do you have to be in the electrical industry to ask a qu

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Re: do you have to be in the electrical industry to ask a qu

I would talk to a lawyer that has actual knowledge of your local and state laws regarding assumed liability and home inspectors. if there is any proof of collusion between inspector and homeowner, I doubt that any limit applies, except time from discovery. Most current law is tending toward 10 year limits. Even if inspector is out of town, his insurance (errors and omissions) is still in effect.

there are many tips about "old work" on this site (old work is what you have), use the search function. cutting and patching plaster is not amateur work.

It sounds as if you have punched a lot of buttons on the part of the ahj. If your representation is accurate, he is not fit for the job. i suspect that somewhere he has had his toes stepped on by you, or someone he thinks is you. He still shouldn't act this way, but a way out of this problem is what you need, not commiseration.

Others have suggested that you get an electrician to conduct a real inspection. i would suggest that you also have this electrician see what is up with the ahj, county inspector, or building offical as the whole house rewire is not our common experience as a requirement. he may believe that so much illegal work was done that it is in your best interests. I would try to find out without being argumentative or confrontational, maybe even apologetic (even assuming it's not your fault), what is really driving his attitude.

You are going to have to work with the county no matter what, and being terrified of the building department is not acceptable if you are above board. Solve this problem along with the inspection and a claim against the inspectors insurance co. should just about fix you up.

paul
 
Re: do you have to be in the electrical industry to ask a qu

I suggest that you don't do more than what is required to make you and your family safe. Yes, a complete rewire of the house is an ideal solution, but it is NOT required. Why don't you hire a licensed electrician to make the necessary repairs to the obvious safety violations and call it a day. As iwire has said, K&T wiring is an acceptable witing method. My experience with it has told me that if I leave it alone, it's fine and will be okay for a long time to come. Make the minor repairs that are true safety hazards and leave it at that. You have scores of folks that say aluminum wiring should be replaced, and yes that would be ideal too, but I live in a community that has thousands of homes wired with aluminum wire and can count on one hand the number of incidents that have occurred as a result of this wiring. Do what's required, and no more. You'll be glad you did. The sky isn't falling.
 
Re: do you have to be in the electrical industry to ask a qu

Do what's required, and no more. You'll be glad you did. The sky isn't falling.
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Michael, I had the impression you were leaning towards a total re-wire when I gave you all those suggestions. Obviously you would not need to go to those extremes if you were only rewiring a few circuits. That's MUCH easier! ;)
 
Re: do you have to be in the electrical industry to ask a qu

Along the lines of Paul's post, I would recommend that you allow the electrician you hire to fight the inspector, and stay out of it. Without a working knowledge of the code, you are at the whim of this guy who by all appearances is totally unreasonable.

A local electrician should be aware of any amendments, such as 12 gauge wire everywhere. That sounds highly invented.
 
Re: do you have to be in the electrical industry to ask a qu

Originally posted by georgestolz:
Along the lines of Paul's post, I would recommend that you allow the electrician you hire to fight the inspector, and stay out of it.
A local electrician should be aware of any amendments, such as 12 gauge wire everywhere. That sounds highly invented.
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I sometimes work things out with an inspector. I have never really fought with 1. I have straightened some out on some items. Fighting is a very bad way of putting it. This I believe requires an inspector and a licensed master electrician to decide the best course of what has to be done. In this area additional wires could be fished to add receptacles where ever you wanted to put them, and a total rewire of a room would only be required if more than 50% of the wall covering of a room would be removed. It can be done on a room by room basis in this area. I know this by talking to the head inspector in my area. His office is programmed in my cell phone for anytime I have a question on how he would like to see something done. That is what you need in the way of an electrician in your area. Do not expect him to call the inspector in front of you. I wouldn't. Whether the electrician would feel comfortable changing wiring out for the receptacles on a room by room basis would depend on what he sees and his comfort level with it.

