via If it’s inconvenient or a nuisance, it’s probably wrong | Real Estate Solutions by Russel Ray.

I have heard many home inspectors express dismay when someone else is at the inspection, even if that someone else happens to be their clients! I’m not like that. I say, the more, the merrier! I especially like it when my clients, my clients’ Realtors, the sellers, and the sellers’ Realtors are at the inspection, and 99% of the time, someone besides me is there. For me it serves several purposes.

If I happen to injure myself, there’s someone else there to call for emergency services. After all, I’m climbing up on roofs, working with electricity, and working with gas appliances. All hazardous.

I also want as many people as possible to see how hard I work for my clients. That hard work often results in comments such as,

“He worked really hard!”—Seller to my Clients’ Realtor

“He was very thorough!—Clients to their Realtor

“It’s always done that. I thought it was supposed to!”—Seller to me when I asked about the dishwasher draining into the sink

“My husband thought it was the coffee maker.”—Wife to me when told about the GFCI outlet in the kitchen that kept tripping

Fire waiting to happenAnd that brings me to the point of this post: When it comes to electricity, make no assumptions. If you are not a licensed electrician or do not know otherwise about electricity, if something is an inconvenience to you, like the GFCI outlet tripping all the time, trust me, it’s not supposed to be an inconvenience. Thus, something is wrong.

GFCI outletAt yesterday’s inspection, the GFCI outlet kept tripping. I was able to pinpoint the problem to a short in an outlet that was protected by the GFCI outlet. So whenever I plugged something into the outlet that was shorting, the GFCI outlet would trip. That’s exactly what the GFCI outlet is supposed to do when there’s a problem. But if it does it regularly, creating a nuisance and an inconvenience, you need an electrician to track down the problem and correct it. Doing anything less is putting you and your family at risk of injury or death, and putting your house at risk of burning down. I’m pretty sure you want neither of those.