Electrical inspections might be required in a number of situations. You might be considering the option of selling your home, or you might have just acquired a commercial property that has to be patched up before it can be used. Regardless of the reason, having an electrical inspection is not just important because it could get your property up to standard. It also has a lot to do with the safety of your household, your employees, your tenants, or anyone who might use the building once it’s ready.
Avoiding Fire Hazards
There are fewer and fewer old buildings that have aluminum wiring going through their walls. Depending on where you live, however, you might find them in greater numbers, and one of them might even be the building you’re planning to buy.
Aluminum wiring is just one of the numerous electrical elements that can contribute to fire hazards. Although aluminum actually provides better electrical conductivity than copper, the large scale use of aluminum wiring has mostly been discarded in this modern age, precisely because it is a fire hazard. An electrical inspection can by a Denver electrician, therefore, be a good idea for any building that still has old aluminum wires running through their walls, as it can establish whether or not any upgrades or repairs might be needed.
Other fire hazards can also exist when it comes to regular, copper wiring and cables. Faulty switches and outlets, poorly designed wiring for washers and dryers, as well as badly installed circuit breakers can all lead to potential short circuits and fire hazards that a thorough electrical inspection can often identify and help to overcome.
Electrocution Hazards
Electrocution can lead to serious injury and even death, and it’s hardly a surprise that many of the wires and appliances we have in our homes can actually kill us. The voltage and current running through the electric grid is nothing to joke about, and the threat of electrocution is there even in well-designed homes, whenever the insulation of a piece of wiring comes off, or there’s the possibility of a short circuit.
An electrical inspection will lead to the thorough examination of all wires, outlets, plugs, cables, lighting fixtures and electrical switches in your home or building. As a result, any discrepancy or hazard will promptly be reported, so you can hire an electrician to deal with it.
In areas prone to water damage, such as bathrooms and kitchen areas, it can be especially important to have an electrical inspection as soon as possible. Water is an excellent conduit for electrical current, and you definitely don’t want to mix a flooded kitchen with faulty wiring.
The Bottom Line
The issue of safety can be extremely important when dealing with the electricity in your home or building. Standards are in place for a good reason, and they have less to do with your papers checking out and more to do with the safety of your life and that of your family, colleagues or tenants.
Depending on each situation in part, an electrical inspection can be important to have on a regular basis, especially when you own an older building that has a greater chance of deteriorating and leading to fire and electrocution hazards.