[ December 03, 2005, 04:52 PM: Message edited by: bradleyelectric ]
 
Re: do you have to be in the electrical industry to ask a qu

Thank you all for your responses. Quick question: What does AHJ stand for?

Update - We had a well experienced licensed electrician come out today. He is an older gentleman and VERY thorough. He crawled under the house, went in the attic, checked for 12g/14 g, checked the breaker box and traced some of the breaker/wiring to rooms. He spent 2 hrs here.

He said the 14g wire is not code and will have to go. The good news is, he didn't find too much of it. Most of the sellers rewire job is 12g. He will have to confirm as he goes that it wasn't spliced into inferior wiring though.

He has worked with the county building inspector many times, and says that he knows how to communicate with him. He agreed the building inspector is a beast, and that the way he treated me was totally uncalled for. He said there is white 12g wire in the house and that the inspector was wrong about it having to be yellow.

He confirmed that most of the rest of my house is grandfathered in and we won't have to bring all the house up to code for other things. This is where having an electrician that knows how to work with the county inspector will help. If it goes the other way, where we have to bring the plumbing, etc up to code, we will have a lawsuit on our hands with the seller,inspector, etc.

We will have to have new 110 wired smoke detectors, add exhaust fans in the bathrooms, add an elec outlet in the stairway and a 3way light for the staircase so we can turn it on from up/downstairs, as opposed to the 2 separate lights and switches now. Exterior lighting run under the carport and porch, will have to be put in conduit.

With the ceiling that we torn down, it looks like he is pleased with the access and it won't be too difficult. He is going to charge hourly + materials, and says it should be $5-7k. He will not have to redo all the wiring. He did say that code in this area is that you can't repair K&T- you have to replace it with up to code wiring. And the rest of the wiring has to pass code.

So that's where we are. He knows the electrican that hooked up the sellers homebrew wiring to the box, and said that he has to rewire much of that electricians work in town. He said the one that was going to charge $19k, that didn't want the job, doesn't like "work" period.

He won't be able to start for 2 weeks, and I realize the cost is just an estimate, but we have confidence in this electrician and will do what we have to do. All the other electricians that came out would have to 'dope it out' and get back to us which they never did, or walked through in 10 mins and didn't want the job at any price. For this older man to get on his hands and knees in the freezing cold, says alot.

We sent a certified letter to the HI and requested that he contact his liability insurance company. Depending on his response, we'll know which avenue to pursue, but yes, he does need to be reported and held liable. Along with the seller.

That's the best we can do for now. If I had full disclosure and a competent inspection prior to buying, I never would have purchased this house. As I said earlier, with the work, we are pricing the house beyond what the market would bring for the house. Hopefully, we will stay here for many years and the house will increase in value. We hope to leave this house to our son, so in that case it won't matter. We do want the house safe for us, him, and possibly our future grandchildren. If not, then the future owners will have a safe house.

I do know one thing, I will flee from anyone that wants to work on this house without a permit. As much a PITA the county building inspector is, he will provide a safety net against shoddy work. Accordingly, I would expect those that don't want to get a permit, don't want someone coming behind them to see all their shortcuts that aren't up to code.

Saying a prayer that this all works out. Thank you all SO much for all your input, advice, encouragement, and warnings. And thank you all for taking the time to reply!
 
Re: do you have to be in the electrical industry to ask a qu

ps - very good advice about moving out while he works. Unfortunately, we have 4 adults here so it would be impractical financially. We are used to camping and roughing it, so that is not a problem.

The attic and crawl space are empty, and we can have all furniture, etc moved prior to him working if he needs it. We'll also use wire mold where we can if it saves tearing out a wall or ceiling, but it looks like he has good access as is with the crawl/attic/porches. We'll cut into floors if we have to to fish wire through, but it shouldn't be necesary.
 
Re: do you have to be in the electrical industry to ask a qu

Originally posted by michael_k: Quick question: What does AHJ stand for?
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"Authority Having Jurisdiction." It is the phrase that the NEC uses for whatever governmental agency is responsible for oversight of electrical installation.
 
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