SO, this house was build way back when, in Brookline, NH. (a small boarder town)…
Did you locate the AHJ that inspected this house when it was built?
Was there an AHJ when this house was built?
What year was the house built?
Maybe Norm Abrams or Bob Villa could help you out better…
Does Brookline require all houses sold to be upgraded the existing building codes?
Can you not just tell the client that there is an open-available plug under the sink that would be in their best interest to upgrade to a GFCI circuit?
I grew up outside of Brookline. I am 62 years old and never saw a GFCI device till I was old enough to vote. And I’m still here…
Try some perspective in your work…
Collect the required information, before you speak…
One for where GFCI is required and should have been installed.
And one pointing out installation was before current GFCI requirements, but advising to upgrade for safety.
The 6ft rule is still useful for where the kitchen was remodeled into an open design, a wall has been removed, and now a living room outlets is with-in 6ft of the sink.
Again Thanks for all the replies to this. This building was a commercial one with 4 separate spaces with 4 different meters and all with their own heating and water heaters. The guy who built this 4,000 sqft building built it for his electrician business and used most of it himself and only rented out maybe 1,200 sqft to 2 tenants. My client the buyer is looking to shift things around and use it solely for his own business. The seller/electrician was there and I was giving him a hard time on a lot of the defects such as missing cover plates and no GFCI near kitchen sinks. The building was built 30+ years ago. I asked him about the outlets near the kitchen sink and said they didn’t have to back then but he did have them in the bathrooms and they where all the same time.
FYI this was actually in Hillsborough, NH just a little bigger town than Brookline with only 6,000 people.
He did have a cool 12 volt relay switch to turn his office lights one.
Not sure who this was directed to, but I will comment.
So simply because you have never needed the protection of a gfi you feel that the clients interest, industry SOP’s and lack of code compliance can be overlooked?
Now, if you are talking about my perspective, I have code and rules to follow. I don’t have the luxury of picking and choosing which to follow.
I got the impression from many of the posts here that although not code inspectors that many used them as guidelines to make recommendations to enhance the safety of their clients. I have seen many posts that suggested gfi protection even though the installation did not require it at the time it was built. Whether the AHJ accepted and passed the installation or the date of construction did not matter.
No, but I would expect you to at least point out items that do not meet the required or accepted standards. The lack of gfi protection on a bathroom receptacle is clearly within the realm of things that should be listed.
