Door bells are an essential front door accessory as they’re designed to alert a homeowner that someone is at their front door. It’s important to choose a door bell that suits the type of property you own but also one that does its job.
As opposed to having a door bell, some homeowners choose to use a traditional door knocker. We have available a wide range of door knockers for sale, including ring door knockers, urn door knockers, lions head door knockers, and doctors door knockers.
For those who don’t want to be startled by the sharp rapping of someone using your door knocker, the following guide will help you to install a door bell.
Materials:
- Power drill
- Drill bits
- Wire strippers
- Wire nuts
- Spirit level
- Screwdriver
- Plastic anchors or toggle bolts
- Caulking
- Pencil
- Fish tape
- Voltage meter
- Bell push doorbell
- Transformer
- Chime
Safety notice
Ultimately, we recommend using a professional to complete any electrical work. Please read our safety notice at the end of this article.
Instructions:
- Choose your power source
Firstly, you’ll need to find an existing 120-volt power supply in your home and connect your transformer to it. People often place their door bell transformer in their attic, as they can connect it to an existing power source like a ceiling light box. It’s also important that you ensure that the connecting circuit has continuous power because your doorbell won’t work when the circuit is switched into the off position. We would recommend you double-check this by using your voltage meter.
- Turn off the power and attach the wires to the transformer
Before attaching the wires to the transformer, you’ll need to turn the power off to the circuit that’s going to power your transformer. Again, you check this using your voltage meter. Now attach the black, white and green wires from the transformer to their corresponding wires in your electrical box, which you can do by twisting them together and using wire nuts to secure them.
- Run your two-stranded wire
Two lengths of wire should be in your door bell installation kit, one should be two-stranded and the other three-stranded. Run the two-strand length of wire from the location of your transformer down the wall that supports your door bell push. This may require you to drill some holes to then use fish tape to discreetly feed the wire down the wall.
- Run the three-stranded wire
You’ll also need to run the three-stranded wire from the chime to where you’ve placed your transformer. Again, you may need to drill some holes to allow you to subtly feed the wires from one place to another.
- Affix the chime on the wall
Position the chime in your preferred location on the wall and ensure that it’s straight using your level. Make a few light marks on the wall where you want to make incisions for the screws that you’ll be using to mount the chime to the wall.
To affix the chime, you’re going to need to consider the wall surface and decide which anchors (e.g. plastic anchors, toggle bolts or a similar alternative) to use.
Before you secure the chime to the wall, make sure you fish the door chime wire you installed earlier behind the chime. Drill holes in the wall, where you made the incision markings before you use the necessary screws to secure the chime against the wall.
- Connect the chime wires
Usually, single-button installation kits provide the buyer with the choice of potentially adding another button for other entrances in the future, therefore making the chime supportive of two buttons. Despite whether you want the chime to work with a secondary button or not, it’s always ideal to bear this in mind when wiring the chime. However, it’s important to beware that the manufacturer’s instructions override those written here.
You’ll find that there are three terminals on the chime, and they will be labelled F, T and B – these correspond with the front door, back door and transformer. Remove the outer covering from the three-stranded wire and, using a pair of wire strippers, strip approximately half an inch from each end of the wire. Now look at the back of the doorbell button and fasten the white wire to the top terminal and the red wire to the bottom terminal.
Note, we recommend that you use some silicone or latex caulking to seal around the wire where it extends from the door jamb or wall.
Once you’ve done this, you can secure the doorbell to the jamb or wall using suitable mounting screws.
- Wire the transformer
To finalise the installation of your doorbell, remove the external covering of both the two-stranded wire that’s attached to the doorbell and the three-stranded wire connected to the door chime. Again, you’ll need to strip back approximately half an inch from the ends of each wire using wire strippers.
Then you’ll need to connect the wires together by coupling the red wire from the chime with the red wire from the doorbell, before entwining and sealing them together using a wire nut. Now loop the black wire from the chime around one of the transformer terminals. Next, get the white wire from the doorbell button and loop it around the remaining transformer terminal. Using a wire nut, encase the ends of any remaining white wire from the chime.
Before turning the power back on for the circuit feeding the transformer, tighten the transformer’s terminal screws. Now test your newly installed doorbell.
Are you not happy with the bell push that’s come with your door bell installation kit? At Ironmongery Experts we have a collection of doorbell pushes in various finishes that make them suitable for all styles of homes, including our polished chrome doorbell pushes, polished brass doorbell pushes, satin chrome doorbell pushes, Florentine bronze doorbell pushes and our satin stainless steel doorbell pushes.
If you have any questions regarding our ironmongery products, feel free to give our team a call on 01376 557 561 or email us at info@ironmongeryexperts.co.uk so we can assist you further.
Disclaimer
At Ironmongery Experts we strongly advise that you always take safety precautions into consideration when undertaking a DIY project. We also strongly suggest that you closely read and follow the instructions provided by the manufacturer of any building materials, products or tools you use for your projects.
We try our best to provide clear and correct instructions within our articles, so you can easily complete any DIY project you desire. However, please note that the information we provide should only be used as a guideline and that some information within the text may not be entirely accurate.
When using our articles for information and advice, please note that is your own responsibility to determine your capabilities when undertaking and executing the task you wish to complete.
Before starting a DIY task, we strongly recommend that you educate yourself of any existing building, gas, water and electrical works regulations. We believe it is in your best interest to complete further research and/or contact the necessary professional body should you have any further concerns.
We also strongly recommend that a qualified tradesperson completes the relevant safety tests and checks on any DIY you have completed.
