From Wired to Wireless: How to Swap Out a Doorbell

During the process of listing the house, Justin and I worked our way through a few essential tasks to make our house look perfect:

- Touch up the paint on the walls
- Patch unused nail holes (the second bedroom needed this since we left it in the transition from office to bedroom...and listed the house before we completed the transition)
- Caulk cracks
- Re-caulk the bathtub
- Clear out clutter from closets
- Clean out garage (and make it look like we actually um...park our cars in it)
- De-personalize the house (stashing away Christmas and Birthday cards, invitations, calendars and personal files; like pay stubs and bank statements)
- Dust moldings and trim
- Vacuum and wash all floors
- De-ice walkway and steps (where we expect people to be walking)

Fortunately, with only the two of us, the house stays pretty neat and tidy.  We just did a deeper clean than usual, which included washing the moldings and bathroom wall, and shining up the light switches. 

Okay, have you ever noticed the dirt that collects on light switches?  (that stuff makes me cringe)

I had one lingering house project that I needed to complete before I would allow the house to be listed.

 

Our doorbell stopped working...oh probably about 1 year ago.  But we didn't notice until about 6 months ago.  The dogs do a pretty good job of alerting us (and the entire neighborhood) that there could be a person at the door.  Or walking by the house.  Or breathing. 

Not wanting to fool around with the wires, I chose to go wireless.  Wireless doorbells offer several different varieties of sounds - you can even download your own song that will play when a visitor pushes the button.  I opted for the cheapest basic ring - which had an attractive price tag of $14.

I ran home to remove the old doorbell and start the installation when I was left with 3 wires hanging out of the wall. Hmm... I hadn't thought this one through. 

At this point, I wasn't sure if the wires were live, so I had to do a little research.  The problem with the doorbell seemed to be that it was still sporting the original wiring.  I figured the wiring had just worn out over time - and thus rendered it useless.  But I didn't know where to locate the source of energy...

I just needed to know if it was safe to leave the wires exposed or to touch them (while removing them or if I needed to wrap them in electrical tape).  After a Google search, I discovered that all wired doorbells have a mini transformer (which you might find on a beam or in the rafters of the basement/crawl space/closet).  The transformer basically takes the standard 120v of electricity (from the breaker box) and converts it to a much lower 10-20V for doorbell use.  Normally, if the wired doorbell is working, you would be able to turn off the breaker for the doorbell.  (I couldn't do this with the doorbell not functioning and I didn't have a voltage tester to check if the wires were live).

After following the source of what I thought could be the doorbell wires, I found that the power source was removed.  Ha...oops!  Well, this explains a lot.

As my Internet source confirmed, this is the transformer I was looking for.  With the power source cut, I felt a little more comfortable touching the wires.

I was pretty sure that the wires coming out of the wall behind the doorbell and the button were dead.  So I touched the two wires together just to make sure (they would create a spark if they were active) and...nothing.  So I cut the wires with wire-cutters, wrapped the bare wire in electrical tape (just in case) and pushed them into the wall.

 The wireless doorbell works strictly...wirelessly (duh) so I only had to mount the new doorbell on the wall.  I could've done this anywhere in the house, but this spot in the kitchen seemed to make the most sense (we would be able to hear it even if we were in the basement). 

The plaster behind the doorbell was in rough shape, so I cleaned it up a bit.  Three layers of drywall mud (with drying and sanding in between each layer) gave me a perfectly clean surface.  One coat of primer and a final coat of paint and I was ready to install the new doorbell. 

The new doorbell alarm was mounted on the wall and loaded up with 4 C batteries. 

The transmitter underwent the same process.  The button was unscrewed from the wall of the house, I disconnected the two wires (with my bare hands since I had confirmed they were dead), cut them, wrapped them in electrical tape and then pushed them into the wall. 

The hole left from the wires would only need to be filled if the new transmitter didn't fit directly over the hole.  In my case, the new button was the same fit to the last.  I added the sticky tape to the back of the button, and also mounted it to the wall with two screws. 


And a few hours later - I the new homeowners had a working doorbell for less than $15. 

I actually think it's pretty ugly looking, but it gets the job done.  Had we decided to stick it out here for another couple of years, I may have splurged for the upgraded button.  But with a house that was shortly being added to the MLS listing, my only concern was that the doorbell worked.  And it does!

Have you seen the final tour of our current house?  Now it's time to pack up our little bungalow and start our life in a new home.  With a pretty doorbell. 

Mary