Rinder Electric upgrades to power your renovation

So, you are trying to figure out which Rinder Electric upgrades can actually power your renovation and not leave you regretting things once the drywall and new flooring are in place. The short answer is that you need a mix of panel upgrades, better circuit planning, safer wiring, and some smart home features, all sized and placed around how you will really use each room day to day.

Most renovation headaches with electricity show up late. Lights flicker when someone runs the vacuum. A breaker trips every time you use the toaster and coffee maker. Or you realize, too late, that there is no good spot to plug in a cordless vacuum or charge a laptop without a cable running across your new floors. So planning electrical upgrades early, with a contractor like Rinder electric, is less about fancy tech and more about quietly making your home easier and safer to live in.

Here are the basics you should keep in mind while you plan.

Do not leave the electrical decisions for last. They affect layout, lighting, flooring, and even cabinet placement.
Think about how many things you plug in today, and add more capacity than you think you need.
Plan lighting for tasks first, looks second. Both matter, but bad task lighting is what annoys you every single day.
Combine required safety upgrades with comfort upgrades to avoid opening walls twice later.
Look at smart controls only after you have solid wiring and good circuit design.

Why electrical upgrades matter so much during a renovation

If you are changing floors, cabinets, or room layouts, you are already touching the surfaces that hide wires. That means this is usually the cheapest time to improve or fix your electrical work. After new flooring, drywall, and paint, every extra wire run is more mess, more dust, and more cost.

Think of electrical upgrades as the hidden structure that makes your new layout, new floors, and new lighting actually work the way you pictured in your head.

Most older homes were built for:

Fewer appliances
Fewer screens and chargers
No smart devices
Less air conditioning or electric heat

So if you are adding any of these:

Home office space
Heated floors in a bathroom
New kitchen layout with more outlets
Electric range or double oven
EV charger or workshop tools

then you almost certainly need more circuits, a stronger electrical panel, or both.

How all this ties into flooring and layout changes

Renovation is not only about what you see on the surface. That is obvious, but many people still treat wiring like an afterthought.

Lighting locations depend on furniture layout. Outlet locations depend on which walls remain open for wiring before the new floors go in. Even the height of outlets and switches can matter if you are adding wainscoting, tall baseboards, or built-in cabinets.

For flooring in particular, electrical planning affects:

Where floor lamps can plug in without cables across the room
Whether you want in-floor heating in certain rooms
Where you place floor outlets so they do not land in high traffic paths
How easy it is to reach outlets above future built-ins or benches

Once expensive hardwood or tile is installed, cutting into it later for a floor outlet or new wiring is something you will probably avoid. So the planning window is short.

The main Rinder Electric upgrades to power your renovation

Let me walk through the main electrical upgrades that usually matter in a renovation. Not every house needs all of these, but it helps to see them in one place.

1. Service and panel upgrades

This is the boring part that nobody sees, but it makes everything else possible.

Most older homes have 60 amp or 100 amp service. Many modern homes use 150 or 200 amp. If you are adding big loads, like:

Central air or extra mini splits
EV charging
Electric oven and cooktop
Electric dryer plus extra circuits for a workshop

your panel might be outmatched.

Here is a simple comparison to see where you stand.

Service size	Typical age of home	Typical capacity	Good fit for	Likely problems
60 amp	Very old homes	Low	Small homes with few modern loads	Tripping, no room for new circuits
100 amp	Mid 20th century	Moderate	Smaller homes with gas appliances	Can be tight with EV, electric range, or hot tub
150 amp	Newer homes	Higher	Average family needs, some upgrades	Usually fine if loads are planned well
200 amp	Recent builds	High	Larger homes, multiple big loads	Gives room for future changes

If you are doing a serious renovation and your panel is already mostly full, consider upgrading now instead of cramming more onto what you already have.

Signs you should at least ask about a panel or service upgrade:

Your panel is full or uses many tandem breakers stuffed into limited space
Labels are missing or confusing, which often hides past DIY work
You have frequent breaker trips under normal use
You plan more than one big new appliance on electricity

This is usually not the fun part of a project, but it is one of those things that feels like a relief later because you stop worrying about “can we run the oven and the dryer at the same time.”

