Right of Owner Builder Plumbing/Electrical

[Sean]

My two cents worth of why building codes/inspection are needed and not needed. I don't feel that I need a permit and inspection to replace a ceiling fan. It's not hard to go down to the store buy the right box (for strength) and replace the existing 40 year old box not designed for ceiling fans.

Of course, the previous house I bought had a ceiling fan in the vaulted dining room. There was absolutely nothing safe with it's installation. The very large and heavy ceiling fan was held in place with two little itty bitty 1 1/2 inch long screws. To operate the fan you had to pull the cords for lighting or breeze and I was thinking how nice it was to put pressure on those little screws. After following the wiring it turned out that an extension cord was run along the rafters through the wall and plugged into an overloaded outlet in the garage. A remodel took care of these problems, but shouldn't it have been done right to begin with -or at least close to right?

So, easy to do it right, but the people before me didn't bother and this was only the beginning of the "uniqueness" that I found on that house.

Cheers,

Sean