• Electrical Contractor

    Baytown Electrician & New Electrical Panel Installations

    Baytown Electrician

    Do you really need to change your electrical panel?  It seems like every day a fantastic new electronic device is coming out. Is your home equipped to handle all of them? Not always.  Energy use in homes currently ranges about 14,000 kWh (that’s kilowatt-hours) per year— up an astounding 636 percent since the 1950s and is still increasing! Homeowners are installing double ovens and other new upgraded appliances using more energy.  You will require a new electrical panel to support that. When you live in an older home in Baytown or Houston, Texas, your electrical system may not be able to cope with increased energy demands. That’s why I suggest a new electrical panel installation to keep everything in your kitchen working when you need it. 

    Upgrades to the service panel, also called “heavy-ups,” would increase the capacity of your electrical panel and make it safer to run the number of electronic devices you may have at home.  Ask a Baytown Electrician the benefits of Heavy Ups to your home like a reputable company like Bay Area Electrical.  

    Having an update to the electrical panel would give you a number of amazing benefits to boost the home electrical service all around, including Improved Electrical Efficiency–do your lights flicker as you turn on certain appliances? Is your breaker trip regularly for no apparent reason? A heavy-up should take care of these issues, ensuring a more reliable supply of energy in your house.

    Baytown Electrician

    Benefits of Installing a New Electrical Panel

    Better Electrical System Safety–while most new electrical panels are constructed with safety in mind, the same can not always be said for panels installed 30 years ago. Overloading the electrical panel could lead to major fire hazards, many of which could cost you your house. The upgrade of the electrical panel can solve these dangerous problems and improve the safety of your home.

    Potential Expansion — If you ever need to connect circuits to your house, you’re going to need a bigger support stand. A heavy-duty solution gives you options, whether you really need to expand your electrical system (say, by adding a new addition or a central air conditioner) or just need to add a few more outlets.

    What is involved in a New Panel Installation?

    Based on your specific needs, there are a variety of modifications required for new panel installation. Some upgrades are as simple as adding a few additional circuit breakers to the existing box or extending the subpanel box. More complex upgrades may include such things as replacing a fuse box or an aging panel with one that allows for higher energy capacity. Baytown Electricians will analyze the state of your existing panel with any issues you’re facing and assess how comprehensive the improvements are going to be.

    How long does the upgrade of the electrical panel take?

    Time depends on your work. Adding additional breakers to the current panel is typically very easy, sometimes less than an hour. The construction of a subpanel is not too difficult either, only taking a few hours to complete.

    It’s when you need to make serious upgrades where it starts to take a long time. If you need to fix a fuse box or circuit key, you might be staring at a task that’s going on all day.

    If you are not sure what you need, call a licensed electrician and ask. Let them help you make a decision.  Don’t let your beloved appliances place your home at risk — there is always an answer for your updates to electrical panels in Baytown, TX.

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  • Landscaping,  Tree Services

    Tree Stumps & Stump Grinding Pasadena

    Stump Grinding Pasadena
    Stump Removal

    After cutting an undesired tree down, a homeowner is left with a sturdy stump.  What does one do to remove it? It’s obvious you can’t just leave it there. The stump comes with a lot of concern about what to do next. Are you supposed to leave it untouched in your yard, or kill it with the rest of your tree in one fell swoop? What about Stump Grinding Pasadena— how does it work?  Keep reading for answers to common questions about why and how to manage a tree stump.

    Reasons to Remove or Keep a Tree Stump In Ground

    Can’t decide whether to keep the stump or throw it out for good? We always recommend stump grinding.  An old tree stump may not cause problems at first, but the more you let it hang around, the more annoyance it can become.  Old stumps can get in the way of mowing your yard or your desire to plant new trees or bushes, or they can be a threat to you and your neighbors. Besides, they make it hard to grow a new tree when you’re done.

    Is it okay to leave a tree stump in the ground? Do they attract termites?

    Shortly after you cut your tree down, the stumps begin a very slow process of decay. And indeed, over time, a rotting stump becomes a trap for domestic pests such as termites or carpenter ants.  So, while you may choose to leave the stump and let it rot, the critters that come along in the process may spread to other plants and trees in your yard, or even invade your house. The best way to avoid these pest problems is to grind the stump.

    Why else do I have to get rid of a tree stump?

    Creepy critters are not the only reason to kill a tree stump. You should consider letting your stump go, too, because a decaying stump isn’t that pretty. It can throw off the whole look of your yard and even affect your property value.  The spot where the stump lies is off-limits as you mow your lawn, and the stump or roots could ruin your mower if you accidentally roll over them. Also, planting new trees nearby is a no-go as long as the stump and roots are in the way.

    Stump Grinding Pasadena
    Stump Grinding

    Is it safer to remove or grind your stump?

