You are under contract for a home in Raleigh and had the home inspected. Now, you receive your inspection report and are immediately frightened.
In this article, we will review and explain the most common electrical items we see on a home’s inspection report.
As a licensed electrician in Apex, we are here to help!
Outdated Panel
Most electrical panels will last between 20 – 30 years. However, we have seen some as old as 40 years. We have also seen panels that are less than 10 years old go bad as well. If your home inspector recommends that your panel get inspector or replaced, it’s probably due to one of the following:
- The panel is made by Federal Pacific or Zinsco (we recommend replacing these immediately).
- There is a buzzing or other sound coming from the panel.
- There is rust or corrosion present (inside or outside).
- The panel is full and there is no room for additional breakers.
GFCI Protection
GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) outlets are required in any area that might get wet. This includes your kitchen, bathrooms, outside, basement, crawl space, laundry room and garage. The purpose of a GFCI outlet is to cut off power if there is the possibility for a shock. Water and electricity get along great which is not good for humans. Therefore, you want to make sure all of these areas are GFCI protected to keep you and your family safe.
Outside Outlets Not Covered / Protected
Depending on the age of your home, you might have outside outlets that are not protected by a weather resistant cover. If this is the case, you are leaving your outlets open to the elements. This significantly increases the chance of your outlets going bad. It also means that you will most likely trip the GFCI circuit when water gets to these outlets. Every home is wired differently but when this occurs, you will lose power in your garage, crawl space or even your bathroom. To solve this problem, you’ll need an electrician to install weather resistant covers to protect the outlets.
Exposed Wiring
At some point in your home’s lifetime, there was probably a handyman or homeowner who attempted to do electrical work. Often, we see exposed wiring due to improper splicing in the attics and crawlspaces of homes. Wrapping two wires together and taping them up is a safety issue for anyone living in the home. The proper way to solve this problem is to have an electrician put these together in a secured junction box.
Less Than 200 Amp Service
Homes today have a much bigger need for electricity than they did 20+ years ago. Not long ago, most homes had between 100amp and 150amp service. All homes built today have at least 200amps to power all of the new appliances, computers, technology and EV chargers. If your new home has less than a 200amp service, we recommend having a professional on our team analyze your home and your electrical use.
Smoke (and Carbon Monoxide) Detectors
As the fire code continues to improve for the safety of everyone in the home, so does the need for additional smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
The current code requires the following:
- One smoke detector inside every bedroom
- One carbon monoxide on every floor (These also have to be within 15 feet of every bedroom so you might need more than one per floor).
We know these are just a few of many issues we see on home inspection reports. If you would like a trained technician on our team to take care of the items on your inspection report, we’d love to help! Give us a call today at 984-600-0100 and we can get this scheduled for you.