John Doe of Park City Utah says he likes to work in his basement woodworking shop, even trying his DIY skills on a few electrical additions … which, in hindsight, he realizes may have been a little ill-advised. “Over the years, I added new power and lighting with each woodworking machine, all on the same circuit,” Eventually, one machine lost power and he called us at Paul’s Electric in Park City Utah to fix the problem. We soon discovered a fire hazard in John’s handiwork. “Paul’s electrician found the burned-out break in my wiring, the same dangerous wiring on more than a dozen DIY wiring circuits, and problems with overloaded circuit breakers,” John says. John hired Pauls’ electric Service to replace his DIY work with electrical wiring that meets state code. He says he’ll leave this kind of thing to the experts from now on. “My house is much safer as a result of the work they did,” he says.
Leave electrical projects to the pros: Hire an Electrician!
Electricians say homeowners should tread cautiously when dealing with their electrical systems — even do-it-yourself work that seems simple can degenerate into a big tangle in a hurry.
David Williams, employee of Paul’s Electric, says minor jobs such as changing out electric receptacles and switches with copper wiring shouldn’t pose much trouble, but anything beyond that calls for a professional.
“When you get into three-ways and breakers and aluminum wiring, it gets a little dicey for people,” Williams says. “You can create a fire hazard, and a lot of times it won’t be apparent until a long time later.”
Matthew Schmidt of Kamas Utah, called on Paul’s Electric, to rewire his basement when his own DIY work got him in over his head last year.
“I screwed up the electrical, managed to shut off the refrigerator and oven upstairs, and couldn’t figure out for the life of me how to get everything back to original working order,” he says. Schmidt sorted everything out for a $125 charge. “They figured out my multiple errors very quickly,” he says.
Williams advises homeowners to leave the serious stuff to the professionals. “I’ve seen people try to change out breakers and make a big mess doing it, or try to add ceiling fans where there’s no wiring,” he says. “Even adding a new switch can get you in over your head.”
Kent, owner of Paul’s Electric in Park City, Utah, says electrical work poses a critical safety hazard.
“Sometimes you think the electricity is off when it’s really on,” he says. “You don’t have the proper devices to test the outlet or the wire before you start touching things. A 110-volt outlet is going to give you a good scare, and anything beyond that can be very dangerous.”
Even if homeowners complete the work in such a way that allows functionality, they might run afoul of city or state code.
“People are really taken aback by some of the code requirements now,” Kent says. “You might have a house built in the 1950s with one or two circuits running through the whole kitchen, and a lot of places require dedicated circuits for separate appliances in the kitchen. You can run into a lot of things you don’t know about.”
He points out that consumers can also add unnecessary costs to their project by trying to do electrical work on their own.
“The last call we went out on, a woman thought the electricity for her garbage disposal went out,” Kent says. “She pulled out the switch and wiring and couldn’t find the problem. It turned out her electrical wiring was fine, but the disposal itself had failed. It took us two or three times as long to determine the problem because we had to go through all the wiring. Otherwise we would have been in and out in an hour.”
Williams says his clients often create even more trouble – and expense — for themselves when they don’t want to admit they did the work themselves.
“My sister once called me in because some of her electricity was out, and I asked her husband if he’d done any work lately,” he says. “He said no because he was embarrassed, and two hours later he admitted he had done some work after all. I could have solved it in 15 minutes if he’d told me what he did.
“I run into that a lot, but it’s not like you’re going to get in trouble with your parents!” Williams says. “I’ve had cases where people could have saved themselves hundreds and hundreds of dollars if they’d told me what happened right from the start.”
So if you need a little help or are feeling unsure about something involving your electrical, please feel free to give us a call! We will be more than happy to help you and make your life a little easier 🙂 Call Paul’s Electrical Service at 801-367-1464 or contact us here on our website.