Five Tips to Get the Most From Your Electrical Inspection
just like your car, electrical systems can develop a host of problems that are best fixed sooner rather than later. Many contractors on Angie’s List offer electrical inspections to root out issues ranging from mismatched wires to major safety concerns.
Check the code
Christopher Voglund, owner of highly rated Artisan Electric in Lafayette, Indiana, says he charges an average of $600 for top-to-bottom inspections, but the cost varies depending on the level of detail a homeowner requests.
Focus on safety
Rob Gruen, owner of highly rated Brighter Connection in Milwaukee, says he focuses first and foremost on safety during his inspections, which tend to cost about $100 depending on house size. “I’m looking for junction boxes missing covers, outlets that aren’t grounded properly, and outlets that should have GFCI, which is required in rooms [located] near water like kitchens and bathrooms,” he says. “These things provide an important protection against shock.”
Match the wires
Gruen verifies that the circuit breakers, wires and outlets all match up to the correct kinds of amperage for that circuit. Otherwise, the risk of overloading one or more elements increases. “When the amperage and wire gauge don’t match up, that’s the very definition of a fire hazard,” he says.
Test the panel
Any electrical inspection should address the main panel and circuit breakers. “You want to make sure the cover is installed correctly and that breakers are tight on the main panel,” Gruen says. “If those things aren’t tight, you start having problems. I look for discoloration or signs of burn marks, rust and wear. It’ll take years, but you can see that kind of stuff going wrong.”
How To Inspect Your Own House
A few months ago I wrote a blog post about homeowner maintenance inspections, wherein I promoted the virtues of having a home inspector conduct maintenance inspections on existing homes every five years or so. I promised to follow up with a post on how homeowners could conduct their own home inspections, but I don’t know what I was thinking when I said I’d follow up with a “post”. I should have said I’d follow up with my longest “series” of posts ever. For the first part of this series, I covered the inspection of the exterior. I took a little break in this series because I had a few other things to discuss that were somewhat time sensitive, but I’m back on the homeowner inspection series again.
Overhead Wires
If your home has overhead wires bringing in power, check to make sure there are no tree branches rubbing on the wires. It’s the homeowner’s responsibility to maintain / trim trees on the property that may interfere with the overhead wires coming from the utility pole to the house
Also, take a close look at the connection point between the overhead wires right before they disappear into the mast head. One wire is the neutral wire; it’s normal for this wire to be exposed, but the other two wires shouldn’t have any exposed contacts. If there are, these are serious shock / electrocution hazards that should be repaired by the utility company. The photo below gives an example of an exposed ferrule at one of the hot wires. Touch that thing with an aluminum ladder, roof rake, or something similar, and it’ll be lights out for you
Every once in a while you’ll get a different reading, such as all three lights lit up, or a bright middle light and dim lights on the left and right. These readings indicate problems that should be looked into further by an electrician. If there are loose outlets, the repair is usually as simple as removing the cover plate and tightening the screws that hold the outlet in place.
Cover Plates
Not only do cover plates help to prevent accidental shocks, but they help to contain any arcing or sparking that might take place within an electrical box, thus potentially preventing a fire. Go through your home and make sure there are cover plates installed for all of the outlets, switches, and junction boxes. A few of the more common places for missing cover plates are in unfinished basement areas, behind refrigerators, inside kitchen cabinets, and at garage ceilings.
While this is usually a very simple DIY repair, the photo above shows a situation where the fix isn’t quite so simple; if a cover plate was installed over the pegboard, it would leave a gap between the box and the cover that could allow sparks to escape and potentially start a fire. The fix for this situation would actually involve cutting away the pegboard a little more so that a cover plate could be installed tight against the box
Tips for Passing an Electrical Inspection
Just this morning, my local township electrical inspector stopped by and reviewed the electrical work I had performed for our home office improvement project. He gave us a passing grade, which means I officially have approval to cover the framing with drywall and finish the room. He pointed out a couple changes I need to make before he returns, so I do need to take care of those issues. This is probably the third or fourth time he’s been out to our house for an inspection so I’ve learned to prepare for the things he likes to see
Ask the Inspector First. When you schedule the inspector, try to actually have a conversation with him or her about what they expect to see and what pitfalls you can avoid. All inspectors should be looking for the same checks, but some have additional requirements or pet-peeves that can fail you. Checking with them first is a great way to establish a name to a face and get a sense of their general requirements.
