We all want to feel safe, particularly when we finally get home after a long day and just want to relax. But if you have not done everything that you can in order to be sure that your home will protect you instead of turn on you unexpectedly, you may be in for less relaxation than overwhelming stress. One major factor of keeping your home safe is checking and maintaining the quality of the electrical wiring and circuits. Not only do you want your home energy efficiency to be top of the line, but you want to ensure that your precious home is as safe as it can possibly be for your sake and the sake of your family.
When you should be looking at residential electrical repairs
When is a good time to start thinking about residential electrical repairs? There may not be one standard, clear cut answer to that question. It should be a main point of focus as soon as you move in or finish building or remodeling, and depending on the age of the house and the types of electrical systems in place, the status of the electrical wiring in the house should be monitored on a regular basis, given thorough checks, updates and repairs as needed. If facing electrical problems on your own seems to be an insurmountable task for you, you need to start thinking about when to call a professional electrician (that time would be as soon as possible, to guarantee the highest level of quality for safety standards within the home). And even if you are capable of handing it on your own, it doesn’t hurt to get a professional opinion, at least once in a while.
Why are residential electrical repairs so important?
If it is unclear to you why exactly you should make sure that your house is properly maintained to the highest and most recent codes where you electrical system is concerned, it is definitely time to speak with a professional electrician. We often take for granted the light that can flood a room at the flip of a switch, but there is certainly much more happening behind the scenes — or rather, within the walls. An estimated $1.5 billion in property damage is caused each and every single year by electrical fires. Just in 2011 alone, there were about 47,700 house fires involving some sort of electrical malfunction or failure factoring into the ignition that were reported to fire departments across the United States. Experts have advised installing arc fault circuit interrupters on bedroom circuits, and having at least one smoke detector on every floor of the home. It would also be wise to have smoke detectors in each bedroom and the hallways leading to the bedrooms. And to keep your electrical systems and circuits running at their most efficient and at their safest, it is recommended to have a thorough inspection of any home that is at least 10 years old, and for those that have undergone major renovations, or when new appliances are in place.
Keeping your home safe should be one of your highest priorities. Making sure that the electrical wiring within the house is working properly and safely is a huge step in the right direction.