Lighting

If you haven’t got that far, we can help you work it out.

More light in older houses

A lot of older houses have one fixture in the middle of the ceiling, or none at all and a switched outlet for a lamp. Recessed lights fix that, and the thin LED “wafer” lights that are available now don’t cost much. It also takes more light to read by as we get older, which is a reason on its own.

Light you can change the color of

Many new fixtures let you choose the color of the light, from a warm, amber-toned 2700 K to a bright white 5000 K. The color of the light changes how paint, fabric and flooring look, so it matters when you redecorate. Nathan recommends the adjustable kind: if you change your colors later, you change a setting, not the fixture.

Replace the fixture, or convert it?

Almost everything we install now is LED. An older fixture can be converted to LED instead of replaced, but in Nathan’s experience it’s often better to replace the whole fixture. He priced both for a wood-framed fluorescent kitchen fixture in one of his own properties. Converting it cost as much as a new LED panel or more, so he put up the new panel.

Sometimes lighting work is simply a change of look, too: the antique brass you’ve had for 30 years swapped for black or white.

Outdoors

Patios, grills and fire pits get used after dark, and people want a lamp post or a few fixtures to light them. We also put up lights at the end of driveways and at entrances.

Commercial lighting

Morgan’s Mercantile, the family’s former furniture store in Roxboro, is a good example. Nathan wired all of its lighting, inside and out. More about that job is on our commercial page.

Here’s an auditorium we lit with rows of recessed LED lights.

Cameras and smart blinds

Doorbell cameras, floodlight cameras and motorized blinds are on our smart home wiring page.