Safer Greenbelt

Unbiased electrical consultation.

How Deep to Dig? Examples

People change their minds about how deeply to look into an electrical system, based on initial discoveries.

Sometimes, answers to a question or two are all they need. Sometimes, the report after an hour's examination is quite enough to fuel an important decision. Other times, initial discoveries lead a homeowner to say, "Let's see what else we find."

Four examples:

  1. That's enough. A home buyer, accompanying David as he inspected his potential purchase, told him, "That's all I needed to know," when David uncovered a dangerous mess and explained it. He looked for a different property to buy.
    He'd been referred by his home inspector, who suspected the building's wiring wasn't quite right but didn't have the time or knowledge to evaluate it as David could.

  2. Relief! Another customer, a condominium owner, had David come back long after the report on the first (bad) problem was acted on. She had another concern. The new issue turned out not to have an electrical origin. A brief examination reassured her—she knew David wasn't covering his tail, as he was not the contractor who performed the electrical repairs his report (and a jurisdictional inspector) had specified.

  3. Get it right! One customer, unhappy with her brand-new electrical system, had David inspect, and, to make sure, followed his examination with a separate inspection by a consulting engineer. That gentleman confirmed the findings independently. She arranged to have her house rewired, top to bottom. The clincher for her was an additional, hidden, rank illegality the engineer unearthed using high-end thermographic equipment.

  4. My family will be safe! Finally, the case of a most unusual and meticulous man. Ed decided to rewire his house himself, in strict compliance with the electrical code and all required permitting. He had David check every inch of his work. The decision to rewire wasn't made because David had found dangerous wiring throughout his house; that would be unusual on a spot-check. Ed had been shown enough hazards in wiring that lay exposed in the attic that he just didn't want to put his family at risk.


Return to the Safer Greenbelt Home Page
Return to Fees and Hours

The right-hand column contains only images of Greenbelt scenery and activities (with alt-tex).

Greenbelt brings to mind . . .

The Roosevelt Center's mother and chid sculpture. View along the path between the Granite Building and the New Deal Cafe going toward Roosevelt Center: A flowering tree on the left, with white and pink petals dropped on the ground below it among bushes framing the white-roofed, brown brick building; the New Deal's white building wall on the right with its lower few feet tawny gray; a green pole extending to the left of the building, supporting the canopy over outside tables. Further ahead, more trees and then across the center, the cinema annex to the right and the Coop to the left.