Want to improve your yard? One of the easiest ways to make it more beautiful is to add outdoor lighting. These multi-functional decorations can both help brighten your property and let you use it round-the-clock and make it even more beautiful by adding some soft, highlighting illumination. While outdoor lighting used to involve substantial work, including running bulky and often-ugly electrical runs, today’s homeowners have a number of new technologies that can safely and permanently run electricity without breaking their bank or compromising on beauty. Here are a few of the great options available to homeowners today.

LED lights are more affordable than ever before, and come in a massive range of styles, colors, and can be utilized for nearly any purposes. Perhaps the best part about them is that they are so small that they use very little electricity, while still offering a considerable amount of light.

LED lights come in many different forms, including spotlights, rope lights, or individual bulbs, meaning you can apply them almost anywhere. Looking to illuminate your deck? Run a few strands of LED bulbs across the top for a mood-setting glow. Want to highlight the beauty of your garden? Install a few lights around your prized plants. The possibilities for installing LED lights are endless.

Pools have had lights for many years, but a modern pool light offers extra options that were never available before. Turn the water in your pool or hot tub a fun color, or cycle through different colors quickly with color-changing bulbs. Additionally, modern pool lights need far less electricity to run and can offer even brighter solutions than ever before. Plus, a pool light can help you stay safe at night by making sure you see the water at all times.

Pathway lights can offer a lovely dressing for your existing paths as well as help you avoid any potential trip hazards. If kids leave toys out on the path, you can avoid these obstacles with a few simple pathway lights. Some models of pathway lights are even solar powered, gathering sunlight during the day to power themselves and then turning on at night with a subtle glow.

Security lights can help shine light in pivotal spots of your home during darkness hours, such as near front-facing windows or your front door. Many of these lights are motion-activated and require very little work to install, but can flood an area with bright light to help you spot and keep away potential intruders. Other types of security lights stay on all night long and offer you the peace of mind of knowing your home is not shrouded in darkness that encourages illegal activity.

Given just how much we depend on electricity nowadays, it’s normal to look for a quick solution for your home electrical repair needs. As fast as doing it yourself might seem, calling in an electrician will always be the best course of action. Everyone wants to save money, but hiring a professional for home electrical repair isn’t an expense you should try to avoid.

Basic knowledge and skills might be enough for various other types of repairs, but when it comes to electrical work, it just isn’t enough. Aside from the obvious dangers involved, you could cause the kind of damage that defeats the purpose of trying to cut costs in the first place.

A licensed electrician can diagnose your problem quickly. Beyond that, an experienced professional will resolve your problem in a way that will ensure it doesn’t come back. Unfortunately, even if you or your friends are good with tools, you can’t make that same promise. Trying to fix the problem yourself can make it worse, and when you finally call an expert in the price tag will be much harder to stomach.

The job could also become much lengthier, along with additional hours of frustration as the electrician corrects your mistakes in addition to the original problem. When it comes to electrical work, it takes only the smallest error to cause a big issue. Even an incorrectly placed wire could cause extensive — and expensive — damages. These issues could endanger your safety and prolong the duration of the repair job.

Experts will also have equipment in their arsenal that allows them to complete the job faster and more effectively than any amateur. As such, trying to save time by attempting repairs yourself is only going to achieve the opposite.

Even if you’re skilled enough to address what appears to be the issue plaguing your electrical system, you might still be doing more harm than good. Sometimes performing a minor repair, even one that seems to resolve the problem, only covers up a much more serious underlying issue. This can lead to a much bigger headache down the line, as the hidden problem will only worsen as you mistakenly believe everything is okay. Long-term issues like these become a time-consuming hassle to get repaired. Not only that, but they can also be extremely expensive if allowed to persist for too long.

You can avoid all that if a professional handles the home electrical repair in the first place. An expert electrician will catch the warning signs, even the subtle ones, and pinpoint the real issues at work. Sometimes, in spite of how you may feel, a quick fix is actually the last thing you need. Getting the problem repaired the right way so it won’t come back is much more important than reaching a speedy resolution.

Also, experienced professionals will not focus only on the home electrical repair that seems necessary. Instead, they assess the full picture when they work, which includes looking into the condition of your entire electrical system. This, apart from allowing for a more thorough and effective repair, can help them identify future problem areas. The earlier a pro spots the issue, the more easily it gets resolved.

Performing your own home electrical repair is an extremely risky move. This isn’t just because of the extra expenses associated with mistakes, or because you’d only make the problem worse. No, the most important reason you shouldn’t try to perform your own electrical repairs is safety!

If you’re thinking of installing solar panels for your home, you’re probably doing a lot of research to see what the costs and your options are. There is a lot to get up to speed on, so let’s start with what solar panels cost.

Solar panels have been steadily dropping in price, due to more efficient manufacturing and increased popularity. Currently, they are at an all time low, and the cost of a solar panel is around $5 per watt of output. A quick look at your monthly electric bill should help you figure out what you need, in terms of power.

That’s just part of the equation though. The main reason for installing solar panels is to save money on electricity. Depending on where you live, you may be able to make some money by selling excess electricity back to the grid. Rates vary for this, so be sure to investigate the options fully.

Buying solar panels appears to be a big investment, but most people find that they are able to pay them off in under ten years, and sometimes faster. There is a complex mix of factors that determines that timeline, including your power consumption.

There are federal tax credits available for people purchasing solar panels, and usually work out to the tune of 30 percent of the purchase price of the system, including converters and batteries. That’s a significant incentive. Between the tax credit, selling energy, and the long-term promise of energy independence, there has never been a better time to get solar panels.

Of course, it’s all a little overwhelming. What you need is someone who is familiar with the territory to walk you through all the steps. The Electric Connection has the experience and the connections to get you started on the path to energy independence. Give us a call today to get the process started.

Colorado Springs is being dowsed with afternoon showers on a regular basis, receiving a gracious drink at the end of every day. If you’ve watched one of these storms lately, you’ll have noticed the show of lighting that comes with them as well. Every evening it seems, the sky is being lit up by electric strikes that dance across the ground. While breathtaking, these lighting strikes are deadly.

When a lighting strike hits your house, it sends a huge volt of energy that surges through every electrical system in your house. Even when the lighting is a distance away from your home, electricity still travels through the ground, which makes your plumbing and electrical systems vulnerable to an electric attack. Remember, safety should be your first priority when in the midst of a severe thunderstorm. That’s why we’ve created a safety guide for you to help ensure the safety of yourself, your home, and your family.

Unplug all of your electronics