If you’re planning on renovating your home, then it probably means a lot of things won’t be in the same place they once were. You’re going to be reorganising spaces and moving furniture around. One thing you’ll have to consider is your home’s electricals. This is the best opportunity you’re going to have to not only adjust everything in line with your renovations but also add in new electrical features or tidy up old ones. In fact, your domestic electrician can help you upgrade seven key electricals during a renovation. We’re listing them today.
1. Switch to LED lighting
LED lighting comes with a myriad of benefits for your home. For starters, they use around 75% less energy than normal lights and last up to 25 times longer. This is greatly beneficial to you as it means your energy bill will decrease significantly. They also produce less heat, which means that less heat is being expelled into your home unnecessarily – as well as the fact that they also shine brightly. LED lights are also available in a wide variety of colours and with modern technological advances, you can now purchase different styles such as downlights.
2. Fix old wiring
If you live in an older home, then it’s likely that the wiring running through your home is dated and should be upgraded to a safer option. Old wiring can even cause fires, so you’ll want a domestic electrician to do a full inspection during your renovation period and ensure all your wiring is up to scratch.
3. Organise audio and visual wiring
If you’re looking at installing a home theatre system, then the last thing you want is to cross your wires. You also don’t want a mess of wires behind your television, or wires running along your wall or ceiling for your surround speakers. Making sure you know what equipment you’re thinking of purchasing is paramount so special bull nose outlets can be installed. This will ensure you’re able to connect your surround speakers to your amplifier by running cables within your walls, rather than outside them.
Another thing you’ll want to avoid is stacking power boards. Make sure you know how many power points you’ll need and plan ahead so you can have the appropriate amount of power points installed into your wall in the correct area. That way – if need be – you can have two power boards in two different sockets instead of stacking them on top of each other.
4. Upgrade your electrical switchboard
One reason for upgrading your electrical switchboard is that you may need more power, and therefore, more room in your panel. This is especially the case if you’re looking at installing new features into your home like a new air conditioning system or induction cooktop, which will require a lot of power. You may also want to upgrade your electrical switchboard to replace old wiring that may have deteriorated over time.
5. Install a surge protector
If your home experiences a power surge, then you’ll be glad you installed a surge protector. Standard surge bars only deal with low-level surges and are essentially useless against high-level power surges that you may experience. Installing a surge protector into your breaker panel will help protect sensitive electronics and can save you a lot of money as the alternative can be quite costly.
6. Plan your lighting
Before you call in a domestic electrician, you should have a plan in place regarding where you want your new lights to go. It’s not a problem if you’re not changing the placement of the lights but a renovation is the best possible time for you to rearrange something like this. After you’ve finished your plan, you can discuss this with an electrician to figure out what works and what doesn’t. It’s also worth considering outdoor lighting, such as security motion detectors or feature lights to brighten up your garden.
7. Remove old appliances
If your home contains old appliances (such as heaters that are unplugged and inoperative) then it’s a good idea to have them removed as the live wires behind the wall can pose a fire risk.
Are you in need of a domestic electrician?
Whether you’re renovating your home or building a new one, iSpark Electrical Solutions has you covered! Our domestic electrician experts are highly trained and will be able to assist you with one of the many residential services that we offer.
If you would like to know more about our services, then you can reach us at 1300 22 55 88 or contact us through our website.
