Danger is in the Details When It Comes to Home Electricity

They say the devil is in the details, and when it comes to home electricity, the devil is things like ruining your appliances, electric shock, fire, death -— all around danger. For today’s Upon Closer Inspection, I found a few instances where a home inspector checking a detail made all the difference in electrical safety of the home. Check it out:

When Wires Get Crossed

When outlets get wired improperly like this, it’s known as reverse polarity. What’s so dangerous about this is that even though it’s wired wrong, the appliance plugged into the outlet will still turn on. But even when it’s off, there will still be electricity going through it, so you run the risk of electric shock, the appliance might overheat, or it could get so hot it starts a fire.

Missed It By That Much

The Inspector who took this picture said, “Here’s why you never run electrical wires along roof sheathing.” Or directly behind any surface through which you’d be shooting hundreds of nails. Or really any nails, for that matter. Now this wire needs to be moved. Since the past roofers luckily dodged a bullet, it’d be nice if any future repairs or replacements are done if the next guys aren’t set up for failure (and whatever that wire is connected to).

Today I Learned…

@greenscenehome

Termites can and will chew through electrical cord insulation and cables and can cause wires to short circuit and even cause fires. #termites #termitedamage #homeinspection #homeinspector #homeinspectionfinds #dallasrealestate

♬ original sound – Green Scene Home Inspections – Green Scene Home Inspections

Here’s a thing I did not know about termites until today: termites will chew on your electrical wires and can short-circuit your outlets and/or the cables to your electrical panel in their search for food. Those little beasts! I did not know they did that. Which makes this find by Inspector Alex all the more crucial after he had to move some shelving around to get to the electrical panel in the first place. Termites behind the panel! So not only will the owners want to treat for termites and repair the damage to the wall, but they’ll also need to have an electrician out to check that termites haven’t been chewing on the wires.

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The moral of the story is one that we repeat a lot at Upon Closer Inspection: don’t mess around with electricity. And, it goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, get your home inspected!