There are several home electrical mistakes that can lead to energy inefficiency, poor functionality, and even safety hazards. Some of these come from outdated wiring and panels, while many mistakes emanate from poor installation, including when homeowners choose to “DIY” certain things. We want to show you some of the most common home electrical errors and how you can avoid them.

The Most Common Home Electrical Mistakes

These are some problems we encounter while working on homes in Kansas City.

• Wires Cut Too Short
  It’s hard to make good connections with short wires, those that are less than 3” long. You can correct this by re-wiring or adding 6” wire extensions.
• Exposed/Unprotected Cable
  You don’t want to leave plastic-sheathed cable exposed without protection or a metal conduit. The material is vulnerable when exposed in between framing pieces.
• No Junction Boxes for Connections
  You should have a junction box (AKA connection box) any time you connect wires. This protects wires from short-circuiting, overheating, or becoming loose.
• Mixing Up Hot Wires with Neutral Wires
  If you don’t know what you’re doing with wires, you could inadvertently produce a dangerous (even lethal) shock. This is possible whenever you connect a hot wire to an outlet’s neutral terminal.
• No Clamp for Cable Connections
  You always need a clamp to secure cables because the sharp edges can dig into the insulation wires easily. You should clamp them to a metal box to avoid this problem.

How to Resolve These Problems

There are several measures you can take to resolve these and other electrical errors. When things are way out of hand, you should hire us for electrical repair services in your home. Fortunately, we can reverse these problems by identifying their root causes and implementing permanent solutions.

We can help you with problems ranging from frequent surges and breaker trips to flickering lights or electrical outlet sparking. That’s the benefit of working with a licensed, trained, and experienced electrician.

Older Home Electrical Issues

Finally, we should devote some further discussion to old homes’ electrical issues. We’ve already mentioned the various faulty wiring problems you might find, but older homes may require entirely new wiring altogether.

The homes built before the 1950s had what we call “ungrounded wiring,” which refers to outlets that have two wires, a positive and a neutral, but lack a third “grounding” wire. This may not seem relevant to the uninitiated, but without proper grounding, your property is much more at risk for fire.

What do we do to address this? There are primary options: 1) completely rewire the home, or 2) install safety equipment like Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters (GFCIs). The latter allows you to minimize the danger of sudden and heavy electrical currents by interrupting the circuit flow during spikes.

At any rate, homeowners who think they have ungrounded wires and outlets shouldn’t ignore this problem. It’s imperative to get in touch with a licensed electrician to resolve the matter.

Contact Teague Electric to Fix All Home Electrical Mistakes

If you want to put these troubles behind and safeguard your home, then let us help revamp your electrical systems. This is one of the best investments you can make as a homeowner, right along with replacing your roof or windows.

Teague Electric is a good-standing member of GuildQuality, has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), and BloggerLocal considers us among the top electricians in Kansas City. You can find out more about our superior workmanship by reading the many positive appraisals from our previous clientele.

Contact Teague Electric so that we can help you eliminate all home electrical mistakes once and for all.