lightning struck the house

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difowler1

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I am scheduled to bid a job tomorrow on a house that was struck by lightning. I have never bid, or repaired a house that was struck by lightning. This one has moderate fire damage from the lightning strike.

I would welcome all suggestions on how to bid (whole house rewire?), and methods to safely repair all the damage (possible hidden damage in the walls?). Lightning hit the roof near the fireplace, blew out the central heat, and the house caught on fire, but is still standing. That is all I know so far.

The general contractor/electrical engineer suggested testing all the wires with a megger. I don't own one, but I could buy one.
 
lighting strike house

lighting strike house

difowler1 said:
I am scheduled to bid a job tomorrow on a house that was struck by lightning. I have never bid, or repaired a house that was struck by lightning. This one has moderate fire damage from the lightning strike.

I would welcome all suggestions on how to bid (whole house rewire?), and methods to safely repair all the damage (possible hidden damage in the walls?). Lightning hit the roof near the fireplace, blew out the central heat, and the house caught on fire, but is still standing. That is all I know so far.

The general contractor/electrical engineer suggested testing all the wires with a megger. I don't own one, but I could buy one.
Click to expand...

I did some internet reading. It said that the on each wire the megger reading should be 100 megaohms per the NETA to be considered not damaged.
I wonder what should be done if the reading is 95 megaohms for example. And I wonder if there is any way to prove that you were not negligent if the house ends up burning down anyway after you successfully tested and replaced all wires with a megaohm reading of less than 100.
 
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difowler1 said:
I did some internet reading. It said that the on each wire the megger reading should be 100 megaohms per the NETA to be considered not damaged.
I wonder what should be done if the reading is 95 megaohms for example. And I wonder if there is any way to prove that you were not negligent if the house ends up burning down anyway after you successfully tested and replaced all wires with a megaohm reading of less than 100.
Click to expand...

If you follow an appropriate standard then your not negligent, by definition. The proof would be keeping good records.

Also, since a 100 megaohm fault would draw 0.0000012 amps at 120V, I think that if you replaced all the wiring that read less than that it is very unlikely you'd have a problem.
 
difowler1 said:
I did some internet reading. It said that the on each wire the megger reading should be 100 megaohms per the NETA to be considered not damaged.
I wonder what should be done if the reading is 95 megaohms for example. And I wonder if there is any way to prove that you were not negligent if the house ends up burning down anyway after you successfully tested and replaced all wires with a megaohm reading of less than 100.
Click to expand...

This is why you have contracts. The contract should specify the level of performance. As an aside, I'm not sure you want to commit to 100 megohms as a performance level. Megger's guide suggests 1 megohm per 1,000 volts of operating voltage, with a minimum value of 1 megohm. That means for residential, 1 megohm should be sufficient.

https://www.instrumart.com/assets/Megger-insulationtester.pdf
 
The megaohm reading would depend on the test voltage applied.
I highly doubt that all the wiring was damaged but if the insurance company is willing to pay for all the rewiring plus ceiling/wall damage then figure (as best you can) the cost to rewire then triple it. Unless the house is gutted I wouldn't even attempt a price for an estimate, too many unknowns.
 
difowler1 said:
I am scheduled to bid a job tomorrow on a house that was struck by lightning. I have never bid, or repaired a house that was struck by lightning. This one has moderate fire damage from the lightning strike.

I would welcome all suggestions on how to bid (whole house rewire?), and methods to safely repair all the damage (possible hidden damage in the walls?). Lightning hit the roof near the fireplace, blew out the central heat, and the house caught on fire, but is still standing. That is all I know so far.

The general contractor/electrical engineer suggested testing all the wires with a megger. I don't own one, but I could buy one.
Click to expand...

On further contemplation, and to directly answer your question, I very much doubt that using a megger would be a cost-effective solution for the homeowner. If this were a 13.6 kV feeder that would be one thing. Think about it. To be sure that you are testing only the wire/cable, you have to disconnect the wiring from every device, test each segment, record the results, reconnect all the devices, and then sit down for a couple of days to organize your report. Tedious doesn't even begin to cover it.
 
difowler1 said:
I am scheduled to bid a job tomorrow on a house that was struck by lightning. I have never bid, or repaired a house that was struck by lightning. This one has moderate fire damage from the lightning strike.

I would welcome all suggestions on how to bid (whole house rewire?), and methods to safely repair all the damage (possible hidden damage in the walls?). Lightning hit the roof near the fireplace, blew out the central heat, and the house caught on fire, but is still standing. That is all I know so far.

The general contractor/electrical engineer suggested testing all the wires with a megger. I don't own one, but I could buy one.
Click to expand...

Moderate fire damage?

Does this GC have the contract to repair the damage or is he just trying to come up with a low number for the insurance Company? A good GC can get a bunch of money out of an insurance company on a job like this.

