Lighting Services in Yarmouth, Maine

Yarmouth's older homes near Main Street and the Lower Falls, in a town with twelve National Register listings, put exterior lighting under a closer eye than a newer subdivision would. Period-appropriate lanterns by the door, lights set so they do not glare across the street, and wiring run without scarring clapboards or trim all matter on a house built in the 1800s. Inside, those same homes often have plaster ceilings and limited switching, so adding recessed or surface fixtures takes careful fishing of new cable rather than cutting open whole walls. Surface-mounted fixtures, wall sconces and plug-in-free lamp circuits controlled from a switch are often a better fit than a grid of recessed cans in a room with original plaster and moldings.

The 1960s and 1970s neighborhoods have the opposite problem: flat ceilings with a single center fixture in each room and kitchens lit by one fluorescent box. LED recessed lighting, under-cabinet strips, and dimmers transform those rooms, and a retrofit cuts the running cost of lights that stay on for hours. Ceiling fans need a box rated for the weight and motion, and switches can be moved or added to make a room work the way the family uses it, such as a three-way switch at the top and bottom of a basement stair that never had one. Smart controls can tie several of those zones together, so a single button sets the evening lighting for the whole first floor.

Near the harbor and on Cousins and Littlejohn Islands, salt air shortens the life of outdoor fixtures, so corrosion-resistant housings, stainless hardware and sealed connections are worth the extra cost. Motion lights over a driveway, step lights on a deck and landscape lighting along a path make a waterfront lot safer after dark. Every new circuit Goodnow Electric adds for recessed, under-cabinet, landscape, security or fan fixtures is permitted in Yarmouth and seen by the town's electrical inspector. Low-voltage landscape systems still need a GFCI-protected outdoor receptacle for the transformer, placed where drifting snow and plow spray will not bury it.