Every year, for a large number of reasons, people purchase older homes with the intent to do restoration on them. These reasons range from purchasing an older home to fix up for yourself and your family either because you got a good deal on the property or you are just passionate about classic homes and want the satisfaction of returning an older structure to its former glory. Many people also buy older homes in order to renovate them to either flip them for a nice profit or to use them as a rental property. Regardless of the reason that people buy restoration project homes, one of the common things that many of them face is dealing with electrical wiring that is significantly out of date, often times out of compliance with code and requiring serious attention that may include having to fully rewire the home. With this in mind, if you find yourself in this situation, there are some key points to keep in mind in handling this situation. There is also a great deal of information on this same topic in this article as well as this one here.
There are several important factors to consider if you are looking for electrical repair Philadelphia PA of an older home that needs to be rewired. The first, and perhaps most obvious point is, do not consider trying to do this work yourself unless you are actually a certified electrician. Wiring up electric might be, of all the different jobs required in construction and renovation, the thing that is most essential to be done by a certified professional. This is because electricity is such a dangerous thing to deal with and you cannot afford to get it wrong. The consequences can simply be too great. Even if you are a hobbyist renovator and want to do most of the work in renovating the house yourself, this is simply one area where you should compromise and bring in a contractor. When you do hire an electrical contractor, make sure that they properly certified and have a good reputation.
You always want to read online reviews as well as asking around to people who you know have been in a similar situation. Ask them who they used and what their experience was like. Again, it cannot be emphasized enough how critical it is that this particular job is done correctly the first time. The next thing to consider when rewiring a restoration project house is, do I need to install a number of new outlets. A lot of older homes have the drawback of having far fewer outlets than what modern living really requires. Whether you will live in the house yourself, rent it or sell it, you want to make sure the number of available outlets makes sense with today’s common electrical uses. Take time and really think about what places in the home should have an outlet available. You might have to really consider adding a number of new electrical outlets. A final thing to consider is making sure that you understand what the electrical code law says for where you live and make sure that you and your electrical contractor are on board with making sure everything is compliant. The fact is a good contractor will be well aware of what the code requirements are in the region you are in.
If you follow these suggestions you will have a much better overall experience in making sure that the wiring in your restoration project home is up to code and up to the standards of the day. Many people love the challenge of fixing up an old house and bringing it back to its former glory. In the case of upgrading a home’s wiring, however, this is clearly a job for a professional to tackle.
