Outlet not working

I have been browsing the forums here trying to find answer to my problem, and I have found a few things. Let me first give you my background. My husband decided to replace the outlet in the bathroom, because he wanted to. For no other reason then that. He had help from my FIL, and the outlet doesn't work! He went out to put Christmas lights up today, and that outlet doesn't work either. he has determined that these 2 are connected to the same breaker, and has rest it. He's redone the white and black wiring, and it didn't help. He's reset all the GFCI's that he could find, and looked for one in the garage. (He didn't find one) He is purchasing a new outlet, so hopefully that fixes the problem, but any words of Wisdom?? TIA!

 

Bathroom receptacle so it should be on a GFCI. That said, finding the right one to reset can be difficult. If flipping the breaker did not resolve the issue and it was properly wired up, I suspect the GFCI receptacle has not yet been found.

 

Modern codes require the bathroom receptacle(s) to be GFCI and on their own circuit, but if your house is older, then it probably doesn't fall in that category. I agree with Mitch that there is a GFCI you haven't found yet and it is tripped. If you have a crawlspace, go under there and see if that one is tripped.

 

Testing devices that might help you and your husband.

1)Receptacle Tester - to determine if black white ground and GFCI are wired correctly.
2)Greenlee GT-11 Non-Contact Voltage Detector Upc #9022 - to easily determine if a wire is energized without touching them.

A voltmeter and one of those low voltage testers (lightbulb) would also be nice. Some stud sensors also detect if there is AC behind a wall.

 

A good cheap analog multimeter will do about every thing. The non-contact testers can give false positives and send beginners on a wild goose chase. Never tried to trace wires with a stud detector so I won't comment on that.