If you’re purchasing a home then you’re going to need an electrical home inspection. It doesn’t matter if you have a mortgage or not, it’s advisable to know the state of the electrics.
After all, rewiring an entire house is a costly experience. But, it’s essential if you have bad electrics as faulty electrics are one of the main causes of house fires.
However, it’s not just something that you should be doing when you purchase a home. An electrical home inspection should be performed regularly by your local level 2 electrician; this will ensure your home remains safe for you and your family.
What An Electrical Home Inspection Includes
It’s a good idea to know what the electrical inspection includes, this will help to prepare for it!
The electrician will look for exposed or damaged wiring, whether the earth is effective and whether all the sockets and switches are earthed.
In addition, they will check for outlets which have been painted, (this increases the risk of overheating).
Circuit breakers are also checked to ensure they are not tripping or that more than one circuit breaker is being run from the same wire.
Your electrician will also check that the current is flowing correctly. Poor wiring can result in the neutral and live circuits becoming crossed. This won’t trip the breakers but it can damage any equipment plugged into the sockets. The electrician will also verify that the house has circuit breakers fitted.
It is also important to verify that the electrics have not been modified inappropriately. Unfortunately, many people think that it is relatively easy to add or adjust circuits, resulting in wiring that is below code or dangerous.
A qualified electrician will also evaluate the age of the wiring and let you know whether it is nearing the end of its life or not. This is particularly true if you have aluminum wiring.
What Is Checked
An electrician cannot physically check everything single wire in the home. After all, many of them are not visible.
Instead, they will inspect all the cables that are visible and choose a random selection of sockets and lights. If these are defective they will look at more than the initial selection.
The electrician will also look at the fuse box, removing the cover to verify the wiring has been done properly and is all the right size for the breakers in place. They will, of course, verify that all the wires are secured properly.
It should be noted that an electrical report doesn’t mean that a seller has to rectify the issues, although a buyer may want to use this report as a negotiating point.
The main point of this report is to ensure you know what you are getting and what work may need to be completed in your new home.
As already mentioned, this is not something that you should do just when buying/selling a house, it’s a good idea to have a home electrical inspection once a year.