2. Circuit planning by room

Good circuit planning is where you feel the difference every day.

Instead of thinking only in terms of “one more outlet here,” it helps to think by use case.

Ask in each room:

What will be plugged in most of the time?
What will be moved around, like vacuums, fans, or temporary lights?
What will be added later, like a treadmill, second desk, or TV?

Here are some typical rooms and what often changes during a renovation.

Kitchen

Almost every serious renovation touches the kitchen. It is also usually the most demanding room electrically.

Common upgrades:

Separate circuits for dishwasher, disposal, microwave, and fridge
Dedicated 240V circuit if you move to an electric range
More small appliance circuits along counters to avoid nuisance tripping
Under cabinet lighting tied to a wall switch, not just small plug-in strips

Kitchens also tie closely to flooring and cabinet layout. If you change the island, you might need floor power. If you extend a countertop, you might trigger code rules about spacing of outlets.

Bathrooms

Bathrooms are about safety as much as comfort.

Common upgrades:

GFCI or GFCI-protected outlets
Dedicated circuit for hair dryers and grooming tools
Power for bidet seats or electric towel warmers
Wiring for ceiling fans that actually vent outside

If you are touching the subfloor, this is when many people think about heated floors. Those need their own circuit and careful planning with the tile or LVP layout.

Living and family rooms

These rooms look simple on paper, but often change the most over time.

Things to think through:

Grounded outlets along walls for lamps, chargers, and speakers
Home theater or TV wall with enough power and low-voltage access
Floor outlets in large rooms where you put a sofa in the middle
Lighting circuits that let you dim or zone different areas

Too few outlets often leads to long extension cords running over your new floors. That looks bad and increases tripping risk.

Bedrooms and new home offices

More people work from home now, at least a few days a week. Bedrooms are often converted into offices or flex spaces.

Some simple upgrades:

Extra outlets by the bed or desk for chargers and lamps
Dedicated circuit for a heavy computer setup or multiple monitors, if needed
Hardwired networking runs if you care about stable internet for calls
Ceiling fan wiring, even if you install the fan later

You might not regret skipping a fancy light fixture, but you might regret skipping networking or an extra outlet near the desk.

3. Lighting upgrades that match your new layout

Lighting is usually what people notice most. It affects how your floors, cabinets, and paint colors look.

When you change flooring, you sometimes change how light reflects in a room. Dark wood can eat light. Light tile can reflect glare. So your old single ceiling light might feel weak or harsh in the new setup.

Think about lighting in layers:

Ambient lighting for general brightness
Task lighting for reading, cooking, or desk work
Accent lighting for art, built-ins, or stairways

Good lighting in a renovation is not about brighter everywhere, it is about the right kind of light in the right spot, with the option to dim or turn zones on and off.

A few specific upgrades that tend to be worth it:

Recessed lights in kitchens and living rooms, sized to avoid glare spots
Separate switch for island pendants so they are not always on with everything else
Stair and hallway lighting that avoids dark steps
Night lighting in bathrooms, either low level or separate from the main light

Dimmers are cheap compared to the rest of the renovation and can make your new spaces feel calm in the evening, without adding more fixtures.

4. Safety upgrades: GFCI, AFCI, and grounding

Safety upgrades are less exciting, but they matter, and many are required when you touch wiring.

Common safety updates during a renovation:

GFCI protection in kitchens, baths, garages, and exterior outlets
AFCI protection in many living areas to reduce fire risk from arcs
Replacement of old ungrounded outlets where possible
Repair of old aluminum wiring connections, if present

If your home still has two-prong outlets, this is a sign the system is older. That does not automatically mean it is unsafe, but it limits what you can plug in and often points to deeper aging issues.

From a flooring perspective, think again about where cords will run. Long cords over hallways and across doorways increase tripping and damage risk. More outlets can be as much a safety measure as a convenience.

5. Smart home and control upgrades

Smart home features are easy to overdo. A house full of complicated apps can be more frustrating than helpful. But a few well chosen upgrades installed during a renovation can quietly improve daily life.

