Again, Brickeye offers irrelevant straw man arguments to support his untenable positions. He said: "I put those examples forward to show exactly how hard it can be to enforce codes." The reality is that once a new construction or remodeling project has passed an existing code inspection, it does not need to be brought up to future code levels. Code compliance that was required at the time of the inspection is all that is required. No one is debating that. No one suggested otherwise. So your reasoning here is baseless. Brickeye further stated: "I do know of jurisdictions that revoke COs at sale of the property and require a new inspection to grant a new CO each time ownership changes." Then Brickeye does not understand the authority under construction and existing building codes that gives the code official just that power. In fact, it happens more often than you would think. It is VERY common for private home inspectors to spot code violations that were missed after the issuance of a CO on, for example, new construction homes, only to have the CO revoked when a code violation has been found that may have been missed in a previous inspection or when the CO was issued based on fradulent information provided by the owner.. In fact, the building codes require rescining a CO in such circumstances. The current owner is made aware of the problem and required to come into compliance. Happens more often that you think. But all this completely irrelevant to the issue. The issue is, that buildings with previously valid COs can fall into a state of disrepair to the point that they become a hazard to the public well being. When that happens, maintenance codes apply, which can a do allow the government to force owners to take actions to correct them. This can be done with or without the permission of the property owner or by getting an adminstrative "search" warrant to enter the property to make inspection when probable casue has been shown to a presiding judge. Properties can be permanently condemned, temporarily condemned until repairs are made, or civil judgements sought against the building's owner. Commercial Builidng and Fire Codes do not require a warrant to search a privately owned commercial building if they are open to use by the public and are inspected during normal business hours, and Codes mandate that commercial building owners must make their buildings accessible for annual maintenance inspections. So maintenance inspections on private structures are not without precedent nor basis in law. Brickeye further commented: "Last time I looked insurance comanies are private enterprises and seem to look out for themselves pretty well." Insurance companies DO look out for themselves when they insure a property or are made aware of existing maintenance problems....but insurers do not routinely make safety inspections of private homes nor are they made aware of hazardous conditions which violate the terms of the insurance agreement by fradulent homeowners, and that is where the problem lies. If the insurer knows that a property is in a state of disrepair, they will insist that repairs be made or one's insurance coverage revoked. If the homeowner doesn't tell the insurance he is violating the terms of the insurance agreement, how does the insurer know? He doesn't, which is why insurance companies FULLY SUPPORT the use of routine maintenance inspections by Code Departments for private rental and other units. It saves them and their majority policy and stockholders money and protects them from paying out on fradulent claims. Deliquent owners who have no mortgages also are likely not to carry insurance on their structures. This becomes a public problem when, for example, there is a fire or building collpase and it is up to the taxpayer to pay for the cleanup. The cry and clamor that government has no business protecting it's citizens from irresponsible property owners is without merit. Government inspections protect the public, protect insurers, and protect other private owners who properties can be devalued by delapidated and dangerous properties. The anarchy that Brickeye suggests is pie-in-the sky and actually the most irresponsible and absurd position, and why Codes were developed in the first place: to protect the public from those who simply just don't care about anyone else but themselves.

Lonesparky95, that is an electric stove. Rtscoach, You asked,Can you be sure the previous owner did the wiring himself? Yes, he was really proud of his home and DIY skills..boasted to us during inspection. Davidr... You wrote,"The cables going to the panel ("breaker box") should be secured to a solid surface by staples or other means within 12" of the panel. Are they?" Nope are not, the wires run free. We had a home inspector run through here and he said, Two wires double tapped on branch circuit wiring in panel box, Three prong outlets all tested unsafe in basement, Exposed splices, GFCI needed in garage & exterior of house, missing slot covers in electric panel, open neutral GFCI outlets, need a junction box. Some other stuff too but.... long story short: I will get that electrician and a TESTER. Thank you.

Brickeye said: ""Any AHJ who does require AFCIs in a service upgrade is enforcing his own personal opinions....not any Code...and subjects himself to a lot of personal legal liability...including loss of certification, fines, or even imprisonment...by so doing." The NEC is actually silent on this. It does allow grandfathering, but leaves the extent up to the AHJ, which in most jurisdictions carries the weight of law (even if only administrative law). Many jurisdictions passed laws requiring GFCI devices be installed on kitchen counter circuits when the property changes hands, or ANY electrical permit is pulled against the address. NO grandfathering around the rule. The NEC does not cover everything, and many jurisdictions amend it when they adopt. I have seen repeated refusals to allow K&T to be fed from new panels in numerous states and localities. The AHJs want the K&T taken out of service. While it is arguable that allowing the panel upgrade would improve the safety of even a K&T installation, the decision was made that the K&T had to go. It was one more way to apply pressure to upgrade installations." We are probably in agreement here but for differing reasons. While the NEC may be 'silent' as to when AFCI devices might be required in existing installations, the NEC is not a stand alone code and electrical installations in existing homes are actually also regulated by other codes. Where adopted, for example, the International Existing Building Code would prevail on electrical issues where the NEC is silent and for existing buildings. So too would state or municipal amendments to the NEC or other adopted electrical Code. In my state, it is not legal for any AHJ to require any portion of an existing electrical system in good working order to be changed if only a service panelbox is being changed or upgraded. The NEC only applies to 'new installations' and changing a fusebox to a circuit breaker panel is not considered a 'new installation'....by law. It is considered an 'alteration to an existing installation' which does not require the use of AFCIs. The point: It is still not the AHJs opinion that prevails or even matters here....It is what is legally adopted by Code. We cannot require AFCIs in panel upgrades, the replacement of K&T wire, Federal Pacific panels or any other part of an electrical system in good working even if we wanted to. And it would be a violation of our Code and law if we did. Bottom line: It still has nothing to do with the AHJs "personal opinion" or how much he "cares". It all has to do with law and the Code. And any AHJ enforcing his own personal opinions and not any law places himself in serious legal jeopardy.

