How to Fix a Yard Light

Did your yard light break again? If it did, it is probably because of a bad stake. The stakes that come with these yard lights are usually made of cheap plastic and are thin and fragile in the middle. I have had 2 yard lights that have broken this same way until I thought of this easy way to fix them. Most of the materials and tools used here were used on other projects and the only thing I needed to buy was the PVC pipe, which was only 2 dollars, which is much cheaper than the light itself. With this easy fix, you can fix multiple lights with one pipe and save a lot of money!

Gather Materials

Gather materials:

- Yard light with a broken stake

- Electrical tape

- PVC cement and primer

- PVC pipe (I used 2 feet of 1/2" PVC pipe to fix 8 yard lights and I still have enough pipe for one more light. You want to use a pipe that is slightly smaller than the hole the regular stake goes in.)

Gather tools:

- Flathead screwdriver (A very long one is the best option because we will be using this to loosen up the soil where the light goes.)

- Rubber mallet (You might not need this depending on how hard the soil is at your house. You use the mallet to with the flathead screwdriver to loosen the soil.)

- Hacksaw

- Safety glasses (SAFETY FIRST!!!)

- Scissors

- Sharpie (Or another way to mark the PVC pipe.)

Cut Your PVC Pipe

The first thing you want to do is to take the broken stake out of the light. This might be difficult if it is stuck. Depending on the type of light you have, the top light might come out. This is what happened on my light. If your top light does not come out, that is fine. It will just make it more difficult to put the light into the ground. Now cut your PVC slightly longer than the length the regular stake would be with the hacksaw. For me this was about 6 inches. Then mark the area where the part of the stake sits in the hole in the light. Make this mark a little longer than the part on the regular stake. This should only be about an inch or two depending on the type of light you have.

Make the PVC Pipe Thicker

Now use the electrical tape and wrap it around the PVC pipe a few times. Try not to go past the mark you made in the last step because that just wastes tape if you do. Wrap it enough so that it fits very snugly into the hole in the light. Then, go down a little bit on the pipe and make a lot of wraps so that it is thicker than the hole in the yard light. This part doesn't need to be precise, just don't let too much room between the two pieces of tape. You do this so then the PVC pipe doesn't get pushed down too far into the light. You may not need to do this depending on what type of yard light you use but I needed to do this on mine.

Secure the PVC to the Yard Light

Use the PVC primer and put some around the first roll of tape. Next, put some of the PVC cement around the tape. Put enough on it so that there is a thick coat around the whole piece of pipe the tape is around. Then put the pipe into the hole in the yard light. Make sure the top of the light is down on the workbench and push on the pipe from the top. This will give you an even ring of PVC cement around the hole. It might be hard to push the PVC pipe into the hole depending on how much tape you used but just push it in and make sure it is in all the way and held snugly. Let this dry for a day or as long as your PVC cement tells you to.

Put the Yard Light in the Ground

This will probably be the longest step depending on how hard the soil is at your house. The soil at my house is very hard so it took a long time to get the lights in. If the old stake from the light is still in the ground, you can try and get the old stake out and put the new yard light in the hole that the old stake left. That would be easiest but if you lost the spot where the broken stake is or you want to put the yard light in a different spot then it will be harder. I used a mallet with the flathead screwdriver to hit the flathead screwdriver into the ground. It also helps if you spray the ground with water. This loosens up the soil and makes it easier to put the yard light in. Once you think the soil is loose enough, push the yard light into that hole with the stake going in first. If your yard light doesn't let the top light come out then you will need to be careful with this step. This will pack down the soil so you will need to take the yard light out and loosen the soil again. Keep repeating this until the light is in the ground securely. You have now fixed your yard light! It will be more secure and look much sturdier.