no grounding wire?

[mollyg]

I was going to install some new bathroom light fixtures, but I can't find a ground wire in the boxand the old fixture was not attached to any ground wire. The house was built in 1958. Any suggestions?

Thanks

[John Nelson]

If the electrical box is metal, use a grounding pigtail (you can buy these in small packages at any home center) to ground the fixture to the box. Otherwise, you'll have to leave the fixture ground unconnected.

[JST829]

Is there a need to ground if using armored cable?

[John Nelson]

Yes. You always want to ground if you can.

[JST829]

Thanks for the fast reply. I guess what I was asking is, doesn't the armored cable act as a ground?
Forgive me, I'm new at this stuff!

[lostmymind]

In the bathroom of the house that I own, the light fixtures were wired with two wire aluminum without a ground. I have the special connectors for connecting aluminum to copper-Twister Model 65 I think, but I decided not to install new outlets (the bathrooms currently dont have any), because I knew that if I did I would have to go GFCI and everything I read said don't install a GFCI onto aluminum yourself. The new fixtures I bought said don't install without a ground, but I think that any new fixtures I buy are going to say the same thing in order to cover the company for liability with the current code. Im confident that the house was built to code back around 1970, but Im kind of concerned about the warning. The fixtures are metal, just like most bathroom vanities. Am I right in assuming that I am allowed to install these new fixtures without a ground given this situation, or do I have to rewire the bathrooms in order to mess with any of this. Thanks for your help.