Need some advice - paint over spray in panel

[kweiss]

Came across a box today in a new construction with noticable paint overspray on the inside of the box, the breakers, the bussbars etc. Was not completely covered, but pretty covered and you could see places on the breakers where they tried to wipe it off.

Is this a concern I should call out?

[Larry D. Kage]

Originally Posted by kweiss

Came across a box today in a new construction with noticable paint overspray on the inside of the box, the breakers, the bussbars etc. Was not completely covered, but pretty covered and you could see places on the breakers where they tried to wipe it off.

Is this a concern I should call out?

Yes.

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

Absolutely. The interior of the panel is required to be free of contaminates.

[wsiegel]

They need to replace the bus bar, in not the whole box. Used to be a big fight down here to get them to replace the box. Now the builders seem to be siding with us, without a fight.

[Speedy Petey]

I know this is OT but I have to ask.

Why is a H-I done on a new construction home? Isn't this what building and mechanical inspectors are for?

[Paul W. Abernathy]

Peter,

I do many inspections on new construction where the buyer does not entrust the reliablity of the local AHJ and Builder. Now, not my place to question them but many times the HI who is familiar with new construction can find things the AHJ could not.....

AHJ might be their 20 minutes...the HI will be their 3-4 hours.......

Just another type of inspection on new construction......

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

Originally Posted by Speedy Petey

I know this is OT but I have to ask.

Why is a H-I done on a new construction home? Isn't this what building and mechanical inspectors are for?

You would think, but you'd be surprised at what makes it past the city inspectors.

I do many new construction inspections (not code inspections). For the most part, it's quality control, but the majority of the issues, should never have been passed by the city inspector. . .

[Richard L. Bennett]

To show you how bad it gets I found a wall and a door way on the plans that was not in the home.

New construction should not need us but with government being the inspector -- what can I say

rlb

[Paul W. Abernathy]

lol...Peter.....view this and you will know why...lol

http://www.click2houston.com/video/1...x.html?taf=hou

joe posted it in another area.....prime example of WHY

[kweiss]

Originally Posted by jpope

You would think, but you'd be surprised at what makes it past the city inspectors.

I do many new construction inspections (not code inspections). For the most part, it's quality control, but the majority of the issues, should never have been passed by the city inspector. . .

Ditto....thanks for the input on the panel.

[Speedy Petey]

In hindsight I totally understand. I see the same things.

[Greg Fretwell]

A real life answer. When the painters spray a panelboard they get a can of Goof Off and a rag and stay there until you could eat out of it. That is a lot cheaper than eating the backcharge for a panel.
GoofOff will take the regular latex paint right off.
Just be sure this happens before they bring in the service power or pull the meter!

[Russel Ray]

Originally Posted by Speedy Petey

I know this is OT but I have to ask.

Why is a H-I done on a new construction home? Isn't this what building and mechanical inspectors are for?

The same reason why the Trojan Horse should have been inspected.

Additionally, I found a builder here in San Diego who has such a great reputation that the building and mechanical inspectors only inspect 25% of the homes they build. So when the inspectors come, the builders start them at 2500, skip to 2504, then 2508, then 2512, etc. The homes inspected are near perfect; the others? We won't go there; it would take a couple of days, even using VRS.

Other builders give out perks to the inspectors, perks like tickets for the family to the Zoo, Sea World, or Legoland. Obviously, if the inspectors are to take their family to the Zoo, they don't have time to do inspections. Duh.

[away]

Speedy,
In addition to the news story Paul posted, there is another fun thing happening here in N. Tx. where the cities are allowing builders to inspect their own houses. Yes, that's right, no code inspection by a third party.