I'm trying to set up a home office in my bedroom and need to plug in my desk lamp, computer setup, and a space heater all in the same corner. Right now there's only one outlet there and I'm worried about using a power strip. Should I install new outlets, or is there a safe way to handle this without calling an electrician?
The space heater is actually the main concern here, not the power strip itself - those devices pull a ton of current and shouldn't share a circuit with other stuff, especially not through an extension setup. Your best bet is to have an electrician add a dedicated outlet on its own circuit for the heater, which is a pretty straightforward job. For your desk lamp and computer, a quality power strip on the existing outlet is fine since those draw way less power, but keep the heater completely separate.
Space heaters need their own dedicated circuit - they're genuinely dangerous on shared outlets because they draw so much power they can overheat wires and cause fires, so a power strip won't make that safer no matter what. Your lamp and computer can share a strip on a different circuit, but honestly, if you're dealing with limited outlets in that corner, installing a proper outlet or two (or calling an electrician to add one safely to an existing circuit that isn't already maxed out) is worth it rather than gambling with the heater situation.
if you're set on avoiding an electrician, at least keep the space heater on its own outlet away from everything else - don't even think about plugging it into a power strip or daisy-chaining. for your lamp and computer, a power strip on a separate circuit is fine, but you'll want to check what else is already running on that bedroom circuit (lights, outlets elsewhere) because adding more load could still trip things. honestly the safest move that won't cost much more than a power strip is having an electrician run a dedicated 20-amp circuit for the heater and another for your work setup - takes maybe an afternoon and solves the problem permanently instead of playing electrical roulette.
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