I have mild/moderate DIY experience and an IKEA kitchen, so I'll give you my perspective. I am comfortable with most anything that involves non-powered hand tools, plus I have a lot of experience with a power drill, and I had fun using a jigsaw for the first time. DH has a circular saw, but I don't touch that. When it came time to do our kitchen, we hired most of it out. DH has extensive DIY experience, but he refused to install the cabinets. I joked that it was because he was resistant to redoing the kitchen in the first place... but in fact he was speaking from the wisdom of experience, because our house is old, there isn't a square corner anywhere in it, and he didn't want to have to deal with cabinet installation. The kitchen turned out to be a sort of parallelogram, skewed in all 3 dimensions. lol. Our installers did not level the walls, but they shimmed extensively. We had licensed pros do the electrical and plumbing, and we hired out the hardwood floor installation. This is what I think, given my experience: 1. You can assemble the standard IKEA cabinets, no problem. 2. You can paint. You can also learn to tile (I didn't but I wish I had, since I hired the wrong person to do our backsplash and I could not possibly have done a worse job than he did). 2. Customizing the size of the lowers will be a problem for you. 3. Changing the door size will be a much bigger problem and might in fact not be doable at all, with IKEA doors. 5. A much better option for a custom-sized cabinet (and more to the point, its door) is to order it from a cabinet company like Barker, Scherr's, or Semihandmade. Then you can get the size you need and have a door that fits. Your easiest approach would then be to have that company supply all the doors and drawer fronts instead of using IKEA's, so they'll all match. (All 3 of those companies routinely make doors to fit IKEA cabinet boxes.) 5. If you really want to change a door size yourself, buy one and try it BEFORE you set your kitchen layout plans in stone. 6. An alternative to points 2-5 would be to sit down with an IKEA kitchen person to see if you can fill your space without using custom sizes. Sometimes there are cabinets available that you don't think about. Measurements also get thrown off if you don't account for all the cover panels etc (including on the cabinets on each side of the range, if you have a range, to match the measurements of the cover panels you'll put on the sides of the cabinets over the range). 7. There are definitely areas of installation where experience would be a huge asset. For example, our counter height and counter-to-uppers distance changes throughout our kitchen because our floor and ceiling both slope in 2 directions -- but not in the same 2 directions. I did not think of having to have different counter-to-upper distances until I saw it happening. (You understand: we do not have sloping counters or uppers. It's the floor and ceiling that slope away from the level cabinets, in different directions. The installers had to do some creative toekick and crown molding cutting to accommodate this.) 8. The easiest way to get around point 7 is to not have uppers. Failing that, don't try to take them all the way to the ceiling with crown molding; go ahead and leave a couple inches of gap up there (the gap will be bigger in some places than others). Our crown molding makes a big difference in the look of the kitchen, but we could not have done it (to look as good as it does) ourselves. 9. Stacking the uppers will give you an extra layer of complication. Try to use a single row of uppers to simplify things. 10. I don't know what a Japanese saw is (other than presumably being made in Japan), but cutting in a straight line is only part of the equation. A lot of IKEA material is MDF, which is very hard to cut by hand, or particleboard, which leaves a jagged edge when you cut it. The part I cut out with the jigsaw looks completely ridiculous -- remember it was my first time using one. Luckily it's not a structural part and also isn't visible. Again, I suggest bypassing any need to saw anything that people can see, especially doors. 11. You will still need to saw toekicks and cover panels to length, but this you can handle (probably) given IKEA's good instructions and the fact that the cut edges will be covered. 12. Bottom line: you can install basic IKEA cabinets yourself (they are intended to be DIY-able, after all), but customizing them could be a big problem without experienced help. Installation will be much faster if you hire it out. You will definitely need to learn how to figure out your floor, ceiling, and wall slopes and how to account for them. (I don't know how because I didn't try.) Good luck! You do know that IKEA is changing to a different cabinet system this winter, yes? This post was edited by northcarolina on Mon, Jul 14, 14 at 11:55