Front Door Bell

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        Our builder included a lot of unexpected extras, but predictably a lot of standard fare is incorporated in the home as well.  One of them happens to be one of the first things people see when they approach our front door.  This lighted doorbell is easy to see even at night, but it is much more practical than it is visually appealing.
      The solution for us was this decorative replacement that we found at Menard's while visiting family over Christmas in the Chicago area.  It cost less than $10.00.  

                    

      As is common with projects I initiate, this one was not quite as easy and straight forward as I expected it would be.  The original bell came off easy enough and the wires were easy to reconnect to the new doorbell.  The first unexpected problem I encountered was that the door bell mechanism sits deeper than the decorative metal frame.  This required a little chipping away with a screwdriver at the stucco directly behind the button.

         

   The second unexpected surprise was that the screws on the original door bell were set farther apart than on the new one.  It seems amazing that no one has figured out that a standard for doorbell screws would make sense for homeowners.  Fortunately the new doorbell covered both original holes.  I retained the top one for the new doorbell and drilled a new hole and placed a new plastic anchor in the stucco for the lower screw.

                       

      The third surprise was that the original screws were machine screws and the anchors set in the stucco were designed for those machine screws.  The new door bell button, was equipped with wood screws.  I wanted to use the new screws because they were painted to match the door bell button.  To solve the problem, I took slivers of plywood left over from another project and stuffed them into the top anchor.  After I did, the new wood screw worked fine.  In the bottom hole, I placed a smaller anchor and the wood screw worked well in that one as well.

                           

      The above photo shows the final result.

              

        After I completed the project I decided to use the original lighted button to replace one of the new unlit buttons that I installed in the garage.

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photos ©2003-2005 Donald A. Thomas, Jr.