Common areas where smart upgrades make sense:

Thermostats for better comfort and some energy savings
Smart switches on high use circuits, like main living room lights
Doorbell cameras at new or relocated front entries
Garage or exterior lighting schedules for safety and convenience

The key is to think about:

Who in the house will use the controls
What happens when internet is down
Whether switches still work in a simple, obvious way

If you wire for smart features now, you have more choices later, even if you start with basic controls at first.

6. Floor related electrical choices: heating, outlets, and safety

Since this article is for people who care about renovation and flooring, it is worth pausing on the spots where flooring and electric work meet.

Heated floors

Radiant floor heating is common in:

Bathrooms
Mudrooms
Basements with tile

These systems need:

A dedicated circuit sized for the heating mat or cables
A thermostat location on the wall and sensor in the floor
Careful placement so you do not nail or screw into them later

If someone is laying new tile and you even think you might want heated floors, this is the time to talk with your electrician. Doing it later usually means tearing up that area again.

Floor outlets

Floor outlets can look slightly strange on paper but very normal in a large room. They help avoid lamp cords running across walking areas.

Questions to ask before adding a floor outlet:

Where will furniture likely sit for the next few years?
Will you use area rugs that might cover or reveal the outlet edge?
Is the outlet in a low traffic spot to avoid trip hazards?

Your flooring installer and electrician need to coordinate here so cutouts are clean and sealed against moisture.

Transitions and thresholds

When you move wiring between rooms with different floors, you may run into thresholds and transitions. Low-voltage runs for speakers, data, or security sometimes go under these spots.

If you know you are changing flooring height, tell your electrician. A slight height difference can affect:

How deep boxes can sit in walls
Where baseboard height cuts across outlets
Whether low outlets look too close to the floor

These details seem small but affect how “finished” a room feels when everything is installed.

How to plan your electrical work before flooring goes in

Most people wait too long to talk through outlets, lighting, and circuits. You can avoid a lot of backtracking with a simple planning process.

Step 1: Mark furniture and appliance locations

Grab a floor plan, or sketch one, and mark:

Beds, sofas, desks
Dining tables and islands
TVs and media centers
Appliances, including where they might move

Then stand in each room and imagine where you will plug in:

Lamps
Phone and laptop chargers
Vacuum, maybe a cordless vacuum station
Fans or air purifiers

You will start to see where outlets are missing.

Step 2: Decide on lighting layers

For each room, ask three quick questions:

What do I need to see clearly here? (cooking, reading, working)
What do I want to highlight? (art, a wall, a built-in)
When do I want soft light only? (evenings, movie time)

From that, you can pick:

Overhead lights
Task lights (under cabinet, desk, focused spots)
Accent lights
Which ones should be on dimmers

This makes it easier for an electrician to design circuits that make sense.

Step 3: Bundle safety and capacity upgrades

If your panel is marginal, or you have older wiring, try not to fix things one at a time room by room. Instead, bundle work:

Panel or service upgrade, if needed
New circuits for high load appliances
Grounding and GFCI/AFCI updates

It can feel like overkill when you just want a new floor or a fresh kitchen. But it is often cheaper and cleaner long term.

Step 4: Leave room for one or two “future” ideas

Some planning guides tell you to future proof everything. That can be wasteful. On the other hand, ignoring the future completely is not ideal either.

More realistic is to ask:

Is there a chance I will get an EV in the next few years?
Am I likely to finish the basement later?
Could this room become a nursery, office, or guest room later?

From there, you might choose:

A panel upgrade that leaves extra slots
Conduit paths that make it easier to add a circuit later
A few extra low-voltage runs to spots that will be hard to reach

You do not need to overbuild for every imaginable scenario. Just cover the obvious ones.

Cost vs value: where electrical upgrades pay off most

Not every upgrade returns money dollar for dollar, but some save you more frustration than others.

Here is a rough look at common electrical upgrades during renovation and where they often land in terms of cost and value. Numbers vary by region and project size, but the relative impact is usually similar.

Upgrade	Relative cost level	Impact on daily life	Good candidate for most projects?
Extra outlets in key rooms	Low	High	Yes, often
Panel / service upgrade	High	High, if capacity is limited	Yes, when adding big loads
LED recessed lighting	Medium	High	Often
Smart switches	Low to medium	Medium	Selective use
Heated bathroom floor	Medium	Medium to high comfort	Good in cold climates
EV charging circuit	Medium	High if you own or plan an EV	Case by case
Full low-voltage wiring everywhere	Medium to high	Mixed, depends how you use it	Plan key paths, not everything

When you have to choose, prioritize capacity and safety first, then lighting and outlets where you spend the most time, then the comfort extras.

