When lightening strikes your home or even outside your home, there can be serious damage hiding in the wiring and circuitry not visible because it’s hidden behind walls. Call an electrician experienced in lightning remediation if your home or even a tree on your property has been struck.

Lightning – it’s a powerful force that everyone respects and some fear. This well-known force of nature packs a powerful electrical punch that, although beautiful, can cause damage, injury, and even death. It’s not uncommon for lightning to directly strike a home during a storm. Even if your home is sturdy and well-grounded, there are still a lot of dangers if this happens – a lightning strike could spark a fire, damage the masonry of your home, or fry your electrical circuits.

Lightning is always looking for the easiest path from cloud to ground. If it goes through your home, it can follow gas and water pipes, cable and internet wires, phone lines, gutters and spouts, any other metal structure on your home, and perhaps most dangerously of all, your electrical wiring. It may even use multiple paths, branching to find the quickest way to get deep into the ground. The lightning may not actually hit your home, but even if it strikes a tree on your property, there are still plenty of dangers.

If lightning strikes your home or even a tree on your property, your first call should be to your local fire department so they can check for any potential fires.The immediate danger, of course, is the hazard of a bolt of lightning sparking a fire within your attic or walls. That’s why, if you suspect a lightning strike on your home,

Even if you determine that there’s no immediate fire danger, your next call should be to an electrical contractor who also serves as a lightning specialist. A lightning specialist can determine whether there is any damage that could cause problems down the road. These problems could include power surge damage to your appliances, possibly requiring repair or replacement. A certified electrical contractor can help you decide whether your appliances and fixtures can be salvaged or not.

An electrician trained in lightning remediation will be able to assess your home’s wiring and determine if there is any damage to the wires and circuits. If there is any, you may not be out of the danger zone for potential fires; faulty wiring is known to be a big fire hazard, and this holds true even if the wiring is faulty because of a lightning strike.

You should never take chances with lightning, but there are occasional stories of miraculous results. In 2007, the New Yorker told the story of a man who, after being struck by lightning near an outdoor phone booth, had a near-death, out-of-body experience and then, months later, developed an insatiable love for music, learned to play piano at age 42, and began composing his own works. Take this as our word of caution, though: never go seeking a lightning strike in hopes of gaining a new talent!

If you’re looking for a top South Jersey electrician to examine your home for lightning damage, Joe Ferry’s team at Cobalt Electric is your best bet. Cobalt Electric is a lightning specialist, and is fully equipped to help assess your home for damage and risk, make any necessary repairs, and help you prevent future damage. You may even want to consider having a lightning protection system installed; these systems help reduce or eliminate fire hazards in your home in the event of another direct strike. Call Cobalt Electric for the top South Jersey electrician services today; you can schedule your appointment or get a quote over the phone at (856) 701-0098

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