    Stump grinding and stump removal come with pros and cons. Choosing the direction that is right for you depends mostly on the future plans that you have for your landscape.

    The process of removing the stump is the most invasive of the two. This includes erecting a thick tree stump and then cutting out all the deep roots of the tree. As you can imagine, it takes a lot of time, elbow grease, and heavy equipment to get the job done What are the benefits? Upon extracting the stub, you’re left with a clean slate free to any new ideas you have for your garden. What’s not so cool is that the removal of the stump leaves behind a large hole that can be an eyesore until it’s filled.

    Stump grinding is a lot less complicated than that. In this case, arborists are using a tool to completely crush the stump down into small wood chips. Grinding is much more successful than removing the stem, but it leaves behind the roots of the tree. If the stump is large, the chip pile produced may also be very huge, but the chips can be used as a mulch for other plants in your landscape.

    What’s going to happen to the roots after grinding?

    While stump grinding takes care of the obvious remains of the bark, the roots of the old tree are still deep, sometimes 4, 8 or 12 feet away from where the stump sits. Such roots will eventually rot after grinding, but this is a long process. It may take more than 10 years for the roots to break down entirely.

    If you’re not sure if it’s safe for you to cut stump or chip, a professional arborist will assist like Tree Services Pasadena.  Please contact your local office for stump removal or stump grinding advice.

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  • Landscaping,  Mulch

    Mulch and Landscaping

    Mulch
    Mulch

    Mulching errors while gardening can stop your soil from receiving benefits such as moisture preservation, weed suppression, erosion reduction, and water runoff reduction. Landscape architects and experts have given their best tips to make the most of your yard’s mulch.

    Use it as a focus.

    Mulching can help to create safe lawns but has an aesthetic appeal as well. Use painted mulch in the brick, stone, stucco, and siding to match your home’s exterior colors. Brownish to red pine mulch, for example, goes well with brick houses. You can contrast with flowers using a dark mulch to improve your landscape design. Mulch can also be used to improve the design and atmosphere of your landscape.

    Look at the whole landscape.

    Many homes have large mulch areas and a few shrubs around their yard poking about. It’s best to plan your landscapes so that all the soil is covered by your shrubs and the vegetative cover is complete. Then add mulch to them for moisture control.

    Clean it up.

    Replace some of the old mulch when you re-mulch a garden. Mulch has sometimes been applied three or four times to the gardens, and he suggests removing some of the mulch that has been built up over time.

    Adjust the thickness.

    When you hit an edge like asphalt, stepping stone, or tree trunk, thin it out. Finding a heap of mulch next to a tree trunk is no benefit. You do want to taper it downwards.

    Mulch
    Tacoma Landscapings

    Experiment with a different mulch.

    There are a variety of textures, beginning with choices like pine straw and hardwood bark shredded. If you’re looking for a new look and need to refresh your mulch, consider options like cocoa bean shells, nut hulls, ground-up salvaged palettes, and even seaweed.

    Don’t forget the bare dirt.

    Researchers find that mulching has significant environmental benefits. It will cause erosion and sediment runoff if you have bare soil on your property. Mulching may contribute to erosion control. Interestingly, bare soil loses about five times as much sediment as mulch-covered soils.

    Don’t use too much mulch or too little.

    For gardens, approximately 3 inches of mulch and mulching twice a year is recommended. Mulching with the right amount every time helps to fend off weeds and retain moisture, increasing the need for irrigation. If you are using pea gravel mulch or inorganic mulch, one exception. It’s just so easy.  All you need is just 2 inches. If you have a bed of herbaceous plants that might be too small for 3 inches of mulch, another factor.

    Don’t forget the trees you have.

    To protect the trunk, place mulch around the base, particularly if you have younger trees. Mulch rings create a defensive area to keep mowers away and reduce risks from other crops.

    Don’t believe you’re in need of something below.

    Many people may want to use plastic or geotextiles, like landscape cloth, to distinguish many mulches from the ground like inorganic stone mulch. There is a misconception that black plastic is going to keep down weeds. But adding a plastic or landscape fabric layer can cause more water runoff and prevent a clean, streamlined look from your garden.

    If you use a natural mulch like shredded hardwood bark to break down, stop landscape fabric because you want the mulch to be in contact with the soil to enhance it. Plastic or landscape fabric has the ability to stop water and rain from entering the soil, and may actually increase runoff. Weeds may also develop into the fabric of the landscape, she adds.

    If the mulch moves around or is replaced, it could show through the plastic or landscape fabric. It looks hideous when you’re exposed under the mulch to plastic or landscape material.

    Use Quality Mulch

    The biggest pitfall is from an unreliable source getting your mulch. Mulch could be shipped with noxious weed seeds in it, for instance, because it was stored next to a weed field. You will end up paying for it in the long run.