There’s nothing like the pride
of a successful do-it-yourself job. With the help of YouTube walk-through
videos and the number of how-to blogs on the Internet, it’s easy to think that
you can build or repair anything in your home. But when you start doing
electrical work yourself, a wrong step can seriously harm you and your family.
Electricians in East Maitland want you to know about five electrical jobs needs to leave to the
professionals only.
Repair or replacing circuit breaker box
Electrical overloads in homes
can be highly dangerous. If circuit breakers aren’t designed and installed properly,
the wire can heat up leading it to short out and lead to fire. Licensed and
experienced electricians know how to design circuits properly with the
appropriate breakers.
Also, the amount of electrical
power in the main panel is extremely dangerous and needs to be left to experts.
Changing the type of wall outlet
Changing a power outlet in
your home is possible as an easy task, until you ensure the power is off and
you are replacing like-to-like outlet types. But, upgrading an ungrounded
outlet to a grounded one and adding a GFCI switch should be done by a licensed
electrician only. Just adding a grounded outlet without a true path to ground
can be highly dangerous.
Connecting new construction to the power company
Every power company has some
rules about connecting new service to construction that wasn’t completed by a
licensed electrician. They are concerned about potential damage to their costly
equipment and dangers to their employees if something went wrong. Any new
construction that requires a permit will require a licensed electrician to
connect the new work to the grid.
Replacing wiring
Building codes change after every
few years. Repairing, replacing, and adding new circuits or wiring to your home
must be done by a licensed electrician that is updated on code changes.
Overloads inside walls can easily cause destructive fires. Many insurance
companies will refuse to pay claims for fires caused by faulty wiring that was
installed by unlicensed electrical contractors.
Anything else that requires a permit from your Power Company or Building
Regulator
It’s easy to turn an
inexpensive weekend project into a long, expensive nightmare. Just make the
slightest error on work that needs a building department permit and inspections
and code violation fines can add up very quickly. You will still have to call
in a licensed electrician to do the code repairs and you’ll have to pay for the
re-inspection as well!
A number of home fires per
year are caused by electrical wiring problems, resulting damage to human
resources and even deaths. The best way to make sure you aren’t part of these
statistics next year is to know when your project require a electrical
professional , and call Electricians in East Maitland to get it done
right – and done safely – the first time!