If budget is tight, it often makes more sense to:

Upgrade the panel only if it is truly undersized
Add outlets and lighting in primary rooms now
Pre-wire for a few future features, even if you do not install the hardware yet

Common mistakes people make with electrical during renovation

You asked for realism, so here are some things I see people do that cause problems.

Waiting until after drywall to finalize locations

Once drywall is in, moving outlets or switches is slower and more expensive. That is just the truth.

Better approach:

Walk through the framed space with your electrician
Mark desired locations with tape
Adjust based on how it feels when you stand in the room

Seeing boxes in place before walls close can catch a lot of “oh, that is too far from the bed” moments.

Underestimating load in kitchens and offices

People often assume modern appliances are better and draw less power, so old circuits will be fine. That is partially right, but it ignores how many more devices we now use at once.

In a kitchen, running a toaster, coffee maker, and blender all at the same time on one small appliance circuit is asking for a trip. In a home office, you might have:

Computer
Two monitors
Printer
Router and modem
Lighting

All together, that can add up.

Overcomplicating smart features

It is easy to get sold on a full automation setup, but then someone in the house just wants to flip a regular switch.

If you like tech, that is fine. But try this rule:

Every light should work from a physical switch, in a way that makes sense to a guest.

Apps and scenes can be added later. Simple controls can be hard to retrofit.

Choosing looks over function with fixtures

Some pendant or chandelier designs look great in photos, but throw harsh or uneven light. This shows up a lot over kitchen islands or dining tables.

When in doubt:

Look for fixtures that spread light evenly
Add dimming so you can adjust the mood
Think about cleaning, especially in kitchens

You do not need the most dramatic fixture for a room to feel finished. A balanced light that works well every day is more valuable.

Putting it all together for your renovation

Let me tie the pieces into a rough timeline you can follow, even if you do not love planning.

Early planning stage

At this stage, you should:

List new appliances and features you want
Sketch furniture, outlet, and lighting needs
Check your current panel capacity

If you are not sure how to judge panel capacity, this is when you talk with your electrician, not halfway through the project.

Framing and rough-in stage

Here you:

Confirm final outlet and switch locations on site
Walk through lighting placement with a real view of ceilings and windows
Set any floor outlet and heated floor locations before subfloors and underlayment go down

This is also when low-voltage runs for networking and speakers should be decided. After drywall, access gets much harder.

After drywall, before flooring

At this point:

Fixtures start to go in
Switches and outlets get installed or at least boxed
Any final changes before flooring must be very intentional

Try not to move things casually during this phase. Every change may affect both electrical and the flooring crew.

After flooring and final finishes

Now it is mostly about:

Final fixture installation
Testing circuits and devices
Labeling the panel clearly

Taking time to label the panel is one of those small steps that pays off for years, especially whenever you add or change anything in the future.

Q & A: Common renovation electrical questions

Do I really need a panel upgrade for my renovation?

Not always. If your panel has room, your service is at least 100 or 150 amps, and you are not adding large electric loads, you might be fine. But if the panel is full, old, or you are adding things like an electric range, EV charger, or major HVAC equipment, an upgrade becomes more realistic. It is better to have someone look at the full load picture instead of guessing.

Is it worth adding more outlets if my house already meets code?

Often yes. Code is a minimum. Daily comfort is higher than that. If you use multiple power strips in a room, or you have extension cords across walkways, or you charge devices in odd corners, that is a clear sign you will benefit from more outlets, especially during renovation when walls are already open.

What about smart home gear, should I plan a lot or keep it simple?

I think a balanced path is best. Wire in a way that supports future smart features, like neutral wires at switches and solid Wi-Fi coverage, but start with a few smart switches or devices on the circuits you use most. That lets you see what you actually use before covering the whole house in connected gear.

If you had to pick just one electrical upgrade for your renovation, what room or feature feels most urgent in your house right now?