Floor box home inspection

[steve_p]

Met with a real estate agent yesterday to price out a job.

It was a log cabin built in 1966.
On the lower level all the outlets were in the floor, metal boxes with duplexes and metal cover plates.

The inspector called them out for having improper covers, not able to be closed allowing debris etc to enter.

314.27 b addresses floor boxes being listed, I don't see where there cover is addressed.

Also, in 1966 would there have been anything addressing this?

Thanks for any help.

 

[growler]

Met with a real estate agent yesterday to price out a job.

It was a log cabin built in 1966.
On the lower level all the outlets were in the floor, metal boxes with duplexes and metal cover plates.

The inspector called them out for having improper covers, not able to be closed allowing debris etc to enter.

314.27 b addresses floor boxes being listed, I don't see where there cover is addressed.

Also, in 1966 would there have been anything addressing this?

Thanks for any help.

A home inspection is not (not) a code inspection. The home inspector is alllowed to write up anything that he/she thinks will be a problem for the home buyer. They have no authority to require any changes be made but they can effect the sale of a home.

You quote a price for any changes they think they want. At this time the owner and buyer decide if they wish to spend the money or leave things as they are an maybe adjust the price of the home.

 

[steve_p]

Thanks

So are the brass or plastic plates with covers required?

 

[growler]

Thanks

So are the brass or plastic plates with covers required?

If you install a new floor box it must be listed for the application.

The AHJ is not going to come in and make you change out these boxes even though they do not meet the latest code.

You are not dealing with the AHJ you are dealing with a home inspector. The home inspector points out that they can get dirt in them and he is right. But no one is makeing the homeowner change them because the home inspector does not have that authority. If he wants to sell the house he probably will have to.

 

[K8MHZ]

Thanks

So are the brass or plastic plates with covers required?

What is required by most jurisdictions is the installation to have been to code when it was installed. So, if the receptacles were OK in '66, they are now.

That would be a call for the 'real' inspector. He can tell you what the law is.

The home inspectors always seem to want to throw common sense into what they write up and we all know the real rules are usually just shy of the common sense mark.

The 'real' inspectors, the AHJ's as we call them, will tell you what you can get away with.

 

[iwire]

I don't understand why home inspectors get people so weirded out.

It has nothing to do with the code, it is about the condition of the home.

It's the same as having a car looked at by a mechanic before you but it, the mechanic can raise any issue they want. It is between the seller and the buyer what to do about the items in the report.

Now if the OP was hired by the seller to correct the issues brought up by the HI than that is what the OP should do. No need to look into the code requiments, just do the job you where hired to do.