Building a New Home or Need to Rewire Your Existing Home? Follow These Steps
Rewiring a home isn’t a pretty job. It isn’t an elegant job, and it surely isn’t a DIY project. You absolutely must hire a licensed electrician for a job of this caliber. Building a new home is much easier because the builder and electrician work simultaneously to get the wiring done before the walls go up.
Here’s a list of steps to follow to help make your rewiring project flow much more smoothly:
- Create a list of all electric devices you use in the home. Go room by room so you don’t miss anything. Your electrical system has to be powerful enough to match the demands you put on it. Knowing how and where you use electric devices makes it easier to plan the rewiring job.
- Familiarize yourself with local codes so that you understand why the electrician does things a specific way.
- Pull any necessary permits.
- Create a list of things you need done and when the job needs to be completed.
- Pay close attention to existing infrastructure. You don’t want the electrician to drill into your water pipes while drilling a hole to pull your electrical wiring through.
- Find an electrician. Don’t look for just any electrician. Look for one who is California licensed, bonded, and insured. Don’t fall for a scam on a job as important as this one.
- Expect unexpected damages. They will likely happen.
- Have switches and plates on hand to finish the job quickly.
New construction is a different ballgame because the electrician installs all electrical wiring before the walls are finished on the inside. He runs all of the wiring to power the home and affixes the hardware for outlets and light switches. The contractor then finishes the interior walls and finishes up by installing wall sockets and light switches. Face plates are added after the walls are painted, and the job is finished.
As you can easily see, rewiring an existing house is more of a headache than wiring for new construction. Rewiring doesn’t happen as often as one may think, but it does happen. Older homes and businesses often need rewiring to handle the demands that modern electrical needs place on them.
Historic homes always require a rewiring unless they have been rewired within the last 20 years. Codes change often, and you don’t want to be burdened with fees for disobeying building codes. Call me any time to schedule an assessment of your wiring issues. I’ll visit your home and test the wiring to see where the problem is. I will inspect to make sure that your wiring is up to code. If it is not, we can schedule a time for a rewiring. You can always rest assured that by the time I’m finished, your home will be perfectly up to code and working as intended.
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Fehn Electric
(831) 998-1746
California C-10 License# 971567