Lighting is an extremely important aspect of setting up a good home office. Because this is the area of your house where you'll be performing the most work, it needs to be lit in such a way that it facilitates concentration and reading, rather than making these tasks more difficult. It may seem like a basic consideration, but with a little more thought and insight you can get more out of this space than you normally would.

A lot of home improvement blogs will recommend putting your office in a place that gets lots of natural light. While this is certainly ideal if you're working on art projects or anything else that involves reading or looking at things on paper, the glare from daylight can make a computer screen virtually unreadable. It may be better in such circumstances to rely more on artificial light, with a few windows thrown in when you don't need to use your computer.

So what kind of lights should you use? It's a good question. Most people will settle for a desk lamp or lights that were built into the room when they moved in. Both of these options represent compromises, however. Desk lamps take up valuable space and make your work area look cluttered, and the built-in lights may not be ideally placed for your home office.

You are searching for a local electrician.  You Google local electrician but find hundreds of search results.  Rest assured if you are reading this and you live in the Des Moines Iowa metro area and surrounding communities you have found a highly qualified local electrician.  We are central Iowa’s primer local electrician and are ready to help you with your residential or commercial electrical project.  Go with a trusted local electrician.  Go with Custom Electrical Services, we are a local electrician and open 24 hours per day.

When choosing a local electrician there are important things to consider.  You want to make sure you are getting the most qualified and rebuttal local electrician for your project or electrical repair.

We will only send a trusted and local electrician to your home.  Only choose a local electrical contractor that uses independent third party verification of its employees.  We only employ local electricians that receive the technician seal of safety.  Your safety is of the up most important to us!  Call Custom Electrical Services today and have one of our trusted local electricians provide you with the best customer service experience possible.

Go with an local electrical contractor that never closes!

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Whether you have a scheduled lighting project or an emergency on your hands, there are plenty of situations when it’s appropriate to call in a local electrician. For your safety and sanity use a certified electrician that can provide quality work and can be counted on for years to come.

Repairing a Wire Damaged from Drilling a Hole in the WallWhether you’re hanging pictures, shelves or a TV mounting bracket—or any other reason you might be drilling into a wall—there’s always the possibility that you’ll hit and damage a wire. This is definitely a fix you want to leave in the capable hands of a certified electrician.

To prevent the problem from happening again, use a stud finder and aim for the center of the stud. Before drilling, use a small tipped screw driver to verify you are hitting the stud and not the side. Once you have verified, feel free to drill away.

To work with a licensed qualified professional for your next electrical project, please contact a certified electrician at ElectricMan today. ElectricMan is a trusted, local electrician with 27 years of experience. For more information visit the ElectricMan website, and don’t forget to also ‘like’ us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest.

Across the U.S. approximately 4,400 people are injured and an additional 400 die each year resulting from electrical hazards annually. Add in electrical fire, and you have what results in an estimated $1.6 billion in property damage each year. Could these accidents have been prevented? When it comes to electrical safety, what you don’t know can hurt you.

GFCI stands for ground fault circuit interrupter. A GFCI is required in any areas with an increased risk of shock due to electrical hazards, such as water. In order to protect you from electrical hazards, a GFCI monitors electrical current, turning off an electrical circuit when it detects an imbalance - current flowing along an unintended path. Think of a GFCI as a small, extra-sensitive circuit breaker built right into an outlet to protect you against electrocution – even in outlets that are not grounded. GFCIs are currently required for use in:

Note: Never use GFCI outlets with refrigerators, freezers, or other appliances, as they could trip without your knowledge.

AFCIs stand for arc-fault circuit interrupters, and they protect you from electrical dangers, but of a different variety – those that create heat via arcing. Examples include a rodent chewing on a wire, driving a nail through a wire, or a device overheating where it is plugged into the wall. AFCIs detect this arcing, shutting down outlets before damage can occur. They are not found in wall receptacles like GFCIs, but instead are easily incorporated into your home or business’ main service panel in the form of specialized circuit breakers. AFCIs are required in:

Though you may have an older home or business where building codes do not require these outlets, proper home safety does. Regular outlets and circuit breakers are designed to protect the house's electrical system, not people. With these devices being so easy and inexpensive to install, why wouldn’t you want to protect yourself and others from the unnecessary electrical hazards overlooking them presents?

As of 2014, the National Electric Code (NEC), the nation’s singular code for safe electrical installation, has added the following standards for the safety of your home or business:

All 125-volt, single-phase, 15- and 20-ampere receptacles installed in a laundry room now require GFCI protection, whether or not a sink is present.

As dishwashers age, the risk of electrical shock increases, thus the latest requirement for GFCI protection on all dishwashers, whether they use a receptacle outlet or are hardwired in.

As of 2014, the NEC has recently added kitchen and laundry areas to the list of areas requiring AFCI protection. This includes all 120-volt, single-phase, 15- and 20-ampere branch circuits supplying not just outlets but also devices found in these rooms.

Shocked by how inadequately prepared for electrical hazards your home or business is? Don’t get burned by ignoring the need for these inexpensive, potentially life-saving devices. Contact Mr. Electric® today.