What happens when you only update the electrical in part of the house?

A lot depends on location and what you're doing. If it's a residential home that you're living in they shouldn't require opening walls to run smoke detectors when moving the service. If it's a home that you're going to be renting out they can require them. Location matters more too and some city and town bylaws can require safety/fire code updates when doing any electrical work no matter the purpose of the property or scope of work. It only matters that electrical work is being done to trigger this.

Get the permit. If you do the work without a permit and there is a fire you won't be covered for it even if it started in something you didn't touch. Talk to the inspector and they will clearly spell out what work is required and what isn't. You don't have to pull a permit to talk to them. Say you're thinking of having some work done and were wondering what would be required. You can go back and pull the permit or you can have the electrician pull it. The inspector only wants to know that there is a permit before any work is done and that it's being done to code.

/r/BuildingCodes Thread