My in-laws have a pretty nice house that was built in the late 80s (they weren't the builders...they bought it in the early 2000s). It's well-built, has survived multiple hurricanes, and generally is a pretty great home to live in. Except for one thing. There are a bunch of rooms that don't have light switches by the door to turn on the lights when you walk into a room. Instead, you get to stumble around in the dark until you find a lamp, and hope you don't knock it off the shelf in the dark while you're trying to turn it on.

I remember my grandparents's house, which was built in the 70s, being the same way.

Were home builders in the 1970s and 80s idiots? Masochists? Why would they do this? The house is completely wired for electricity and even has boxes for ceiling fans...why not wire it for lights and switches?

That is surprising for a house built in the '80s. My parents' home was built in the '50s and every room has switches by the doorway. They've lived in that house since the late '60s and it's never been rewired.

 
I believe (but not positive as I am not an electrician), that the NEC requires a switched light at the entrance to any room. It can be a lamp plugged into a switched outlet, or just a switched light. But local governing rules can choose which version of the NEC to adopt, or not adopt it at all, and have (or not have) their own code. When our house was built in 2002, Yavapai County AZ did not require an electrical inspection, no matter what the code was. It started requiring it shortly thereafter. To me, is is just common sense stupid not to have a switched light at a room entrance. Like safespot, I recall living in houses in the 1950s that had light switches at room entrances.

Mine has a room or two without switches, and yes, it’s frickin annoying. Time for the clapper, or Alexa (or whatever version counts on sound these days).
I agree, it is weird that a house in the 80s was built without that option. Mine is far older than that.

Clap on....



Clap off...


You know the rest...lol.


There are also socket remotes that have switches you can mount to the wall by the door.

My house was built in 1989 and I had to pay $1100 to have lights installed in a single room. There was a switch which only worked the top half of an outlet. One single lamp to light a 16x16 room!!! It would have been $50 in parts to add a ceiling box and switch when the house was build.

quote:

Originally posted by henryaz:
When our house was built in 2002...

There’s a fairly good chance that my dad was your building inspector.

I owned a house for over 20 years that was built in 1947 or so and it had switches. Don't know if it came that way or someone converted it though.

My home was built in 2003 and there is a switch at the entrance to the Master Bedroom......that turns on a ceiling fan without a light option.

In my townhouse, the wall switch for the second bedroom not only turns off and on the ceiling light, it also turns off and on the wall outlets in the room!

I remember there being chain switches in the basement and cellar that you had to pull.

Maybe double check which outlets the lamps are plugged into. As 'henryaz' indicated, code would/should require either switched outlets, or a switched light fixture in every room, especially bedrooms. I grew up in a home built in 1969, and it had switched outlets in every bedroom, so this is NOT a new code requirement.

It's possible there are switched outlets, but the lamps are plugged into the wrong (non-switched) outlet on the receptacle (bottom vs top). It's also possible that the current furniture layout doesn't match up with the switched outlets in the room.

A couple of good suggestions above ... Alexa/Google home type setup and the clapper.

People joke about the clapper, but it might be just what they need. Simple to use, No internet needed, no google/amazon knowing when you turn the lights on, etc.

another option - the Phillips Hue light ecosystem has physical switches you can use with their lights. And the switches are wireless too.

Hue Switch

These switches can go anywhere, but you have to have the Hue lights also. So you'd need something like this to get started. Hue Starter Kit

I'm just curious, I'm not an electrical guy, I always hire a pro.

Are there wall outlets to plug things into?

If one is near a door, I would think an electrician could tap into it, and go up a ways and install a switch, and continue the power up to above the ceiling, go over and hang a light fixture? Or just go up the wall and hang a wall sconce light fixture?

BTW I recently bought some night lights, a pack at Home Depot and a pack at wallychinamart, they are a 7 watt LED and they have the sensor that turns them on when it's dark enough and turns them back on when its light enough. They just plug into the wall outlet.

I like them and they use a only a few coins to run all month.

Good luck to you.
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quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:
Maybe double check which outlets the lamps are plugged into. As 'henryaz' indicated, code would/should require either switched outlets, or a switched light fixture in every room, especially bedrooms. I grew up in a home built in 1969, and it had switched outlets in every bedroom, so this is NOT a new code requirement.

It's possible there are switched outlets, but the lamps are plugged into the wrong (non-switched) outlet on the receptacle (bottom vs top). It's also possible that the current furniture layout doesn't match up with the switched outlets in the room.

It's also possible that the switched outlet(s) do not have the jumper bar removed. I found this in our condo searching as to why a switch didn't seem to turn anything on or off.

clap clap?

Some fun suggestions here, lol. The clapper may be just the thing for them. Alexa ain't gonna happen...my FIL would take that thing out in the backyard and shoot it before he even got it out of the box (he and I are on the same page on that!).

Thankfully it's not my house, so I only have to put up with it when I visit. My house was built pre-1900, and even it has switches in every room (although it's been remodeled a couple of times since then, so who knows when that was done.

quote:

Originally posted by Beancooker:

quote:

Originally posted by henryaz:
When our house was built in 2002...

There’s a fairly good chance that my dad was your building inspector.

Pretty neat, and a small world. I was living on site in a travel trailer during the latter 2/3 of the construction, but I did not meet the building inspector.

As I understand it, early traditional housing designs accomodated the lighting trends of the time. For some rooms, like bedrooms and living rooms, people preferred cozier indirect lamp lighting; ceiling lights were considered too glaring. The trend continued through the 80s with those floor-standing torch lamps (I myself have those in my bedrooms and living room). After the 80s the trend shifted to universal overhead lighting (maybe reflecting newer bulb technologies?).

(My torch lamps run off switched wall outlets, with wall switches right near the door. Don't know if your in-laws' place is set up like that.)

I'd go to the dollar store or Walmart and get some nightlights that have the photo cell built in. You could at least find your way to the closest light source easily and cheaply.