How to Make a Southern Electrical System Pass Texas Inspection Standards- By: Jim Mathews

Description : Selling a home in Texas? That means it is time to get your home inspected by a licensed electrician or home inspector to see what electrical code violation repairs you need before any potential buyer tries to lower your asking price!

Home inspections are customary for residential real estate transactions and the lone star state has a ruling body in Austin called the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) that creates standards of practice for home inspections and repairs as well as awards TREC home inspection licenses to inspectors.

TREC has created a checklist for Texas home conditions and electrical components that are visible and accessible to the inspector. Home Inspectors are expected to report any deficiencies within these guidelines that are not in accordance to the safety code/inspection of Texas to their client for code violation repairs.

When it comes to southern electrical systems, there are a couple areas you need to concentrate on as a home owner: the service entrance and panels, the branch circuitry, and the connected devices such as fixtures and outlets.

It is the home owner’s responsibility to maintain the electric supply from the service entrance on the exterior part of the house (which connects to the city meter) to the interior service panel (your breaker box). Usually the city meter, external service entrance, and internal breaker panel are all within a few yards of each other. A TX electrician will check these systems and make sure they are not in code violation so you do not receive any deficiency marks on your home inspection.

If you live along the Texas coast in cities such as Houston where severe weather hits from hurricanes, then making sure your external service panel is in good repair will insure the safety of your homes electrical system. The external service panel will be on the inside of the house and will hold all the fuses; all the circuit wires will be connected to it. The service panel needs to be close to the service entrance or meter on the outside wall of the house.

Some Texas inspection requirements for electrical systems that a licensed electrician can inspect and repair are:
- making sure the service panel is securely fastened to the structure and not in a hazardous location.
- making sure you have a grounded electrode system and a grounded electrode conductor and that the connections are secure.
-checking the condition of the connections and make sure there are no deficiencies in insulation, clearance, or fasteners.
- making sure there are arc-fault circuit interrupting devices serving rooms in the house and ground-fault circuit interrupters in all bathrooms, garages, outdoor areas, kitchen countertops, and laundry rooms.

It is advisable to visit the TREC website (trec.state.tx.us) to get the most updated information on home inspection and repair in Houston, Austin, and other Texas cities.

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Author Resource : Southern Electrical Services (http://www.southernelectrical.com/) is a family owned Houston electrician that provides home inspections and repairs in Austin and Houston, TX. Southern Electricals team of Houston Expert Electricians can aid you in any electrical code violation repairs your home might require when selling a home.hostgator