Electric Mirror Defogger

Don’t you just hate it when you’re trying to shave or put your makeup on and the bathroom mirror is too fogged up for you to see? Well we’ve got a solution that’s inexpensive and easy to install. It’s called the Electric Mirror Defogger! With this product, which fits behind your mirror, you won’t have to put up with a fogged mirror  anymore.

TOOLS Wire stripper   Drywall saw   Screwdriver

MATERIALS   Electric Mirror (available at home centers) Electric wiring (12 gauge cut to length)   Cut out electrical box   Wire nuts   Marker/pencil

installation

• Remove the mirror from the wall.
• Find the center point in the wall (usually directly down from the light fixture over the sink)  making sure to allow enough height on the wall so the Electric mirror will be installed at eye level for the tallest person in the house.
• Use a pencil or marker to mark the wall. Then take the cut out box, placing the top of the box at your mark. Then trace around the cut out box. Next take the drywall saw and cut the hole for your cut out box. This will hold the wiring that will run from the light fixture to the Electric Mirror.
• Insert the box into the hole. Make sure it fits. We’ll install this a little later.

Now it’s time for wiring.

• ALWAYS turn off power to whatever circuit you’re working on to prevent electrocution BEFORE you start your project.
• Take your electric wiring and do a rough measure from the light fixture to the cut out box, cutting off more than an inch or two of excess wire. Take the wire stripper tool, and strip the wire. Basically you’re just taking about ¾ of an inch of insulation off the end of the wire. Strip the black and white wires. Remove the wire nuts from the light fixture to expose those wires. You want to marry the new wires for the Electric Mirror with the existing wires of the light fixture.
• To do this, take the black wire of the light fixture and the black wire of the Electric Mirror,  twist them together and screw them together with a wire nut. Do the same thing with the white wires, twist them together and use a wire nut to hold them together.
• In the box that holds the light fixture is a an opening called a knockout. Use a screw driver to punch out that knockout so you can run the wires through it down through the wall.
• Push the wires down until you can see them through the hole you cut earlier for the cut out box. Use the knockout on top of the cut out box and then pull the wires into the box. You’re ready to attach the cut out box to the wall. Slip it in place, and using a screw driver start turning the screws on top and then the bottom. When these screws are tightened, little flanges on the box pop up and as the screws are turned down tight these flanges secure the box to the drywall.
• Wire the Electric Mirror the same way you did at the light fixture, put the black wires together and the white wires together and fasten each pair together with wire nuts for a good connection.
• The Electric Mirror is ready to be put on the wall and that’s the simplest part of the project because it’s peel and stick. Just center the Electric Mirror on the wall, and peel off the backing and press down the adhesive strips to attach it to the wall. The thin defogger fits unnoticeably behind the mirror.

Reinstall your bathroom mirror, turn on the power, and with the flick of a switch the heater gently warms the mirror and thereby prevents condensation. The Electric Mirror costs about $175 and comes with a 10-year warranty.