Doing any work on your house that is older than 1978?  New EPA regulations on safe work practices for lead paint require any company doing home improvement must have a certified person trained by the EPA on their staff.  This also means that your electrician, plumber, HVAC, painters, and most other tradesman doing work on your home must also be certified. This protects homeowners from the risk of exposure to harmful lead dust and particles created by sanding, drilling and demolition.  This regulation went into affect in April, 2010 and carries very heavy fines.  HOWEVER, if you do the work yourself this regulation does not apply.  Check with your trades people to make sure that they have been certified.

The light bulb as you know it is being phased out.  Within the next few years the lighting industry's new technologies, currently in developmental stages, will be replacing the standard light bulb.  The present schedule looks like this:  the 100 watt bulb must be replaced by manufacturers by 1/1/2012, the 75 watt bulb by 1/1/2013 and the 60 and 40 watt by 1/1/2014.  Many of the other lights such as your recessed bulbs can now be changed to LED lights as the present bulbs are also being eliminated.  Expect to pay considerably more for your bulbs as they last up to 50,000 hours.  At this time, use compact fluorescents in as many lamps as possible as we wait for the longer life LED bulbs to appear on the market.