Don’t Add Any Devices. During the rough-in inspection, there can’t be any devices on the circuits you are adding. No outlets, no lights, no switches, nada, nunca. If you are adding an outlet to an existing circuit, then the NEW outlet should also not be installed either. The rest of the outlets on that circuit that were originally there are probably fine, but if you disturbed the wiring in any outlet, it shouldn’t have a device for the inspection
Tie Your Grounds Together. In each outlet or electrical box location, the ground wires should be tied together. This is something my inspector noted today. Don’t tie anything else together though. The hot and neutral leads should remain separate
Fire Block. Any holes or penetrations from one floor to the next or from one wiring passage to the next needs to be blocked so as to prevent a fire using the hole as a breathing hole or chimney. Typically, you can use fire block expanding foam (which is bright orange in color) or regular fiberglass insulation to fill or plug these kind of holes
How To Inspect Your Own House
A few months ago I wrote a blog post about homeowner maintenance inspections, wherein I promoted the virtues of having a home inspector conduct maintenance inspections on existing homes every five years or so. I promised to follow up with a post on how homeowners could conduct their own home inspections, but I don’t know what I was thinking when I said I’d follow up with a “post”. I should have said I’d follow up with my longest “series” of posts ever. For the first part of this series, I covered the inspection of the exterior. I took a little break in this series because I had a few other things to discuss that were somewhat time sensitive, but I’m back on the homeowner inspection series again.
Overhead Wires
If your home has overhead wires bringing in power, check to make sure there are no tree branches rubbing on the wires. It’s the homeowner’s responsibility to maintain / trim trees on the property that may interfere with the overhead wires coming from the utility pole to the house.
Outlets
To test the outlets at your home, go buy yourself an outlet tester. These are sold at all home improvement stores and hardware stores for about $5, or a little more if the tester comes with a GFCI tester. A GFCI tester makes it a lot easier to verify that non-GFCI outlets in your home are GFCI protected, but it’s not a valid way to test GFCI outlets. More on that topic below. The tester shown at right currently sells for $7.49 on Amazon. So now that you have a tester, go around and test all of the outlets in your home. The light codes displayed by the tester will tell you if the outlet is properly wired, or what the problem is if the outlet isn’t properly wired.
Open Ground – more commonly described as an ungrounded three-prong outlet. Click this link for information about how to correct an ungrounded three-prong outlet. This is a condition that should be repaired by an electrician.
Open Neutral – this is a very uncommon defect; it means there is power at the outlet, but whatever is plugged into the outlet won’t work. Every once in a while, this is the result of a switched neutral wire.
Open Hot – there’s no “hot” wire at the outlet… or there’s a live hot and no neutral and no ground. Whatever is plugged into the outlet won’t work. Sometimes this might be the result of a switched outlet and the switch is just off, but in many cases it just means it’s a dead outlet.
Will my electrical wires pass a home inspection?
You’d be surprised by how many homes have electrical wires that aren’t up to code. Some of these wires are simply old or made of outdated material. Others are damaged, worn out, or even dangerous.
Of course, it’s difficult to tell whether wires are up to code just by looking at them. That’s where professional home inspections come in
How do home electrical inspections work?
A home electrical inspection is a thorough review of your home’s entire electrical system conducted by a professional. A proper electrical inspection follows a procedure stipulated in the National Electrical Code (NEC). The NEC is a set of electrical safety standards that the National Fire Protection Association constantly re-evaluates and updates with input from electrical professionals all over the country. When electricians determine whether something is “up to code,” the NEC is what they’re talking about
Why wouldn’t my wires pass an electrical inspection?
If any electrical feature doesn’t “pass” inspection, that means it fails to meet the minimum safety standards established by the NEC. Wires are among the most common electrical features to “fail” inspection because they’re hard for non-professionals to check on
Age
Wires may wear down over time, especially if you installed them a long time ago. Older wires are also more likely to be made of substandard material or installed with substandard methodologies like knob-and-tube wiring. The older your home, the more likely it is that your electrical wiring is old, too. If you can’t remember the last time you had your older home’s wires inspected, then it’s probably time.