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How do I find out who originally did the electrical wiring in my house?


I'm having some huge electrical problems in my house. It was built in 1993 and I really hope that there is a wiring diagram out there somewhere.

You should be able to go to your local county building department. In order to do the wiring they would have had to submit wiring diagrams for the permit and those should be on file.

Depending on your location and your municipality's regulations and record-keeping, this might be very simple, or nearly impossible. The first step is to call the permits department or urban planning office of your municipality. Chances are they'll pass you through to their archives department and someone can look up if it is on file. Certain cities will have drawings and contact info for the developer and/or general contractor, electrician, plumber, etc...

Other municipalities still keep pretty crappy records, and won't be able to offer you any information beyond the fact that your home was constructed in 1993 and the contact info for whomever applied for the necessary permits.

As long as you can find out who built the house, you can contact them, and they should be able to direct you to the electrician. (Provided they are still in business, of course.)

If you are not the first owner of the home, you have to keep in mind that the previous owner might have had some electrical work done after the construction of the house to add extra lights or even appliances, so things might not be as they were done 13 years ago. Good luck.

eventually you will have a fire if it's that huge open up the walls and rewire all of it . dont get a handyman to do it ;it's actually cheaper to pay a professional to do it the first time

the building and safety would have records because they had to have pulled permits for all work done on your house

Your local Building Permits dept. at your City Hall should have this information. Just remember that they are not always listed according to street address, but almost always listed according to the Lot number. This can all be accomplished on line. Good luck and persevere, the information IS on record.

The electrical panel should have the name and date of final inspection. You don't identify the actual problem here, but chances are, it can be identified if you share the symptoms with us. Your house passed inspection, but somewhere along the line, either someone altered something incorrectly, or a main device is failing, such as your main breaker, etc. Breakers have a tripping capacity and interrupting rating according to residential codes and standards. Breakers occasionally fail and become ntoo sensitive and nuisance trip at times. They usually just need replaced. Also, a maintenace check on your panel can help. Sometimes, the amount of tork used to tighten the main lugs on the aluminum cable at the meter and main breaker are incorrect and may be heating up. That can be dangerous and cause nuisance symptons. A tune up may be in order or a replacement of a breaker. If you panel was a cheap brand used by the builder, you might even consider replaceing the whole thing. Builders are not known for their comittment to quality materials!

Sometimes the electrician applies an identity sticker on the electrical panel. Otherwise see the local building inspection department; there should be a record there of the electrical inspections which should include the name of the contractor.

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