caseyatbat

Hello,

I'm in the same scenario as a HO who has his inspection scheduled. I have never been through an inspection so I am wondering what is the proper etiquette for the 1st and 2nd inspection.

Everything wired to the breaker with the breaker off?

Can any of the new wiring be live (lights.....)?

All receptacles left hanging in the junction box?

New breakers properly labeled?

Any advice on how to leave things.

Thanks

CC

baum

casey,

Is this a rough-in or final?

For me in minnesota at the rough-in all he wanted to see was the box sizes are correct, wire guage is correct for the different rooms, stapled at correct distances, all pig-tails were made, distances between boxes are correct. I had no switches or recepticles in place just the wire comming out of the box. I had the wire dropped into the panels, but not hooked up to anything. Any existing circuits that i was changing i just had that wire on the outside of the current box (like i added 2 lights and a switch to an existing circuit, but i didnt tap into the live circuit until after the rough-in). Do all this with no insulation or VB in place. They want to be able to see all wire runs. You can have a fire block (calk or foam) in the holes in the top plates.

As for the final, for me they told me i could do it as soon as the vb and the insulation is up (some dont actually finish it for a while). This is when you want the recps. hooked up and lights and live to the breakers.

Jeremy Hillary Boob, PhD

Where I live, the inspectors are famous for being jerks. Predictably, this leads to a lot of people doing lots of things without permits. This has been going on forever, so virtually every house has some significant issues that could be flagged. When someone gets mad at their neighbor, the worst thing they can threaten to do is to sick the inspectors on them. That doesn't happen too often, but when it does, it creates an endless series of problems. In such cases, the inspectors apparently have free reign to get people for anything and everything, and they don't hesitate to do so. One of my neighbors is a professional handyman who spent about 10 years restoring a house that was uninhabitable when he moved in. Today, it looks like a bed and breakfast. Everything he's done is 1000% better (and safer) than what was there before. Regardless, a former neighbor turned him in to the county (we're in an unincorporated area) and it took him a couple of years to get them off of his back. In the end, he didn't do a whole lot to satisfy the inspectors (as I recall, just some septic tank work). It seems that they more or less gave up on him, but not until after they had hassled him endlessly and caused a lot of grief. This is just one of many such stories.

I guess the bottom line is that it all depends on where you live. I envy you people who have sensible inspectors to deal with.

caseyatbat

Hello,

My inspection passed with only one item that he wanted corrected (the insulation on the stove was slit outside of the box). I called the inspector before the date and asked him what he expected to see.

• All boxes mounted with wire installed and grounded
• 8" of wire inside the box
• Staples placed and not over over hammered
• loop of extra wire between staple and box
• A way to identify which outlets were on which circuit

He was exceptionally helpful when I asked questions about wire I had to leave in the walls and any other questions I had. I was even told that if I had made several errors he would point them out and then come back to checkup on it.

I hope that everyone can have the same experience as I did.

Take Care