Maintaining your home means always ensuring that it is up to industry safety standards. Among the most important systems in your home is the electrical wiring, which plays a massive role in keeping your home and family safe and comfortable. As a homeowner, it’s your job to call an electrician or lighting contractor regularly to do a safety inspection to confirm that your house wiring is safe for everyday use. Unfortunately, most homeowners have little or no idea how to make sure that their home is passable. 

Where to Begin

As a general rule, you should have your home inspected by an electrician if you have recently done renovations, if it is older than 40 years old, or if it is brand new. The first thing that needs to be done is to check the general electrical safety. If the home has broken or battery only fire and carbon monoxide devices, replace them. Smoke detectors over 10 years old should be replaced. Illegally spliced and overcrowded wires will need to be organized and patched as necessary, and old knob and tube wiring should be replaced. 

Bathroom, Kitchen & Laundry Room

Once you’ve completed your general inspection, you can move on to specific rooms that are in high demand every day. In your bathroom, you’ll want to check that all outlets are GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) protected and have a dedicated circuit rated at 20 amps. In your kitchen, check that there are at least two GFI protected receptacle circuits installed somewhere along the counter top and that the stove (if electric) has its own 240-volt circuit. Finally, in your laundry room, make sure that the dryer and washing machine are both plugged into their respective receptacle and on dedicated circuits. 

Bedrooms 

It is a good idea to have a dedicated circuit for each bedroom to handle large loads such as space heaters to prevent nuisance tripping and damage to computers and electronics.  

Garage

While many people forget to check the garage, it is one of the most important places to inspect for electrical safety and is one of the first things that your electrician will take a look at. Make sure that in addition to the garage door light, one wall switch controls the lighting directly. There should also be three-way switches at the side door and the entrance to the garage itself. All outlets in the garage should be on a dedicated circuit and GFCI protected. 

Passing an electrical safety inspection is vital to your family’s well-being. In Grand Junction, CO, families look to McAtlin Electrical Corporation. With a strong focus on eco-friendly practices and top-of-the-line materials, this team of fully licensed and insured electricians will get your home up to par in no time. For more information, visit them online or give them a call at (970) 257-7414.