23 Apr How to Get Your Home Ready for Texas Storm Season

Storm season in Texas isn’t something to take lightly. Between tropical systems in the Gulf and violent thunderstorms across the north, both Houston and Dallas homes face recurring threats every year. Getting ready for this season means more than filling up sandbags or restocking bottled water. It means hardening your home’s electrical systems, protecting power sources, and ensuring that essential devices and appliances remain running through every outage and surge.

Preparation is the difference between staying comfortable and losing control of your home’s safety and function. For homeowners in both Dallas and Houston, now is the time to invest in the upgrades that matter most.

Start with a Full Electrical Evaluation

Every storm brings a different type of risk, but electrical failure is almost always part of the equation. Lightning strikes, downed lines, and flooded systems can cause shorts, outages, or worse. That’s why the first step in storm prep is a comprehensive electrical evaluation by a licensed professional.

A proper evaluation includes:

• Inspecting the service panel for age, damage, or corrosion

• Checking breakers for wear or improper load balance

• Verifying grounding and bonding connections

• Assessing circuit integrity and wiring age

• Reviewing your current surge protection setup

This isn’t a surface-level inspection. You need someone who knows what to look for and can identify signs of stress before they become failures. Brotherlylove Electric provides full evaluations throughout Houston and Dallas, offering recommendations tailored to each home’s needs.

Protect Your Power with a Standby Generator

The most disruptive outcome of any Texas storm is a long-term power outage. Whether the lines are down from wind or transformers are offline due to flooding, outages in both cities can last for days. For anyone who depends on refrigerated medication, electrically powered medical devices, or remote work tools, that kind of downtime is unacceptable.

A whole home standby generator automatically kicks on the moment grid power is lost. These systems are permanently installed outside the home and powered by your existing natural gas line, which removes the need for diesel refueling or manual starts. Once online, they restore power to your selected circuits or to your entire home, depending on the generator’s capacity.

Brotherlylove Electric specializes in the installation of Briggs & Stratton standby generators. They handle everything from helping you select the right size to completing the permitting and wiring. Their team also provides ongoing maintenance to keep the system ready year-round.

Install Whole Home Surge Protection

Surge protectors aren’t just for your desktop computer anymore. During storms, voltage spikes can hit your entire home through the main line. Without surge protection at the panel level, these spikes can destroy HVAC systems, refrigerators, washing machines, and other major appliances in an instant.

A whole home surge protector is installed directly onto your electrical panel. It acts as a gatekeeper, redirecting excess energy away from your appliances and into the ground. This protects everything inside the home from damage caused by nearby lightning strikes, power grid fluctuations, or even large appliances turning on and off.

Brotherlylove Electric offers modern surge protection systems that integrate cleanly with your existing electrical setup. Their installation team ensures that all protection measures meet current codes and manufacturer specs.

Upgrade Old Electrical Panels

Older homes in both Houston and Dallas often have panels that are decades out of date. These panels were never designed to handle today’s electrical demands. Add in the stress of a lightning strike or a wet electrical enclosure, and you have a recipe for failure or even fire.

Panel upgrades replace your outdated or undersized breaker box with a new, properly rated model. These new panels can handle higher amperage, include advanced breaker technology, and often come pre-fitted to support surge protection or generator transfer switches.

Brotherlylove Electric performs panel upgrades with minimal disruption to your home. Their licensed electricians remove the old system, install the new panel, test the circuits, and ensure everything is code-compliant before power is restored.

Install Dedicated Emergency Circuits

One smart storm prep measure is the installation of dedicated circuits for essential appliances and systems. This allows your generator to power only what matters most, increasing efficiency and reducing strain on the backup system.

Emergency circuits often include:

• Refrigerators and freezers

• Heating and cooling systems

• Well pumps or sump pumps

• Home office equipment

• Security systems and lighting

• Medical devices and equipment charging stations

Brotherlylove Electric designs and installs dedicated circuits as part of their generator preparation services or as a standalone upgrade. These circuits are isolated, labeled, and routed to support your highest-priority devices.

Secure Exterior Electrical Components

Storm prep isn’t only about the systems inside the home. Exterior outlets, lighting fixtures, conduit, and generator units all need to be properly secured and sealed to avoid water intrusion or wind damage. Exposed wiring or loose enclosures are a frequent cause of short circuits and power loss during heavy rain or high winds.

Make sure:

• All outdoor outlets are covered with weather-resistant, in-use rated covers

• Floodlights and fixtures are sealed and tightened

• Exterior conduit is anchored securely to the structure

• The generator slab or mounting is level and stable

• The main service meter and shutoff are easily accessible but protected

Brotherlylove Electric’s team includes this as part of their broader storm-readiness consultations. Their technicians work across Dallas and Houston to make sure all systems are both compliant and secure.

Test Systems Before Storm Season Starts

Nothing should be left to chance once the weather reports start rolling in. Every backup system, protection device, and emergency circuit should be tested long before it is needed. Regular tests and routine service will confirm that your generator starts reliably, your surge protection is active, and your breakers trip properly under load.

Brotherlylove Electric provides scheduled testing and preventative maintenance for all of the systems they install. This includes load testing generators, checking transfer switches, confirming circuit continuity, and cleaning or tightening panel connections. Their goal is to make sure your home is ready, not just wired.

Consider Additional Smart Electrical Upgrades

For homeowners who want more control during an emergency, smart systems offer visibility and flexibility even when you’re away. Modern electrical upgrades now include:

• Smart breakers that report faults via app

• WiFi-enabled generator monitoring

• Automatic transfer switches that track utility power

• Surge event logs that confirm device activation

• Remote shutoff capability for high-risk circuits

These systems allow you to manage power proactively during a storm, receive real-time alerts, and take action without entering hazardous areas of the home.

Brotherlylove Electric installs compatible smart components and can advise homeowners on which upgrades are most beneficial based on usage, location, and existing infrastructure.

Dallas and Houston Have Different Storm Profiles, Same Solution

While the storm risks in Dallas and Houston may differ in type, the needed electrical protection is remarkably similar. Grid instability, wind damage, and lightning exist across both cities. So do aging electrical panels, undersized circuits, and a lack of surge protection in many homes.

What homeowners in both regions share is the need for a reliable electrical contractor that knows how to build for storm durability. Brotherlylove Electric brings over a decade of experience across both metros and offers custom storm-ready upgrades with professional installation and 24/7 support.

Final Steps for Homeowners

Getting your home ready for Texas storm season doesn’t need to be complicated, but it does need to be complete. Start with a thorough inspection. Add real protection where it’s missing. Install a standby generator if you don’t already have one. Secure all wiring, seal your panel, and confirm that your systems are ready before the forecast turns.

We serve homeowners across both the Dallas and Houston metro areas with whole home generator installations, surge protection, panel upgrades, emergency service, and more. Our team is licensed, insured, and focused on doing the job right every time. We guide you through the process, recommend solutions that make sense for your home, and install systems that perform when they’re needed most.

When the storm approaches, you shouldn’t be left wondering if your home is prepared. Contact us to schedule a full assessment, and we’ll help make sure your electrical system is ready before the first drop of rain.