Do I need a permit/inspection for any electrical work?

Nobody on this newsgroup can complete answer your questions. Phone your local government, talk with the inspectors and get precise answers that apply for your community. It is a painless process. I phoned just this Monday and discussed about 10 potential permit issues with one of our inspectors. Nobody is going to trace your phone call and put your name in a ledger. :)

Zoning situations can vary tremendously. For example:

- One friend of mine lives 10 miles away and he can completely rewire his entire house without a permit or inspection. He can tear out and replace the service panel "on his own." In fact, he has never even contacted the power company since he just pulls the meter when he is doing major wiring. (note: power companies severely frown upon that practice).

- I can legally replace my service panel, but I need a permit and inspection of the work after it is complete and before the power is turned back on.

- A friend 2 miles away must hire a licensed electrician to replace the service panel. The homeowner can't do any of the service panel replacement himself, unless you count signing the check. (about $1400 in our area for an average replacement).

Talk with your inspectors. You can learn a lot about the process, and you can often get some good, free advise on various aspects of a project.

Good luck, Gideon

It varies from location to location, but in nearly all cases simply changing devices (switch / outlet / light fixture) in an existing box location are excluded from permit requirements. Call your local building department and ask to be sure.

Pete C.

Depends on where you live. Depends on the type of work to be done. Call your local building inspector.

You heard wrong. Electrical work is not rocket science, despite what the collection of fools around here say.

No.

No.

In both cases you are not adding any load.

I just did, fool.

Fool.

Fool.

So the Nightcrawler crawls out of the swamp to spread silly nonsense. Sure, a lot of things can be done with no permit, but other work requires inspection and permits.

Like, duh!

You must have missed the part where he asked about "simply replacing a light switch, or replacing a receptacle with a GFCI".

The answer is, "NO, you don't need any stinking inspection."

Not "Depends on where you live".

Fool.

Yes, it may require a permit. Enforced? Of course not, but law on the books? Yes. Go back to your swamp, fool

Bullshit.

I bet you can't prove your delusion. (that would require a cite, dumbski)

Keep shopping for kielbasa at Home Depot.

I dont agree with your advice at all. I think there are a lot of variables that the OP hasnt stated clearly. What is his/her deffinition of a "home". If it was his own single family residence, and he is the owner on record, you may be correct. If it is a condo or other multiple family residense, your advice could very well be in error. The smart reply would be to ask for more info, or call the city. Our city even has a web page where you can check on line what can and can not be done without a permit. It appears to me you just want to bother people and you dont care about the ramifications of the advice you spit out.

Another fool. This ng is full of them.

A fool just throws common sense out the window, fool. I don't care if it's a f****ng teepee. He asked about replacing a switch and receptacle.

You just contradicted yourself: "I dont agree with your advice at all". Fools tend to do that a lot.

Keeeeeeerrrist, man, he asked about replacing a switch and a receptacle. The smart thing would be to spend ten minutes and be done with it. Only a fool would have to ask for more info, fool.

Well, what does your city say about replacing a switch and receptacle?

It's a f****ng switch and receptacle, fool. That may be a major project for you, but God damn, don't assume everybody is as stupid as you are.

"TheNIGHTCRAWLER" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@p79g2000cwp.googlegroups.com:

Water seeks it's own level.

And here you are.

That's OK, I failed out of rocket science my freshman year of college. Of course, the University of Delaware called it "Honors Aerospace Engineering".

You need to be more specific in your response, instead of vague and insulting.

Point is, even a licensed electrician can get things wrong. The licensed electrician who had done work on the house we bought (before the previous owner's estate sold it) had reversed polarity in nearly every room in the house. The electrician we had out to fix it created another problem the inspectors caught.

So if you're replacing a light switch or outlet, be DAMNED sure you know what you're doing, or call a licensed electrician. If you're doing anything more complicated than that, call an electrician.

And if you're unsure, yeah, call your local municipality's code enforcement office - simply Google the name of your municipality (county, city, township, whatever) and "inspection" or "inspectors" and you can find who to contact.

Go away, troll.

Just because you don't know how to do more than replace a light switch or outlet, doesn't mean that no one else does. And apparently from your own statements above, licensed electricians are capable of doing work wrong too. I sure as hell wouldn't have reversed hots and neutrals all over the place.

Stick to macrame, fool.

What isn't specific enough about, "NO, you don't need a stinking permit/inspector to replace a switch and receptacle", fool?

Non sequitur, fool.

Didn't you get a home inspection before buying, fool? Did you hire a fool to do your home inspection, fool?

What problem could possibly be created by switching two wires around, fool? You sound like a fool and a LIAR.

Or call anybody with an IQ over 80. You obviously don't qualify.

Expecially if you're a fool, fool.

Look in the blue pages, fool.