electrical inspections ended early

Leviathan64

Hi everyone...I've been a long time user of this forum, but this is my first post. I was wondering if anyone has experienced or heard of the following situation:

I'm currently in the process of a near-total rewiring of my house. Most of the wiring in the house is original (1953), except for the wiring in a small addition and a new 200A service panel (early 1990's). The new service panel tied into the old wiring at the old fuse box, which became a junction box. Basically, three separate 10/3 romex cables on six 20A breakers at the new service panel fed all the wiring in 90% of the house.

Anyway, the house was becoming overloaded and the old wires were starting to degrade, so I decided on the whole house rewire. I am still using the "new" 1990's service panel, but I did add 2 new subpanels so that I could have enough slots for all the new breakers, and I wanted to use AFCI. I live in Indiana, so AFCI is not required here.

In Indiana, home owners are allowed to pull permits and do their own electrical work. I of course pulled the county permits and decided to have four separate rough-in inspections, which the county said was fine. I have a full time job, so this electrical project is a night and weekend sort of thing. I am doing the project in stages so the entire house isn't without electricity at any one time.

I finished all of the ground work (subpanels, etc), and installed the wiring in 25% of the house before my first rough-in inspection. I passed with no red flags and just a couple of suggestions (closet lights controlled by a light switch and hardwired smoke detectors in all bedrooms). For the second rough-in inspection, I addressed all the issues from the first inspection and completed the wiring in the next 25% of the house.

After the second rough-in inspection, the inspector passed me on the final inspection. He said that everything looked professional and was being completed above and beyond code. He told me to keep going like I was going and complete the project, but that there was no reason to have the rest of the work inspected by the county. I have an inspection report from the county that says that project is complete, no problems with the installation.

Is this strange? Should I be concerned about this? Has anyone else experienced this sort of thing?

Thanks to anyone with advice!

oh'mike

Welcome to a small town way of thinking----Your inspector believes in his intuition and trusts your word that you will finish.

Don't disappoint him and his trust in your word.

And be glad you live in an area with inspectors that have some common sense----

Enjoy your wiring----Mike----

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brric

What county?

joecaption

I ask my inspector to come do the inspection on my own home and he said I stoped by to see how you were making out while I was in the area and looked in the window, it looks fine go ahead and put up the drywall.

AllanJ

Doesn't the inspector sign off on each stage (rough, final)?

You will need the signed rough inspection report before you put up the drywall.

OT: Once in an earlier lifetime I brought a car in for inspection. The station attendant collected my money and asked one question, "Does everything work?" I replied, "I think so." The attendant went in, got a sticker and razor blade, scraped off the old sticker and applied the new. Then he went to wait on another customer.

The car emitted a large cloud of black smoke as I quickly departed.

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The average homeowner who lost his house in the Oklahoma tornadoes should move for good and not rebuild. Too much complexity watchdogging the contractor. Too much a chance to be defrauded.

1950home

If your not doing a remodel than most likely your code will let you “replace with kind” so it would be legal to go back with ungrounded wiring and a fuse box. With you going above and beyond code the inspector might not see any issues with you finishing with out any more inspections.

Most likely you would still have to bring the panel grounding / bonding up to code and hard wired smoke detectors up to code.

ddawg16

Sort of sounds like my inspector. Like Oh'Mike said....once you have demonstrated that your doing it right and want to do it right he really has no reason to come back....the result is going to be the same.

I'm learning that some of us DIY'ers do a pretty good job....

More than once I've had something wrong...got bought off with instructions to fix it....and I do. But, back when I was putting in my new load center, I was missing the jumper from the incoming earth ground to the actual ground lug....and I was the one that pointed it out "yea, I still have that jumper to put in"....he didn't do the sign off....he wanted to see it done before he bought it off....

I like my inspector....very fair and reasonable.

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mr leak

Even though the building inspector sees that your work is acceptable his job is to complete his inspections including a final inspection. People being human can and do occasionally miss things. It is convenient for you but he is taking a short cut.

k_buz

Maybe he's sick of coming out 4X for a job that only needs [should have] one rough and one final. Maybe if communities would charge the correct rates, in this case, 4 permit fees, it would cut down some of the cost of purchasing a permit.

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Billy_Bob

I have had that happen. The inspector looks at just a few things, I might mention some "horrors" I found and we chat a little about electrical topics. He tells me a few horror stories. Then he passes the rest of the project without looking.

These guys are busy and don't have time to look at every single thing. And they can tell if you are doing things right or not. If not, then they will closely go over everything.

For example they might see this...



Or might see this...

rrolleston

I have to pay the inspector 175 and then 90 every time he comes back to check more work.

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Please ask me about my special discount for people that shut up and stay out of my way! With Electricity there is the right way to do it and the dead way. Just because it works does not make it safe.

Leviathan64

Thanks to everyone for your comments.

To Mike, I just wanted to say that small town thinking is exactly what this is. During the first inspection, the inspector told me that with a project like mine (when the house is fully constructed) he always puts common sense first. I've been very thankful for all the great people in the county office, they have been very pleasant to work with!

I also wanted to say that just because my inspections are finished, I am in no way going to skimp on the rest of the project. It has not been "fear" of inspectors that has motivated me to do the best job I can, it is because I take immense pride in my work. I want this job done correctly and safely because the lives of my family depend on it being done right with no cut corners.

oh'mike

Your inspector saw that pride in your work---believe me, they can spot the good--and catch the bad----If he had you pegged as a rascal you would be checked for everything---

Dogs and little children (and your country inspector) know who is good or bad.

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eastcoastsparky

Neatness goes a long way too

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Leviathan64

Leading up to this project, I had heard nothing but bad things about working with the county...but like I said, my personal experience has been extremely pleasant. I was very courteous from the beginning...after all, the inspectors are not there to make your life miserable, they are there to make sure the work you are doing is safe for yourself, your family, and your community.

If the county is being such a pain in the rear to a lot of people, it makes me wonder what kind of crazy stuff those people are trying to get past inspectors. And to think, at first I was fretting about silly things like making sure my staples were aligned...