10 | October | 2010 | buddly47's Xanga Site

Went up to change the light bulb in the upstairs bathroom for the second time in three days last Thursday evening. Thought it was a little odd that it had burned out so quickly. As I started to unscrew the bulb, sparks shot out from above the socket!

Yeah, I know. Turn the switch off first, Bud!

After turning off the switch, I grabbed a pair of pliers and a screwdriver and took the old light fixture down, and laid in on the pool table to check it out.

She looks in pretty bad shape, at first glance.

I'm pretty sure the light is the original one put in when the house was built over a hundred years ago. The screws holding the socket on were loose and both wires extremely frayed.

Figured I'd just run up to Lowe's and pick up one of these.

But on closer inspection, everything on the old fixture looked to be in good shape, and just needed some cleaning, tightening, and a little TLC!

First order of business was to clear of a little space on my oh-so efficiently organized workbench!

That's a little better!

After a thorough cleaning and re-aligning and tightening of all parts, I started putting her back together.

Notice, all the porcelain and ceramic pieces have matching slots and protrusions to keep everything lined up when tightened. Through the years vibrations from living next to a railroad track had loosened it all up. Everytime I changed a bulb all the pieces would turn while I tried to hold that little ceramic ring tight.

Started with a couple of new, non-frayed wires!

Since vibration is a problem here, I assembled all the pieces with a nice coating of 100% pure silicone sealer. When set it should make a firm rubbery bed to guard against vibration and make changing bulbs a lot easier!