Looking to jazz up your yard for this season’s summer festivities? A little outdoor lighting can go a long way! From fancy patios to tree-lined country yards, the right outdoor lighting can help you meet an array of needs, including illumination that makes tasks easier, sets the mood, and keeps your family and guests safe.

Cooking and entertaining festivities held outside after dark need lighting that is convenient and safe. Practical and economical, wall mounted lights can meet an array of needs, providing focused task lighting for…

Carriage lanterns can help define patio and walkway edges, lighting the path to doors and entryways and illuminating obstacles such as stairs and garden beds.

Parameter lights offer form and function, adding a decorative element, but more importantly, when properly placed at key points in your yard, add guidance to entry and exit points on your property.

Mixed lighting can create a truly magical effect throughout your property. Professional installation can save you time and money, conveniently planning and tapping into preexisting electrical lines.

To easily control brightness levels according to time or mood, you may wish to consider adding dimmers to newly installed or existing outdoor lighting.

Make plants and landscaping pop with LED illuminated planting pots. Far from the average run-of-the-mill flower pot, these amazing lights not only make plants pop, but radiate high level outdoor light, making them an excellent choice for walkways.

Not just for holiday lighting anymore, string lights can add sparkle and mood to any outdoor setting, such as trees, pergolas, arbors, posts, and furniture. They are also very effective when used to line railings, guiding guests along walkways.

From classic outdoor camping lanterns to fun craft finds, suspending lanterns from trees with fishing line can bring romance and magic to outdoor entertaining spaces. Battery operated or real tea lights make illumination a breeze, just be sure to keep candles a safe distance from leaves.

When choosing fixtures and bulbs for outdoor lighting options, consider energy saving LED options, which use up to 85 percent less energy than incandescents and up to 50 percent less energy than fluorescents. Hate changing outdoor bulbs? LEDs last more than 10 years on average - that's 25 times longer than incandescents and 2-5 times longer than fluorescents.

Solar lighting options are also an excellent choice, converting and storing the sun’s energy and coming in a variety of types and uses, including wall-mounted, lamppost, security lights, and lanterns. Be sure to check “nightly run times” on product labeling to ensure you have enough sunlight for operating solar lights in your area. Feeling crafty? Make a few solar decorative lights of your own.

Adding outdoor lighting to your property can be fun if it’s done properly and safely. Some installations may require running underground electrical cables, additional wiring within the walls of your home, the installation of fixtures, proper GFCI outlets, and more. Ensure all outdoor home electrical work is installed properly and safely by a licensed professional, using UL listed, weatherproof, safety compatible materials and devices.

Transform your space and take full advantage of your time outdoors. Contact Mr. Electric® and brighten up your yard with the latest in outdoor lighting today.

During the winter months, homes are slightly more susceptible to electrical emergencies. With extra electrical capacity tied to holiday lights, along with extended use of in-home lights due to shorter days, the stress on your electrical system is definitely increased while it’s cold! That means, sadly, an increase in electricity-related incidents. Don’t fear though—with the help of your DC-area electricians at Kolb, we’ll make sure you stay safe!

Probably the most dangerous and common electrical emergency is a fire. Often, you can see if there is about to be an electrical fire in your home by looking for a smoking outlet. You know the phrase—when there’s smoke, there’s fire! If you see a smoking outlet, you know something has gone very wrong. First, and above all else, call the fire department dispatched to your home. After that, call the experts at Kolb Electric for help getting your home’s wiring back to the place where it should be. However, in the event of an electrical emergency of this stature, its best to follow these tips:

At Kolb Electric, we’re prepared to help you fix your electrical issues in the event of an emergency. If you need an electrician in the Washington, DC, Virginia, or Maryland area, contact Kolb Electric today!

In the event of an emergency, we can quickly be on the scene to help repair:

It may not seem important today, but summer and warm weather is not that far away. It is time to start thinking about how you are going to beat the heat this summer without trying to run your AC at full throttle. That only leads to more problems that will ultimately lead to you spending a lot of money trying to keep cool. There is an option. Ceiling fans are an excellent way to create a cool breeze in the home. All you need to do is call an electrician in Beverly Hills, like those at The Electric Connection.

A fan in the bedroom is a welcome addition that can help you sleep better at night, especially on a day when the temperatures are warm. The breeze is very light. It keeps the air from becoming stale, which can make the room more comfortable. A ceiling fan installed by a Beverly Hills electrician will ultimately save you money on your electric bill. The fan will pull the hot air out of the room, making space for the cold air that comes out of the vents in the floor. This helps reduce how often your AC has to kick on to keep the room cool.

There are various styles and sizes of ceiling fans to choose from. You will want to make sure you choose a fan that is suitable for the size of the room. A nice addition is a remote control feature installed by an electrician. Beverly Hills homeowners won’t have to worry about pulling on a chain to adjust the fan speed or to turn off the light. This is an excellent feature to have, especially when you are lying in bed at night. Give The Electric Connection a call today and schedule your ceiling fan installation.

In most cases, the water for showers or baths are heated using a water heater in the basement or other area of the home. However, there are certain situations where this is not practical. Especially if you travel, you may come across electric showers.

An electric shower has a special shower head where the water is heated directly at the point of use. There are pros and cons when it comes to these devices. Learn more about an electric shower and find out if one may be the solution to your warm shower needs.

Pros

An electric shower works well in homes that have low water pressure because the electric shower also has a built-in pump to increase the pressure. Additionally, if you are trying to conserve energy, an electric shower uses less electricity than a water heater that is constantly heating the water whether it is being used or not. A final benefit to using this type of shower is that in areas where the temperature is cold, a traditional water heater may not be able to get the temperature as high as it needs to be.

Cons

The only main con to using an electric shower is that it requires some additional electrical work, (Click Here). Luckily, if this is something you want done, contacting The Electric Connection, an electrician Glendale, is an easy way to get the job done. Some people worry that having electrical parts near the shower is dangerous. However, there is a grounding wire, and if the system is properly connected there is no more risk using this shower than there is with any other shower.

If an electric shower is something you wanted to add to your home, call an electrician in Glendale from The Electric Connection today, and let us help you with the choice and installation of an electric shower.