Lighting work in this county divides by ceiling. Newer houses off John Deere Road have drywall and attic access, and a row of recessed cans is an afternoon. The 1920s houses along the Moline bluff and through Rock Island's older wards have lath and plaster, blown-in insulation, and no attic over the first floor, and the same row of cans is a day of careful fishing. An electrician who has done both quotes the right one.
Ceiling fans that stay on the ceiling
The box a light fixture hangs from is not rated to hold a spinning fan, and a surprising number of fans in the county hang from exactly that. A fan installation done right means a fan-rated brace box, a support that reaches the joists, and, where the room has no ceiling wiring at all, a new switch leg fished down the wall. Bedrooms in East Moline ranches and second floors in Moline foursquares with no central air are the most common calls, and a fan on a proper box with a separate light switch is the usual quote.
Recessed and under-cabinet lighting
Thin LED wafer lights have made recessed lighting practical in ceilings that could never take a full can, which matters in the older half of the county. Kitchen remodels in Silvis and Milan add under-cabinet strips, pendants over an island, and a dimmer that suits the fixtures. The electrician lays out spacing so the room is lit evenly rather than spotted, and checks that the circuit feeding the old fixture can carry what replaces it.
Outside: porches, driveways, alleys, and security
Rock Island and Moline alleys are dark, garages face them, and a motion flood on the garage corner is one of the cheapest improvements a house can get. Porch fixtures on a century-old house usually need a new box and often a new switch loop. Driveway and yard lighting on a county property toward Coal Valley or Port Byron means a buried run, sized for the distance, and post lights on their own photocell. All exterior work gets weather-rated boxes and ground-fault protection.
Fixture swaps and the wiring behind them
Replacing a dining-room chandelier or a bathroom vanity light is quick when the box behind it is sound. In houses of this age it sometimes is not: a pancake box with no clamp, cloth wire with the insulation flaking off, a splice made without a box at all. The electrician shows you what the old fixture was hiding and quotes the fix along with the new fixture, and if what he finds points to a wider wiring problem, he says so instead of covering it back up.