On Jan 20, 4:51*pm, N8N wrote:
On Jan 20, 4:48*pm, willshak wrote:

Ivan wrote the following:

My house, built in 1960, has several wall switches actuated by
rectangular pushbuttons that fit the same switchplates as normal
toggle switches. *One switch is now sticking.

Any idea how I can fix it?

And who sells replacements? (Home Depot does not)

I can't picture square buttons in a standard toggle switch plate. You
mean there are two small square buttons in the 3/8ths inch by 1" hole in
the switchplate?

no, I know exactly what he's talking about. *It's an ivory (or other?)
colored single pushbutton, the exact size and shape of the hole in a
traditional toggle switch cover plate. *Push on, push off.

My suggestion would be to buy a good toggle switch in the same color
as the other switches while searching for a replacement, 'cause I
suspect it's going to take a while. *If the OP is not enamored of the
old school flavor of the house, a 10-pack of spec grade toggle
switches is likely under $20 at a good electrical supply, and then he
can sell the still-working switches that he removed and replaced on
eBay.

nate

Oh, forgot to mention. Would be worth checking before driving to the
electrical supply to determine what the wiring material is in said
house. I believe that 1960 falls within the period where Al wiring
was sometimes used in residential construction; if this is the case,
the OP needs to make sure that the new switches that he purchases are
Cu/Al rated - most are not. The other option is to pigtail all the
wiring with copper, using Cu/Al rated wire nuts and the special
magical paste.

Completely as an aside, does anyone know when it ceased being common
practice for the individual conductors in a cable to be tinned for
soldering? I've got a mix of both in my house (1948/49 vintage.) The
BX and 14/3 NM is pretinned, while the 14/2 is not.

nate