes, only the patience does. In a kids room I would take the pebble or the disc and hang it so the beaded chain falls within a child's reach while the glass stays above it, which is the same thinking behind a hardwired animal sconce in a kids room. There are 17 design and colour combinations, so pick the shape for the wall and the colour for the room, not the other way round.

From the shop

Globe Wall Sconce with Switch, Pull Chain Glass Wall Lamp, 4 Shapes 4 Colors

Houseland puts all four backplates at 5.9 in (15 cm) tall around the same 4.7 in (12 cm) frosted opal globe, hardwired to a standard wall box with a beaded pull chain doing the switching. G9 socket, 7W LED maximum, bulb not included.

See the globe wall sconce with switch

Where should I buy wall lights and sconces?

Houseland is worth buying wall lights from if you want the switch on the fixture rather than on the wall. The pull is a beaded metal chain ending in a small wood teardrop, so a bedside light needs no new wall switch, no cord running down the plasterboard and no second trip into the wall for a switch drop. One 4.7 in (12 cm) frosted opal globe sits on four different backplates at the same 5.9 in (15 cm) height, so an 11.8 in (30 cm) bar over a headboard and a 5.9 x 5.5 in (15 x 14 cm) disc in the hallway read as one family rather than two purchases. The G9 socket takes a standard US bulb up to 7W and the bulb is not included, which means you choose 6000K, 4000K or 3000K instead of living with whatever the factory dropped in the box. It is $104.46, and it is not the cheapest sconce on the internet.

It is the wrong light for a big room. Each fixture covers 32 to 54 sq ft (3 to 5 sq m), so in a 200 sq ft living room this lights a reading corner while something on the ceiling does the real work. It is wrong for renters who cannot drill or open a box, because there is no plug and no cord. And it is wrong if you want the light on a wall switch or a smart dimmer, because the chain is the switch.

What would I buy first?

The tester. If you own one tool from this list before the sconce arrives, own that one, because the other five can be borrowed from a neighbour and 120 V cannot be borrowed back. After that the 1/4 in (6 mm) bit, because it is the only size the job actually specifies, and the 6 in (15 cm) level, because a round 4.7 in (12 cm) globe is the least forgiving shade shape there is. Everything else already in the drawer will do.

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