Light swithes

Bruce,
In my honest opinion, you covered it. I deem this as a non-issue, as you mentioned it to your client. I suspect your client is thinking, “okay, no biggie”. I doubt they will lose any sleep over it.

Since you are in Canada, I wondered why this question was not posted in that forum here.

If I was looking for an authoritative answer I would make contact with the ESA

If they say they don’t care I will not ask for a refund, otherwise I would, and would be done with it:

It is a defect and should be so noted!

PS: What rules are followed for the HI community in you area?

This is another difference between home inspectors and code inspectors.

Will a code inspector…code book in one hand as he reviews a violation…take issue? Yes. Why not? It’s his job. If the code says it, enforce it.

But will a home inspector complicate the process of selling/buying a home because a light switch is upside down? Will he actually recommend that his client require that a licensed electrician come to the home and turn all of the switches in the house around? No.

I will say that a horizontally mounted Breaker switch MUST be mounted so that UP is On. That rule is for Electrical Safety, check it out.

I will also like to point out that the old pushbutton switches like the one pictured should be recommended for replacement - they tend to be faulty and can arc out in the wall. :mad:

You don’t need to call for an electrician to flip the light switches around. You should call it out in your report as a minor issue that needs fixing.

In this case, these are only a few years old, with the original cover plates. (Never assume) I should know, they are in my home. :smiley:
See here…

http://www.rejuvenation.com/typepageSwitches/templates/houseparts_group.html

You are so right, point taken. I thought i saw an old one, upside down and missing a screw.

Gentlemen. Light switches are routinely installed “upside down” in other countries, because to them, upside-down is right-side-up, and for an excellent reason. In the event the spring that holds the toggle should fail, the switch would fail to the open position. If the switch is mounted “right-side-up”, and the spring fails, the toggle would fail to the closed position and the fixture would be live. Perhaps American switches are better and seldom fail in that way, so we mount them upside-down…or was it right-side-up…oh, whatever.

Do they reverse that down under in Australia?

Do you report receptacles that are upside down? I don’t. Is it a deal blower not likely.

Harry Homeowner has been at work and doing things in “unusual” ways…
seems worth a mention.

Of course some receptacles are purposely upside down.

As far as the switch is concerned, they may be upside down but wired just fine. A simple “turning” the switch around will cure it.

The industry standard is down is off up is on. If a moron buys the house, he will think he must stand on his head to turn the lights on. :wink:

If the light is off…flip the switch. If the light doesn’t come on…change the bulb…How to do that is on another thread.

The way I install a Decora switch is I look at the yoke strap and on one end it says (TOP) sp, 3way and 4way. I have seen this on toggle switch also in the past (on up). I have seen on outlets and It was ground up.So if not marked I guess it does not matter which way it goes. I Had this on electrical page but it got lost in the fight real fast.