As with many things, when we want to save money we decide the best way to do that is to trade our time and do the job on our own instead of paying someone else to do the work.  In many cases, this is very much worth the savings.  Unfortunately it’s rarely the case when it comes to home electrical work.  Some friends may regard home electrical repair as simple and easy.  Some small repairs, such as replacing an outlet or a light socket, can be simple but most of the time you’ll find that repairs to your home’s electrical system are time-consuming, dangerous, and difficult.  So why should you hire a professional?

1. Electricity is Dangerous

This seems like an easy answer.  But in many ways, it’s the reason for the rest of the answers you’ll find below.  Electricity is dangerous if you don’t understand how it works.  But it goes beyond simply remembering to turn off the circuit breaker before working.  You can follow every safety precaution, finish your work, and power things back up without any issues only to find yourself with an unexpected electrical fire a few weeks later.

ESFi states that home electrical fires are responsible for an estimated 51,000 fires each year.  Many of these fires end with homeowner deaths due to a lack of fire safety devices and procedures.  So yes, you can shock or electrocute yourself while working on your homes electronics, but there’s a greater risk of accidentally causing a house fire later on if you don’t follow regulations.

2. Professional Quality

When you hire a professional, you aren’t just paying someone to do the work for you.  A professional will always do a higher quality job because their livelihood depends on it.  Professional electricians pride themselves on their training and expertise which allows them to make quick judgements and quality repairs.  A professional repair or installation means:

Technicians take pride in their work, but they also want you to feel safe while they’re working.  Any fears you may have about people in your home are unfounded with a professional team.  Electricians like those employed at Custom Electrical are bonded and insured to protect your home.

3. Licensed Work

Homes and buildings must follow a very specific set of rules and regulations for proper electrical wiring.  Professional electricians are required to pass certification exams to prove that they’re familiar with NEC rules and regulations.  These regulations are in effect because they promote efficiency and safety for building occupants.  From simple requirements such as mandating number of outlets within a room to safety concerns regarding placement of ground-fault circuit interrupters in garages, bathrooms, and kitchens.  While you may be well aware of how electricity works, you likely aren’t familiar with the requirements of your state for how a building is required to be wired.  This may not seem important now, but if you ever attempt to sell your home, a licensed inspector will notice the shortcuts and the relative value of your home will be less since it needs to be brought back up to code.

For the best in quality electrical repair work and installations, contact the professionals at Custom Electric!  Be sure to check back here each week for helpful advice, news, and guides or follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Categories: 24 Hour Electrician, Local Electrician, Professional Electrician, Residential« Holiday Lighting Safety Tips!  |  Why You Should Use a Surge Protector »

It seems like every day some fantastic new “must-have” electronic device comes out. Is your home equipped to handle them all? Energy use in homes these days averages around 14,000 kWh (that’s kilowatt-hours) per year—up an astounding 636 percent since the 1950s and still growing! If you live in an older home in Maryland, Virginia, or Washington, DC, your electrical system may not be able to handle the increase in energy requirements. That’s why you might need a heavy up!

Service panel upgrades, also called “heavy ups,” will enhance your electrical panel’s capacity and make it safer to operate the variety of electronic devices you may have in your home.

Getting an electrical panel upgrade will provide you with a number of impressive benefits to improve your home’s electrical service all around, including:

Better Electrical Performance – do your lights flicker when you turn on certain appliances? Does your breaker trip frequently for no apparent reason? A heavy up will take care of these problems, providing a more consistent energy supply throughout your home.

Improved Electrical System Safety – while most new electrical panels are designed with safety in mind, the same can’t always be said for panels built 30 years ago. Overloading the electrical panel can lead to major fire hazards, many of which could cost you your home. An electrical panel upgrade can resolve these dangerous issues and improve the safety of your home.

Future Expansion — if you ever need to add circuits to your home, you’ll need a larger service panel. A heavy up gives you options, whether you need to really expand your electrical system (say by adding a new addition or central air conditioner) or you just need to add a few more outlets.

What does a heavy up entail?

Depending on your specific goals, you have a range of upgrades available for a heavy up. Some service upgrades are as simple as adding a few additional circuit breakers to the existing box, or expanding the box with a subpanel. More complex upgrades may include things like replacing a fuse box or an aging panel with one that allows for higher energy capacity. A Kolb Electrician can evaluate the condition of your current panel with any problems you are experiencing to determine how extensive your upgrades will be.

How long does an electrical panel upgrade take?

The time depends on the job. Adding additional breakers to an existing panel is usually pretty quick, often taking less than an hour. Installing a subpanel is not too complicated either, often taking no more than a few hours.

Where it starts to take a long time is when you need to make serious upgrades. If you need to replace a fuse box or circuit main, you could be looking at a job that takes all day.

Still asking yourself “Should I upgrade my electrical panel?” Let us help you decide! Already know you need a heavy up? Don’t let your favorite electronics put your home at risk—for electrical panel upgrades in Maryland, Virginia, or Washington, DC, call Kolb Electric at 877-385-0818 today!

Jewelry doesn’t sparkle and shine on its own – the reason a gem looks radiant is because of the way it reflects light! That being said, lighting is integral to retail design in a jewelry store. You want your displays to entice customers and show off your products in all their brilliance! Hopefully, we can help. This post will lay out options for various jewelry lighting displays.

puck lights to call attention to individual pieces, as seen in the photo to the right. Puck lighting above jewelry creates beautiful silhouettes and puts a spotlight on each piece.

If you love the look of evenly illuminated in-wall shelving displays, there is a way to avoid the spotlight effect. For a more subtle glow, install light fixtures on the inside edges of your shelves. See Xenon Low Voltage Light Strip or any of our

You’re showing off your most valuable items in the counter-style showcase, so it’s important to get the lighting right. However, make sure the actual light fixtures do not become focal points.

With a glass showcase, you need to integrate the lighting so that your display will shine, and so that it’s not blocked in any way by wires or lamp heads. The best way to do this is to install thin lighting strips inside the showcase, just below where the edge of the counter is. You can see an example in the photo to the right.

Our Your window display can be the number one determinant of store traffic. Like the counter showcase, it’s ideal if the light fixtures aren’t visible at all here so that your most alluring items take center stage.

You will likely have wall space to work with on all four sides of the window display, so it wouldn’t be too difficult to align microfluorescent fixtures against the edges for even illumination.

Depending on what types of items you are featuring, you might want to incorporate some spot lighting as well. You could use an adjustable adjustable recessed lights in the ceiling above the window display.