Whether you have a growing family or you would simply like to expand the usable living space in your home, renovating your basement is a great way to add additional square footage to your property. During a basement renovation, your residential electrician serving San Jose will assist you with your lighting installation . Hanging lights in the right areas around your basement will help you brighten up your newly restored space. To help you get ready for your work with a residential electrician, here is a look at some basement lighting tips.

Illuminate Key Areas

As you are creating a lighting design for your basement renovation, you will want to consider which areas will need the most illumination. Places where you will be performing tasks such as reading or playing games should be illuminated with task lighting. Some examples of task lighting include recessed lights and pendant lights. Pointing a focused light at a certain area of a basement room can also emphasize a beautiful architectural feature, such as a built in bookshelf.

Create Overall Illumination

Whether you have a daylight basement, or your basement is low on natural light, you will want to make sure that your space is properly illuminated overall. Hanging light fixtures can be used to bathe your newly updated basement rooms in a cheery glow. When you are choosing lights to hang from your ceiling, you will want to pick out fixtures that help to create a sense of spaciousness and elevation.

Choose Energy-Efficient Products

In order to conserve energy when you are lighting your basement, you will want to choose energy-efficient lighting products for your design. LED light bulbs, for example, are extremely efficient choices for any homeowner. By going with LED bulbs, rather than conventional products, you can enjoy energy savings, while also achieving the same level of illumination. An electrician that specializes in lighting will be able to provide you with more energy-saving tips for your installation.

Did you know that most home fires are the result of faulty electrical wiring? According to the U.S. Fire Administration, approximately 2,300 people are injured and close to 500 people Americans die in home fires each year that are directly or indirectly related to electrical problems. To make sure your home (and your family) is safe, schedule an inspection with a licensed residential electrician in San Jose . Also, be sure to leave all of your electrical and wiring needs to a professional electrician. You can also prevent a tragedy by avoiding or addressing these common electrical risks in your home.

Overloaded Electrical Outlets
Power strips can be a real lifesaver, but they can also be incredibly dangerous. According to statistics by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, overloaded outlets cause an estimated 5,300 house fires in the United States each year. If you have lots of electronics plugged into a single outlet, find another source of power before sparks start to fly.

DIY Electrical Wiring
If MacGyver taught us anything, it’s that duct tape and elbow grease can fix just about anything. Unfortunately, this is only true in television shows. You may think you’re prepared to tackle your home’s electrical needs, but all you’re really doing is putting yourself and your family at risk. No matter how small your wiring project is, hire a licensed electrician to make sure the work is done safely and correctly.

Outdated Breaker Panel
If your breaker box is more than ten years old, contact an electrician in San Jose about an upgrade. Old breaker panel are not designed to handle the number of high-voltage appliances and electronics commonly used in homes these days. Not only will an outdated breaker panel not supply you with the electricity you need to power all of your appliances and gadgets, but it might also start a fire if it becomes overloaded.

A functioning circuit breaker in San Jose will prevent your appliances from using a dangerous amount of energy, but it cannot perform this task unless all of its circuits are working. The good news is that fixing the problem is relatively simple and straightforward. Watch this video clip for tips on replacing a faulty circuit.

The first step in replacing a faulty circuit is locating the breaker box. Once you have found your breaker box, open it up and turn off the main; this is a very important step that should never be skipped over. Unscrew and remove the panel and loosen the screw that holds the wire, then remove the circuit breaker itself. Now you can simply insert the new circuit breaker and tighten the screws, put the lid back on, and turn on the main breaker. Your circuit breaker should now be functioning at optimal capacity once again.

It is tempting to become frustrated with your circuit breaker in San Jose if it continues to trip, but it helps to keep in mind that you are on the same team. Your breaker box can keep you safe in the event that your appliances attempt to draw too much power through your electrical system; instead of hazardous consequences like fires, your system will shut down and recover. Keep reading if you would like to find out why your circuits keep tripping.

Overload
Your circuits trip in order to prevent excessive amounts of electricity from flowing and creating too much energy, and in many cases this occurs when someone attempts to use too many appliances at the same time . It is important to note that circuits and outlets are different things; just because your appliances are plugged into different outlets does not mean that they are operating on different circuits. Always consider the amount of power that any given appliance uses, and make sure you do not attempt to use a variety of other appliances at the same time. Sometimes circuits will trip in this manner because of loose connections, but you should always have a licensed electrician address these issues.

Ground Fault
If you are not using too many appliances at the same time, your tripping circuit problem may have to do with a ground fault. When a hot wire touches a ground wire, a ground fault occurs; the same can happen when the hot wire touches a metal outlet box. Diagnosing this problem is simple, as all you have to do is make sure that the hot wire is not touching either of these other elements. A ground fault is one example of a short circuit.

Short Circuit
When a hot wire touches a ground wire or metal outlet box, a ground fault occurs; this is because whenever a hot wire touches a hot or neutral wire, a short circuit results. Short circuits tend to be more severe than circuit overloads and can involve melted cords, so in this case it is wise to have a professional electrician take a look at your electrical system.

While there are many household problems that you may be able to diagnose and handle yourself, others tend to indicate the presence of a much bigger problem on the horizon. If you notice any problems that relate to your electrical wiring or circuit breaker in San Jose, a call to your local electrician should be placed immediately. As handy as you may be, electrical problems may compromise the safety of your home. Read on for a look at some of the top reasons to call an electrician.

Moving Into or Out of a Home
Relocating to a new house or apartment can be a positive and exciting experience, but you will need to take care of some things before you can sit back and relax. When you put your home on the market, it is important to make sure that it is as safe as can be and perfectly suitable for a new family. This means that any outlets or fixtures that have given you trouble in the past should be taken care of before moving so that they do not cause problems for the new homeowners. If you are on the other side and you are the one looking for a home, hiring your own electrician to scope it out is never a bad idea.

Issues with Your Light Bulbs
Whether you are at home or in your office building, take a moment to consider the lighting. Do the lights flicker? Have you seen one or more bulbs pop? Are some bulbs brighter than other bulbs of the same quality? If these questions bring memories to mind, your electrical system may not be working properly, and it may be showing through your lights.

Malfunctioning Outlets
There is no reason to accept the fact that an outlet simply does not work; you paid for your home or office, so you paid for the electrical wiring inside of it. If your outlets do not work the way they should, call an electrician and have the problem addressed. Keep an eye out for appliances that malfunction after consistently being plugged into the same outlet as well.