just be sure not to put the light switch in the shower.

Guess what my house had when we bought it.

I replaced a light fixture that used to use two light switches to control the lights. One turned on half of the neon bulbs, and the second turned on the other half. It's now just one light switch for the entire fixture. I've capped off, and taped the wire in the ceiling.

Questions

1) Is this enough, or do I need to do more
2) Do I have to cap it behind the switch, get a new plate that only has one switch?
3) Do I need to actually go to the fuse box, and pull the wire back?

You can leave dead wires in the walls. And by dead I mean not connected to anything on either end. For instance, I upgraded our old two-wire service to the kitchen with modern three-wire cable. I just cut off the old two wire and left it in the walls -- but it wasn't connected to anything and could not be connected to anything.

Any connections with a wire must be made in a box and be accessible. In other words, you cannot drywall over a connection. To the extent you have made a potentially-live wire inaccessible in the ceiling somewhere, you shouldn't do that (I don't know what you mean when you say you "capped off and taped the wire in the ceiling").

On the wall we have a box with three wires running in.

One wire controls light fixture in dining room. Two other lines run to the light fixture in kitchen. Old light fixture in kitchen allowed for turning on half the lights with one switch and half with the other switch.

Current fixture doesn't handle this. Current fixture is connected to one of the wires only. The second wire is now capped and taped at the fixture.

My question is, should I change the box where the switches are to remove the second unused and capped wire? Or should I leave the third switch there that isn't connected to anything?

Hope that helps.

My guess is that power entered the three-switch box and then was split to feed all three switches (two of which were used for the old fixture). You shut off the two switches to the old light, replaced the kitchen fixture with one only requiring one line, and then only reattached the power from one of the switches.

Leaving the unused line where it is is fine. I would cap it off in the ceiling fixture box and I would definitely remove the power to the unused switch and remove the old line from the unused switch (capping it off in the switch box). Probably the best thing to do at that point would be to remove the unused switch from the box and put a cover plate on it that only accommodates the two switches in use. Not sure if they make those, however.

turn on at the old fixture using two separate switches. Your new fixture only needs one switch so you just didn't use the 2nd wire at the fixture and capped it off. Seems that the 2nd wire can still be made "hot" by turning on the second switch. This is not safe because you might have it "on" and someone working around the fixture might think it is abandoned--since it is capped--and could get a shock. I'd recommend the switch that is no longer used be removed. If you do that, you can leave the wire from the switch to the fixture that is no longer used in place since it will be dead and can't be activated. There will also be a "hot" wire that feeds power to the switch you are removing, so that wire will need to be dealt with. Most times, with two switches like that, there will be one wire coming from the breaker box to one switch and then it will just be jumpered over to the 2nd switch. Just remove the jumper wire, assuming the switch you are removing isn't the one connected to the breaker box. If it is, you will have to move the "hot" lead from the breaker box over to the switch you are still using.

Yeah, I know for me, to turn off the power at the box downstairs before this, but the next person might not. I did throw a label on the cap/tape saying unused.

I was going to disconnect it from the plate on the wall, but had not, as of yet. I'll do that.

If/when we sell, I'll replace the box on the wall so there is only two switches instead of 3 and just leave the unused/capped third wire there for the next person.

For some reason there are two outlets mounted mid-height on a wall in one room of our house. (I suspect the previous owner used the room as a office and wanted desk height outlets). If I want to move those outlets down by the baseboard, I need to leave the spliced wire accessible via an access panel instead of plastering over the outlet box holes?
Is there anyway to do this without having a cover there?
thanks
ITC

the old box has to be accessible -- you cannot make any cabling connection hidden or inaccessible so to the extent you are making connections in those desk-height boxes you have to put plates on them. This rule exists for very good reasons. If your connection hidden in the wall became loose or caused a short, you or the next homeowner would have no idea where it could be or where to look to fix it.

You can certainly get rid of the need for the boxes at desk height by rerouting the cable that leads to them. How much work that entails depends on how they are wired.

ABQ. Any "wet" areas meaning baths, kitchens, and exterior receptacles require GFI protection.