Landscape lighting can add beauty to your home as well as provide increased safety on your property.  Lighting design can be used to light pathways, highlight your homes architecture, and deter intruders.  When considering adding lighting to your landscaping, it is important to find the right balance of lighting.  Focus on adding lighting to main activity areas like driveways, entrances, pathways, dark areas around windows, and stairs and main focal points such as fountains, trees, or statues.  The following landscape lighting basics can help make the most of your lighting.

Up-lighting: Up-lighting is placing a light facing upward toward an object to illuminate it.  This works well for highlighting the focal points of your landscape or home.  Use it sparingly to highlight objects around your yard like statues, trees, flag poles, and fountains.

Down-lighting: Down-lighting is used to illuminate large areas.  It works well for illuminating entertainment areas such as a patio or a deck.  It also helps to deter intruders.

Accent Lighting: Accent lighting is an excellent choice for lighting paths and stairs by placing lights along both edges of a path or a staircase.  This looks beautiful and has the added safety feature of helping prevent people from tripping and falling.  Accent lighting can also add focus to low-lying flowers, shrubs, and ponds.

If you cannot answer this question with confidence please ask yourself…  WHO DID I JUST LET INTO MY FAMILIES HOME?  Many people have made this mistake and some paid the ultimate sacrifice.  Some just fell victim to theft, such as the scam where a handyman would offer services to gain access into someone’s home and then steal from them.  You can read more about this crime here.  Unfortunately, there have been more victims experiencing much worse crime.  We do not need to get into the details for the purpose of this blog but we have all heard about them on the news, social media and the stories are very easy to find and numerous.

An electrician on drugs is a recipe for disaster.  Yes an electrician on drugs may not intentionally try to harm you, but how many traffic deaths happen every single hour in the US from people under the influence of drugs or alcohol?  You wouldn’t let a person under the influence of drugs or alcohol drive your children to school, so why would you let them perform electrical work in your home?  Our service electrician’s undergo a drug screen and are also subject to random checks throughout the year.

Our service professionals undergo a thorough background check before being hired.  We won’t just send anyone into your home.  We are going to send a true professional that meets our stringent guidelines.  He is not going to steal from you.  He is not going to harm you.  He is there to help you.  Our electricians truly care about you and the work they are performing for you.

We are here to serve YOU, our customer!  We want a customer for life.  We are not here to steal from you or take advantage of anyone!  We are here to provide a VALUABLE service to you.  We will stand behind our work and make sure you are 100% satisfied.  We guarantee it with the way we act in our organizations culture, and also in writing.  If for some reason you are not 100% satisfied please let us know.  We will not leave until we get it right.  It’s our guarantee to you, our valued customer.

Many contractors say that.  You win some you lose some.  Not with us!  No we do not get every job we bid on, but we realize there may be other factors at play.  What we care about is you truly understand the price presented to you.  You know what options and solutions you have.  You know what will be done, how it will be done, and that we will stand behind our work.  You know the value you are getting when you choose Custom Electrical Services.

It’s common to be nervous when a service person shows up to your home.  Your thinking how much is this going to cost me?  Am I getting the best bang for my buck?  Do I have other options?  At Custom Electrical Services, our technicians are trained for this.  We will work to put you at ease and make sure you fully understand everything presented to you.  We will take the time to fully evaluate your situation and present it to you in a professional manner that you can understand.  Price is not everything.  We will not change the price of the work performed.  The straightforward price you receive will not change if it takes our electrician longer than expected.  You won’t be left thinking, “I hope he can work faster so my bill will be less”.  Lets think about this common statement for just a second.  Would you really want a mechanic hurrying up to put new brakes on your families car?  Of course you wouldn’t!  You would want the mechanic to perform the job as best as possible.  And that is our promise to you.  Give you the best possible job and the most reasonable rate possible.  We are professionals.  We are Custom Electrical Services.

But wait!  A Custom Electrical Services technician is not just there to give you an estimate or fix that minor problem you called about.  We are here to truly help you.  When is the last time someone checked the connections in your electrical panel?  1 year, 10, or never?  Electrical connections can loosen over time.  Electricians are trained to look for this.  As part of our service fee we will inspect your breaker box or electrical panel.  Identify any problems such as loose connections, non code compliant breakers, under sized wire, corrosion, heat, and more!  What if you have an old Federal Pacific Panel and you didn’t even release the dangers they present.  Our technician will identify and let you know of any potential safety problems.

Are all of your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms functioning properly?  For no additional charge we will test all your smoke alarm units and identify any that are not functioning properly.  We will also replace all your batteries at the same time.  It is all part of the service designed to keep you, your family, and your home safe.  Our commitment to you!

hazardous location lighting.

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), National Electric Code (NEC) 70, defines hazardous locations through a system of classes, divisions or zones, and groups that products must be labeled as to be used in those areas. Hazardous area classifications are based on the general type of substance or material that is present in the area, the likelihood that it exists, and more detailed specifics, such as ignition temperatures and combustible properties.

Class I:

A Class I hazardous location contains flammable gas, liquid-produced vapors, or combustible liquid-produced vapors that can be present in quantities large enough to create an explosion.

Typical locations include airplane hangars, vehicle paint shops, commercial laundromats, and gas plants.

Class III:

This type of location contains easily ignitable fibers or flyings in the air but that aren’t likely to be in suspension in amounts large enough to cause an explosion.

Typical locations include textile mills, cotton mills, and sawmill facilities.

explosion-proof LED lights that are safe for use in a variety of hazardous locations. Click each photo to see details, including a complete list of classifications and certifications.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to call us toll free at 866-590-3533. Our customer service and technical support teams are available from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. CDT Monday-Thursday and 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. CDT on Friday.

Summer storms can get pretty wild with raging winds and crazy rain and hail. Power companies do their best to build power grids that can withstand some of the worst Mother Nature has to offer, but it isn’t always enough. There are times when power lines get taken down and residents are left sitting in the dark. Brief outages are not usually an issue, but outages that extend for several hours can be devastating. Any food in the refrigerator and freezer will likely need to be tossed resulting in an expensive waste of food. An electrician in Glendale, like those at The Electric Connection, can help you prevent damage by installing a standby generator.

A standby generator can save you from losing all the food that would otherwise become unsafe to eat after an extended power outage. The generators can also keep your life as normal as possible despite a raging storm right outside your windows. Families with young children are likely familiar with the need to maintain a normal routine that will keep the kids feeling safe. Lights are another major factor. Lights add comfort and security. It can be dangerous walking around your house in the dark.

Because the generator will need to be wired directly into your home’s electric panel, it is important to hire somebody who is familiar with Glendale electrical codes and standards. Once the installation is complete, you won’t have to worry about doing anything else. The generator automatically turns within seconds of the main power grid failing.

There are various sizes of generators and you will want to choose one based on your power needs. You can discuss this with your electrician before buying the generator. If you are ready to schedule your generator installation or have any questions about generators, give The Electric Connection a call today.