Do not do any of this yourself, unless you are an electrician. Really....Please get an electrician to do it.

The isolation transformer is a good idea, but most lightning strikes ride in on the phone or cable lines. I've actually seen the surge ride the phone company's ground right into the house panel. The phone and cable company's both ground they're equipment to the house ground, or whatever they find nearby. One thing you may want to think about is the possibility of the power company's transformer going bad and loosing a neutral. If your house ground is good enough your going to all kinds of problems, pinholes in your water lines are my favorite. Your answer was very cool, and i did learn a few things. thank you