What to know before calling an electrician

Calling an electrician can be expensive and time consuming — especially if your problem ends up being something with a simple fix. Here are a few things to ask yourself in situations when your first instinct might otherwise be calling an electrician.

• Make sure the new fuse is the same amperage as the one you've replaced.
• Also, visually check to see if the fuse you've used is still good — if the filament is intact inside the fuse casing.
• And be sure that your new fuse is screwed in tightly enough.
• To be on the safe side, whenever you're adjusting fuses, make sure the main power to your house is off.

• Upstream ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs) or GFCI circuit breakers protect some outlets.
• Look in the circuit box for a GFCI circuit breaker and in bathrooms, kitchens and laundry rooms for GFCI outlets.
• Test and reset them.
• This may solve your problem.

• Test the bulb in another light fixture to make sure the bulb itself is working well.
• Also make sure that the bulb is screwed all the way in.

• Check all of the switches in the room to see if one controls that outlet.

Keep these tips in mind the next time you find yourself in one of these scenarios, and you might just save some money and time — both yours and your electrician's.

*Not only is it dangerous, it may even be illegal in some provinces, such as Québec, to do your own electrical wiring. The solution: consider hiring a master electrician.