Remember when I described my little electrical situation here? I had 10 days to fix the violations. The electrical work that was required by my city was actually completed almost two weeks ago before the holidays by my electrician. With this being a busy holiday season, today was the first day that was open for the city inspector to schedule a visit. Apparently they don't care that it's the end of the month for me and the end of the year and I have my own quota to hit.
Here is what the electrician did:
1) Install neutral insulation kit in sub panel
2) Install a larger lug on ground bar of sub panel
3) Install bonding screw on neutral bar at main disconnect
4) Separate aluminum & copper wires at main disconnect
5) Install grounding kit at main disconnect
6) Install cold water ground to within 5' of water meter
7) Bond hot, cold and gas lines
8) Bond water meter jumper
9) Furnace outlet must have GFCI protection
10) Install bonding bridge
In addition to what was written down as violations, we also fixed a few other things including running several wires through joists (rather than stapled to the bottom of the joist), added 2 additional breakers (two wires were running to one breaker), removed unnecessary wires, and bundled some wires up so that they weren't hanging down.
And here is what it cost me:
City permit for 6 circuit, 1 furnace electrical work - $150.00 (he gave me a break)
Parts from Home Depot - $210.00
Parts from Ray Electric - $60.00
17 labor hours (only one electrician hired) - $680.00
Total cost to fix all electrical violations - $1,100
This cost me about $400 more than what I would've expected. Thankfully, I inflated the budget for the basement renovation to account for miscalculations. As always, I worked with the electrician so that he didn't have to hire an assistant (that I would've paid extra for). I did the dummy work...pull out old wires that were not being used, remove the dropped ceiling, clean up ceiling joists, measure and nail recessed can lights into place (I did not include the purchase or install of the can lights into the budget above...it did only take him an hour to wire all 8 lights) and clean up his mess (he didn't ask me to do this...I just can't stand a messy job site - especially when there are two curious pups sniffing around).
And because I don't yet have a beautifully renovated bathroom to show off...here are some of the new additions to my abode.
This copper ground jumps the meter then runs across the ceiling to the sub panel to ground the meter. A great addition to any house...
And here is the beautiful GFCI for the furnace.
Maybe I'll have you all over to celebrate the new copper grounding straps.
When you schedule an inspection you have to call the building and permits office between 9 and 9:30am and find out where you happen to be on the inspectors schedule that day (otherwise they leave you with cable guy hours "we'll be there sometime between 9am and 9pm"). I was first. Of course. I was also about 50 minutes from home about to walk into an appointment with a customer that would last at least 2 hours. And now I had to explain to the inspector (who holds my fate in his hands) that I knew of my inspection today, and I also booked an appointment 40 miles from home and could he please please please push me to the end of his day? I hate to inconvenience anyone, but the city doesn't open until 9am and it's the busiest time of year for me...I couldn't wait until 9am to find out what my work day was going to look like. Thankfully, the inspector pushed me to the end of his schedule and said he would be there after noon. I was crossing my fingers that his "end of the day" wasn't at 12:01pm.
My appointment ran late. I'm 40 miles from home. It's noon. And it just started to snow. Great. Of all people, I definitely don't want to piss off the city inspector. Thankfully, the snow only delayed my usual 50 minute drive only about 10 minutes. I pulled in the driveway as soon as he arrived at 1pm.
I was already nervous for this inspection because of the money I've poured into this little unexpected snafu. But I was especially nervous because I've already had to have the inspector switch around his schedule for me this morning and we were a little nervous about some of the violations. See, there are several ways to skin a cat, or do electrical correctly. The inspector requested that the furnace have a GFCI. He didn't elaborate on this. We installed a GFCI outlet. If the inspector wanted a GFCI breaker rather than a GFCI outlet it would cost me an extra $80 for the city inspector to tell me this, $45 for the GFCI breaker and 1 hour labor for my electrician to install the breaker. And that's just one of the violations we were concerned about.
I definitely had some luck on my side. The inspector was in a fantastic mood (I would be too if my work day started at 9am and ended at 1pm) and he checked off all boxes on his approval sheet to state that all violations are corrected. He also mentioned that he was very impressed with the quality of workmanship my electrician displayed, (I trust my electrician, but he could tell me that the wireless ground needed to be removed and greased, and I would probably believe it...so it just puts my mind at ease that a city inspector is impressed by the quality of work). I knew my electrician was good, but I also know I pay him a fraction of what a contractor would charge me so I did always wonder about the quality of his work. The electrical has been approved...with a big green sticker to prove it!
I have learned one huge, large, ginormous lesson here... when buying a house GO TO THE CITY OFFICE AND ASK FOR A HOUSE FILE BEFORE MAKING FINAL NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE SELLER (whether its a homeowner or the bank). The house file will show all or any permits that have been opened on the house, when they were opened, and if/when they were approved and closed. It is the liability of the permit-opener (whether it's the homeowner or contractor) or current homeowner to make sure all permits are approved and final. I hired a good home inspector. However, there were at least 8 items shown as violations by the city that my home inspector did not find.
Let's just say that I'm happy that I've made friends with my plumber and electrician who I have major trust for. I have a brother who is a roofing inspector, and a future father-in-law who previously owned an HVAC business. I will be utilizing them all (as well as a regular home inspector) to scour any future house I plan on owning. And I will make a trip to the city office to pull a house file. I've never been a fan of surprises....especially when it comes to home ownership surprises.
Mary
Just in case you missed previous steps and find out why I am completing a basement renovation, you can find that all here:
Step 1: Electrical Inspection
Step 2: Basement Plan of Action
Step 3: Electrical Approval
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