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.

Advantages of Low Voltage Lighting: As part of your basic landscape lighting, you have the choice between using 120v and low voltage 12v lighting.  Low voltage has a lot to offer in terms of landscape lighting safety as well not having to dig 18 inch trenches into your yard. Low voltage lighting can be neatly tucked away, just below your yard’s surface.  It is safer in wet conditions, and it offers more precise lighting effects.  Because the lamps (light bulbs) are smaller, it allows for smaller, less obtrusive fixtures.  It can also save you money by having lower energy costs.  Low voltage lighting requires a transformer to convert 120v to 12v which can cause voltage drop (dim lights) if it is improperly engineered.  For this, it is a good idea to ask a professional electrician for help.

These tips will get you started.  For more ideas, ask a lighting consultant for suggestions, and for any questions, don’t hesitate to contact www.electricmaninc.com to find the answers you need!

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About ElectricMan Inc.

ElectricMan Inc. is one of Dallas’ most trusted electricians. Nick Schaeffer, Mr. ElectricMan himself, has quite the resume for a master electrician. He started the company by himself in 2004 and hasn’t looked back since! For more information about Electricman’s list of electrical repair services, please visit www.ElectricManInc.com

However, when planning your display remember that the danger should be make-believe only, and take care to dodge Halloween hazards -- bloated electricity bills, as well as safety hazards to life and property. Follow these tips to avoid spending a bundle on electricity, endangering visitors or burning down your house.

You don't have to bankrupt yourself on energy bills to have the spookiest yard on the block:

 When it comes to outdoor decorating, the worst-case scenario is a fire:

And take note of these general safety tips to keep everyone happy and healthy:

With just minor effort you can make your decorations safe and efficient, then relax and enjoy the holiday. Happy Halloween!

 

With summer coming to an end, it is an excellent time to take advantage of the cooler weather to get some things down around the house. It is time to prepare for winter and the weather that accompanies the season. While you are taking care of putting away the outdoor furniture and blowing out the sprinklers, it is a good time to call an electrician in Beverly Hills to have an electric safety inspection completed. The team at The Electric Connection is here to help you discover any electric safety problems you may not be aware of. We tend to use more electricity during the winter plugging in Holiday lights, space heaters and spending more time indoors in general. It is important you make sure your home’s electric system is in good, working condition.

During the inspection, the electrician will evaluate your outlets, light switches and the electric panel to see if there are any issues. If you have been experiencing problems with flickering lights, an outlet that doesn’t work all the time or a tripping breaker, you need to let your electrician know. These are subtle warning signs of a bigger problem. You will want to get any Beverly Hills electrical repair work completed sooner rather than later.

You will rest easy knowing your home’s electrical system is up to code and doesn’t pose a serious risk to your family. During the inspection, the electrician will give you recommendations of things you can do yourself or have done by a professional to add another layer of safety to your home. These are optional and you will have the ability to decide if you want to go ahead and have it all taken care of or wait until it is a better time. Don’t delay, call The Electric Connection and schedule your electric inspection today.

American’s across the nation will be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day next weekend.  Green banners, drinks, shirts, and decorations of all kinds will be out in full force as we celebrate heritage and friends.  Then again, why limit being green to just one weekend?  Why limit it to outer colors and anti-pinching shirts?  This weekend is a great time to start planning for how to improve the energy footprint of your home and start the path towards a greener life.  The best news?  While some methods for turning your home green require a little bit of upfront cost, most don’t!

Cleaning – Strange isn’t it?  A clean home, free of dust, actually improves energy efficiency.  Dust clogs air ducts and coats heating elements and pipes.  If the back of your refrigerator is dusty it will cool less efficiently since it can’t release heat properly.  Dusting and cleaning your home will help reduce stress on your appliances and improve their energy efficiency.

Regulate Heat – You can reduce how often your central air runs during the day and night by regulating and preserving the heat within your home.  While you may need to improve insulation to prevent heat transfer, you can reduce it by closing your curtains and opening them.  Just remember that heat always travels to where it’s coldest, so use curtains to block heat from travelling where it shouldn’t.

Turn Off Lights and Appliances – Yes, we use many smart systems today, but turning off lights and leaving power—hungry devices unplugged is still one of the best ways to prevent energy loss each month.

Water Heaters – These units expend a great deal of energy to keep water hot for your home.  Insulate the tank and the pipes around it to keep water warm for longer.  If you haven’t ever had the unit maintained, call a plumber to drain and clean out the tank.  Sediment reduces heating efficiency in the unit.

Expensive but Effective Energy Solutions

If you’re willing to spend a little money you can get even greater increase on home energy efficiency.  The first step is to replace your lighting.  Upgrading to CFL or LED lamps is an excellent way to reduce both your light bill and your cooling costs during the summer.  We recommend swapping out lights as needed to reduce startup costs.  Though it’s best to purchase LEDs in packs from the same manufacturer to make sure that they have the same color temperature.

Upgrades and replacements are ideal for energy efficiency.  Replacing an inefficient appliance, whether it’s a dish washer, water heater, or furnace, is going to have huge benefits when it comes time to pay your monthly bill.  And you’ll find that many of these appliances are eligible for an energy rebate credit to help with the initial costs.

Finally, upgrading your home with solar panels is one of the best ways to turn your home into the greenest building on the block.  They’re expensive, but solar panels can replace the costs for heating, cooling, and light in your home completely.

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!

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