Hi all. Building a new home in Texas near Columbus. House is the highest point aside from 2 nearby oak trees. Are lightning rods an effective mitigation for lightning strikes? Is there something better? Just wanting to protect our new home.

In a residential set-up, you probably won't completely eliminate the risk of damage from a lightning strike, but you'll definitely reduce the chance a strike does any damage. Depending on the design of your house, you may need multiple lightning rods to provide a proper zone of protection. You'll definitely need to connect the lightning rod(s) to a couple of separate ground rods with correctly sized wire for the system to perform correctly.

If your nearby power lines are also elevated, it may be worth a whole-home surge protector at your main panel. Won't help for a lighting strike to the house, but is a good and cheap extra layer of protection.

Good call on the surge protection as our service power lines are higher than the house and trees. What kind of profession would I consult for placement, sizing, and installation of lightning rods?

For lightning rods you gotta call a gypsy, at least in DFW.

Likely an EE, but probably very few doing residential LP design. I'd start with your builder or their electrician to see who they work with. If they do any commercial properties, there's a better chance they'll know who could help in your area.

Call Bonded Lightning Protection. You're going to want a lightning protection system, not just a rod or two if you really want to mitigate the risks. You're also going to want a Master Label certificate. Should help you a bit with your insurance premium.

Aggieland's guru passed in 2018 Dr. Charles Adolph Heller but maybe someone at Bryan's Blinn College that taught with him might have a referral. We don't get much call for such these days. In-the-day, the system was ~$/sf and Heller's unique styles of rods even made it into an Architecture mag.

Lightning strikes reported on past projects

• Low area near what could have been developed as a pond = strike went down the chimney looking for conc.rebar, some explosions, fire
• House slab under construction mid-Bryan behind Lubys, large Oak tree strike = dead tree of fire, was a big selling point for that lot prior, location near a tiny creek
• Nearby strike 2-story North of Dallas near fire station = loss of some internet ports, long fix to get computer up & running
• Power pole strike 25ft from 1-story surrounded by Slash Pines near highest point in rural subdivision = no consequences
• Reportedly huge pine tree strike in NM near cabin (not our project) = exploded and cabin on fire

Stats suggest lightning in our HOU-Aggieland area more a threat thatn tornadoes.
Others suggest a metal roof offers a bit more protection ... if grounded.

I tend to agree with the Electrical Engineer suggestion to gain leads to specialists in that area, otherwise forced to agree with salesmen of lightning systems w/no eng.license ... https://lightning.org/about/find-a-contractor/

Metal roof won't buy you anything, grounded or not. It's not made to be a conductor. The whole point of a protection system is to give it a place to go in as a controlled manner as possible.

I don't think any of the designers/installers have PE licenses, but at the same time I don't know any EE PEs who can do protection designs or have LPI certs. It's kinda like fire alarm. It's also why I suggest the UL master label certificate. It ensures the design and installation are correct.

Saw the gypsy lightning rod guys at Railhead yesterday. Should have turned them on to this thread

Who are the Gypsy rod guys? Are they like the gypsy tow trucks with the loose lugnuts?

There's a clan of Irish travelers in West fort worth. One of their schticks when not doing chip seal is installing lightning rod systems.

Lightning protection is a UL certification


https://www.ul.com/resources/find-certified-ul-lightning-protection-professional

UnderoosAg said:

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Call Bonded Lightning Protection. You're going to want a lightning protection system, not just a rod or two if you really want to mitigate the risks. You're also going to want a Master Label certificate. Should help you a bit with your insurance premium.

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Bonded was going to be my suggestion. They do almost all of the commercial installs I've been a part of and they will do design and install for residences. If you're serious about having protection, they're one of the best outfits around, but a real system is more than just a rod or two thrown up.

I've driven by these folks in Katy, no experience with them but may be worth reaching out to:

Taylor Lightning Protection