If there is much damage at all it's normally more economical just to gut the house and rework everything. Fire damage and structural damage is just part of it, there is also smoke damage. The may even need to replace the HVAC ducts. Then there are the carpets, I'm sure they put the fire out with water and that leads to mold.

If they are willing to gut the place then price as a complete rewire that's code compliant.
 
I agree that if I were to undertake such a job (I wouldn't ; it's not in my wheelhouse) the contract would convey the scope of work I would perform, not that I would completely eradicate the effects of the strike.
 
You are really going to have to look at the house to get a feel for what needs to be done. The GC/ electrical engineer IMO aren't qualified to make the call as to what needs to be done and are only looking to replace as little as possible. If it were my house I wouldn't settle for anything less than a complete rewire.

-Hal
 
Complete re-wire or walk away quickly. These jobs can turn into a can of worms that wind up costing you money and reputation. Nobody knows what's inside the walls. And keep in mind that there may be other skeletons lurking in this closet..prior sub-par work, aging connections, non-compliant (as of build date) wiring, etc. You touch any of this house and you'll be called back for anything that goes wrong in the next year or whatever period you warrant your work.
 
hbiss said:
If it were my house I wouldn't settle for anything less than a complete rewire. -Hal
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One thing people may not consider with a fire and fire damage. These houses are often condemned. Not safe for habitation. If a property is condemned the AHJ can required that you bring the entire property up to code before they will issue a new certificate of occupancy .

The choice of what needs to be done is often not up to the owner but it's up to the AHJ. Even with a small fire or storm damage that doesn't do any structural damage they can require things like hard wired smoke detectors up to present code.
 
Don’t know how codes are now but after house fire in Virginia, was requiredto bring home to latest code. Luckily, inspector knew me and was willing to inspect if I did my own work, as long as I hired electrician to handle from panel to meter. But, that wasback in 1983... and with an inspector usedto seeing me on my job site almost monthly so he knew I was going to have my boss to help me.
 
difowler1 said:
I am scheduled to bid a job tomorrow on a house that was struck by lightning. I have never bid, or repaired a house that was struck by lightning. This one has moderate fire damage from the lightning strike.

I would welcome all suggestions on how to bid (whole house rewire?), and methods to safely repair all the damage (possible hidden damage in the walls?). Lightning hit the roof near the fireplace, blew out the central heat, and the house caught on fire, but is still standing. That is all I know so far.

The general contractor/electrical engineer suggested testing all the wires with a megger. I don't own one, but I could buy one.
Click to expand...

well, you can megger. there are megger wizards on here who can advise.

if i had to be involved, i'd do this:

disconnect all cord connected appliances.
disconnect all smoke detectors.
disconnect everything that a megger will smoke.
A/C's, and FAU's, don't forget anything.
shut off the main.

megger the whole house from the panel. ring it out
first, to see if neutrals and grounds are connected.
then megger the entire house, phase to phase and
phase to ground, at 1kv. run the test for 3 minutes
or so. it should pull above 10 megohms.

it's either gonna pass, or not. you can provide that
information in the report you provide, in exchange
for a days wages.

you are going to bill for this diagnostic service, yes?

if it passes, there is nothing to fix. if it doesn't, you
can provide a price for a full house rewire. it's going
to be expensive, and take a lot of hours. bid accordingly.

be sure to exclude drywall repair from the bid.
 
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Craigv said:
Complete re-wire or walk away quickly. These jobs can turn into a can of worms that wind up costing you money and reputation. Nobody knows what's inside the walls. And keep in mind that there may be other skeletons lurking in this closet..prior sub-par work, aging connections, non-compliant (as of build date) wiring, etc. You touch any of this house and you'll be called back for anything that goes wrong in the next year or whatever period you warrant your work.
Click to expand...

I did come across one such scenario one day in the mountains of Colorado.
After only speaking to the owner it was clear there were multiple broken conductors in multiple branch circuits.
This is without even pulling a meter out.
It was clear.
 
I vote for gut and rewire. Most places are going to make you bring it up to current code anyway. You never know what's in the walls. Just rip out what is there and start over. No reason the rip it out part of it cannot be done by the general contractor. He is probably going to have to take down all the drywall anyway.
 
Craigv said:
Complete re-wire or walk away quickly. These jobs can turn into a can of worms that wind up costing you money and reputation. Nobody knows what's inside the walls. And keep in mind that there may be other skeletons lurking in this closet..prior sub-par work, aging connections, non-compliant (as of build date) wiring, etc. You touch any of this house and you'll be called back for anything that goes wrong in the next year or whatever period you warrant your work.
Click to expand...

That's why my license serves mostly as a wallet filler. To many Billy Bob uncles and cousins doing electrical work for friends and family around here. When I run into a nightmare situation I don't even leave an invoice, don't want my name anywhere near some houses.
 
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