This is a new construction but sheetrock is up... I need to make one ground fault outlet and one switch to a vainity light in one double box... the only wire that was put in is a 12/2 wire. One Black, one white, one ground. I would like the outlet to be always hot if possible, but if not I guess I will have to have the vanity lights on to use the outlet. Also, can this outlet be the first in a string of outlets and all of them be Ground Faults? I have to other outlets that need to be ground faulted in the bathroom... if this can't be done from this outlet, should I just add another GF outlet on the next in line and make it cover the last? I am not all that savy on this and pictures or diagrams would be a huge help... Thanks!

Just realized one of my questions was stupid I think... if I only have one wire in the box that means it's the end of the line right? So it definitely can't be the first GF in a line... will have to ask the rough in guy... (hubby) where those wires went after they came in the room! Any way help with the rest of my question would be great!

Is the location where you want to put the GFI an outlet or is it the location for a switch.

If it was originally planned as a switch location you will not have a neutral at that box. If it was planned as an outlet you can run a cable to the vanity light (thru the switch) and not have it GFI protected.
You can replace an outlet upstream from that location and have it protect all succeeding outlets. Sounds like that would also make the vanity lights GFI protected. Not something you would normally do but is allowable.

Hi and thanks for responding... to answer your question... it was PLANNED as a double box with one switch to operate a pair of vanity lights and one GFI outlet beside it. My husband is not an electrician and did the rough in wiring with someone else telling him what to do... now that person isn't available to show us how to install the switches... most of them are simple and no problem. However, I am not sure that this particular one was wired right. What I have in the double box right now is just one 12/2 in other words one black wire, one white wire and one ground wire. Can both the GFI and the switch be wired off this feed with pigtails? If so, what is the configuration? I realized that I couldn't use this as the GF to protect the other outlets, because if there is only one 12/2 coming in, it must mean that it is an end of the line and the power must be at one of the lights? Any way... how can I wire this to have both switch and GFI? Also, can the outlet be always hot or will you have to turn the switch on for it to work?

I'm afraid it does not look very promising for you. If that 12/2 cable is a hot from another outlet you will need a 12/2 cable to the light. If the 12/2 cable is a switch leg from the vanity light, and it is almost a certainty that it is, you don't have a neutral at the switch location. To have an outlet at the switch location you will have to pull another 2-wire cable from the light to the switch location.

OK, if you have one wire, you can't wire anything except the GFCI.

How is the light wiring getting to the box?
Where does the other end of the wire in the box terminate?

I'll have to brush up on bathroom code. There is some wierdness about sharing with other circuits in other rooms, etc.

If this is a power wire entering the box and you can add the wire to the light then you can:

1. Use the GFCI for the outlet
2 Make the light and outlet GFCI protected
-or-
Just have the outlet GFCI protected.

But, I really would have to look at the code requirements for a bathroom. If your grandfathered, you could make the light non GFCI and the GFCI just for the outlet. This is what I would recommend if possible to do in your situation.

I know the outlets must not be shared with any other circuit.

Thanks for all the input... it looks like I am correct and it is not wired correctly. I will have to get hubby to check and see what's hot and where it goes to... then figure out how to get a wire in the wall that already has sheetrock and paint on it... LOL

You need a cable from the vanity lamp. Usually lamps are wired power to light and then a wire to the switch, but you can do it the other way. Power to the switch. Now that way is getting more preferred because now there is a neutral in that box for timers.

A good way to wire is power to the lamp and /3 wire from the lamp to the switch. This allows a lot of options. Initially the white is capped at both ends and the red is re-coded black and a standard switch is used.

Bathrooms are problematic anyway:
1) NEC code
2) Sometimes double doors (3-way switch)
3) Exhaust fan (delay on break or humidity control)
4) Aux heat w/timer
5) Two sinks with two dressing areas
6) Heated towel racks
7) Spa
8) Night lights
9) Radient heating


Your OK, as long as you have a cable to the vanity light and know where the other end of the existing cable goes.