While it might not be as enjoyable as choosing paint colors for countertops, planning your new home’s electrical outlets can affect your daily life more than you can imagine. After all, how frequent are you left searching for a place to plug in your charger or install a new light fixture?
Your architect strategy will include an electrical plan with blueprints, so planning and designing outlets will be part of the process. Study these factors, and you will always have the power supply design you need.
1. Do a Walkthrough
Before meeting with your electrician and contractor, do the walkthrough of your apartment and decide where you want your outlets, chandeliers, light switches, sconce lights, pendant lights, exterior lights, speakers.
It is so much simpler to discuss your thoughts and ideas with just your spouse so that when you meet the electrician, you are both on the same page. Your meeting will be much smoother and faster as you have a solid plan.
It is essential to know that the electrician may have to make some adjustments in regards to the code of your county.
2. Smart wiring
Cabinets and drawers are a crafty method to run more power through your kitchen. In circumstances where you need to charge a phone, run a hand mixer, or even plug in small light, having a power cable like a 30 amp extension cord tucked away in your drawers offers you easy access that does not interfere with your decor. Also, you can use cabinet outlets to light some of the darker corners of your cupboards.
Under-cabinet lighting is an excellent feature, but it can be costly. What is more, you might find yourself replacing out pricey specialty bulbs or leaving them burned out. Plugs installed underneath the cabinets let you choose less costly lighting and give space to plug in electronics and kitchen appliances without taking up counter space.
If you have a kitchen island, check to have power up and into your island with an opening on the side. You will probably use your island for prep work. It isn’t enjoyable to move food to another workspace to plug in a blender, mixer, or food processor. The island is also the best place to serve hot pancakes off the electric griddle.
You do not want to trip over cords and plugs. Having outlets on your living room floor means you can plug lighting exactly where you need to, hiding the cables under furniture instead of causing a frequent trip hazard.
Your design can plan for plugs in the bathroom, but you can design their placement to be more practical and functional. Think of how you use bathroom electronics like hair dryers or shavers. Remember that it is unsafe to string cords over sinks, so plan accordingly.
3. Take Notes
.While doing your walkthrough, you can write notes in each room with a red marker to be easy to remember what and where we wanted things. This will make the meeting with the electrician even more manageable as all the notes will be right there on the wood in bright red.
The electrician can make his notes with a black marker to help distinguish between the two. This can make comparison easy and help with the ultimate decision based on the comparison.
4. Plan for the Holidays
While doing your walkthrough and planning the electrical outlets, it is vital to consider the holidays and how electricity will decorate. Maybe you will prefer to connect all of the upper outlets to a light switch so that you can turn on/off your Christmas tree and other holiday decorations at the control of a button during Christmas.
Or maybe you would love to decorate the exterior of your home so you can have extra outlets placed outside of your house. Depending on your preference, you can develop a very convenient plan and can sustain your holiday décor.
5. Plan Smart
When you aspire to have a smart home, now or someday in the future, now is the time to plan for it. Make sure you loop your electrician on your preference, i.e., if you want special smart home features, indoor/outdoor speakers, electric door, biometric security, or any other special features.
Even if you do not get the unique gadgets right away, your home will already be wired in a design to support them whenever you decide to upgrade your home’s smartness.
