8 Electrical Projects That Need Professional Support

According to Electrical Safety Foundation International, more than 50,000 electrical fires occur in homes nationwide each year. They kill about 500 people and do over $1 billion in property damage.

Most of these electrical fires occur due to outdated electrical systems, faulty electrical wiring, and other electrical problems that don’t have anything to do with homeowners. But some are also the result of DIY electrical projects gone awry.

There are some home electrical projects that you might feel comfortable taking on yourself. But there are also quite a few that you should avoid trying to tackle since you could potentially make costly electrical mistakes.

Rather than trying to take on these electrical projects yourself, hire a professional electrician to help you complete them. Here are 8 electrical projects that will require professional support.

1. Replacing an Electrical Panel

The good news is that you won’t have to replace the electrical panel in your home very often. In fact, you might get away with not ever having to replace it depending on how long you live in your home. Most electrical panels will last anywhere from 25 to 40 years.

If you do end up having to swap your home’s old electrical panel out for a new one, this is not a job you’ll want to do yourself. Your home’s electrical panel is responsible for welcoming electricity into your home, and it can be perilous to mess around with it if you don’t know what you’re doing.

A professional electrician will be able to tell you whether or not you need to replace an electrical panel in the first place. They’ll also be able to handle replacing it for you so that you don’t have to put yourself or your home at risk.

2. Rewiring an Entire House

Rewiring all the electrical wiring in your home is another job you won’t have to do all that often. Just like with an electrical panel, you should be able to keep your current electrical wiring around for 25 to 40 years.

But if your electrical wiring goes wrong, this is another one of the electrical projects you won’t want to take on. Outside of the fact that working with this wiring can be dangerous, it can also be challenging.

The electrical wiring in your home runs all throughout the walls in it. This can make it challenging to find your old wiring, remove it, and put new wiring in its place.

You’ll be much better off letting a professional electrician take care of this electrical project. They’ll help you choose the right new wiring and ensure it gets installed correctly.

3. Installing Brand New Electrical Switches With Proper Connections

Do you have electrical switches in your home that aren’t working anymore? Or do you want to put new electrical switches into more convenient places in your home?

Either way, you might be tempted to install new electrical switches yourself. If you watch enough YouTube videos, it might seem like a simple enough job for a DIYer.

Installing electrical switches involves more than just attaching wires to the switch.

Correct placement and connection of switches require technical expertise and knowledge of local electrical codes. A minor mistake during installation can result in severe damage to your entire electrical system, or even worse, a fire hazard.

An experienced electrician will not only ensure proper installation but also assess your electrical system’s overall safety to mitigate potential hazards. Avoid risking your safety and leave the job to the experts.

4. Have an Electrician Install Brand New Electrical Outlets

Just like with electrical switches, there might be times when you’ll want to install brand-new electrical outlets. And you might be under the impression that taking on this electrical project will be easy.

But connecting new electrical outlets to the right circuits in your electrical panel and running wiring through the proper areas of your home is a complex process. Incorrect installation can lead to electrical problems and pose serious safety hazards such as electrical shocks, fires, or even electrocution.

It’s essential to hire a professional electrician to ensure proper installation and avoid these risks, particularly when installing outlets for larger appliances that draw a significant amount of electricity. These outlets may require a dedicated circuit to prevent overloading and tripping of circuit breakers.

Don’t put your home and loved ones at risk by attempting to install electrical outlets yourself. Contact a licensed electrician to ensure your electrical system is up to code and installed safely.

5. Hanging a Lighting Fixture—Fancy or Simple

If there is any electrical project on this list that you may be able to pull off yourself, it would be this one. Hanging up a basic lighting fixture in your home won’t be that hard to do in the grand scheme of things.

But even still, you may want to avoid doing it on your own if you don’t have the slightest clue what you’re doing. You could make a mistake like not connecting a lighting fixture to electrical wiring properly or not attaching a lighting fixture to the ceiling correctly.

It would be best to leave these types of indoor electrical projects to a professional electrician who can finish the job fast.

6. Putting a New Bathroom Exhaust Fan in Place

Does one of the bathrooms in your home get very hot and humid after you’re done taking showers in it? All the steam from your shower could lead to mold and mildew growing in it.

You can prevent this from happening by putting a new bathroom exhaust fan in place in your bathroom. But any time you’re working with electricity in a part of your home that routinely gets wet, you should rely on a professional electrician to help. It’ll be a lot less risky this way.

Having a new bathroom exhaust fan installed by your electrician will remove much of the moisture from the air when you’re showering and reduce the chances of mold and mildew growing and spreading throughout the space.

7. Installing a Whole Home Generator

If it feels like there are more power outages taking place in this country now than ever before, you aren’t just imagining things. The total number of power outages increased by almost 80% between 2011 and 2021.

Bad weather has been to blame for a lot of them. But America’s poor infrastructure is also causing tons of power outages all the time.

Protect yourself from power outages by having a whole home generator installed.

It’ll spring into action any time you lose power in your home and help you go on with your business without worrying about anything.

You will not want to install a whole home generator without a professional electrician’s help, though. You’ll be asking for trouble if you do. So it would be well worth looking around for a Generac generator-certified dealer who can supply you with a great generator and whole-home generator installation services.

8. Adding Exterior Lighting to the Outside of Your Home

There are so many places on the outside of your home where you might want to install exterior lighting.

Putting up lights by your front and back doors makes your home safer and easier to navigate at night. You can also install them near a pool, a hot tub, a patio, or any other place you would like. The key to outdoor lighting is to put it where visibility and security are vital.

But it’ll be vital for all of this exterior lighting to be appropriately installed since it will be exposed to the elements. The last thing you want to do is ruin lighting by leaving it exposed to moisture.

A professional electrician can lend a hand with all your exterior lighting needs.

They can also install other electrical components on the outside of your home, like car charging stations and outlets for things like swimming pools and spas.

Calling on a great professional electrician for help will allow you to make the most of your home’s outdoor space. They’ll be able to take on any electrical projects you want without a problem.

Leave These Kinds of Electrical Projects to Us

If you don’t know much about working with electricity, you should probably leave all electrical projects to a professional electrician. However, it’ll be crucial for you to call on the pros for help when you want to do any of the electrical projects listed here.

New London Electric can provide you with the residential electrical services you need. We’ll send the best electrician in Chester County, PA, out to your home to get any electrical job done right the first time.

Joanne O'NeillMarch 13, 2023