Lightning Strike Survival: Top Tips for Ensuring Your Lightning Rod is Always Ready in Delaware
A readiness checklist for what to verify on your lightning protection system before storm season arrives.
What 'Storm Ready' Actually Means
A storm-ready system is one where every air terminal, conductor, bonding connection, and grounding electrode has been checked and confirmed functional within the past year. Readiness isn't a one-time installation milestone — it's an ongoing status that needs to be reverified, since weather and time both work against any protective system no matter how well it was originally installed.
Verify Your Inspection Cadence
A typically annual inspection is a reasonable baseline for most properties, including schools and other institutional buildings where multiple structures or additions may each need separate coverage. Larger campuses in particular benefit from a documented schedule so no building gets overlooked between visits, especially when maintenance responsibilities are split across facilities staff.
Check the Grounding System
Grounding electrodes should remain buried, undisturbed, and electrically continuous. Soil conditions change over time, so periodic testing of grounding resistance is part of confirming the system will still perform as designed, rather than assuming it's fine because it was fine when it was installed years earlier.
Document Any Building Changes
New wings, roof replacements, or other renovations can disrupt a lightning protection system without anyone noticing right away. Any structural changes should be reported to your contractor so the system can be adjusted to keep full coverage across the entire building or campus, not just the original footprint.
Address Issues Promptly
Frayed cables, corrosion, or storm damage should be repaired as soon as they're identified rather than left for the next scheduled visit, since a compromised component reduces the system's readiness in the meantime, sometimes without any outward sign that it's happened at all.
Working With a Qualified Contractor
For a property with multiple buildings or a large footprint, it's worth confirming that whoever handles your inspections understands institutional-scale systems specifically, not just single residential setups. RS Lightning Protection has served Delaware, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia since 1988. Call 1-866-415-2231 to schedule an inspection or repair.
Need repair? See our repair service.