I had a final inspection last week on a new custom home. I was there punching down phone lines in the basement as the inspector went around checking receptacles. I don't like to hover over inspectors as they inspect. The GC came down to where I was and told me the inspector was removing cover plates and pulling switches and receptacles out of their boxes. The GC was having a fit because everything was finished and the inspector wasn't being too careful as far as not sctatching up the walls. I went up and asked him what he was doing pulling energized devices out of wall boxes. Here's what he said and I swear I'm not making this up. "I have a new requirement that all device boxes be either blown out with an air hose or vaccumed and then wiped out with a damp cloth. This will prevent any dust that could ignite if there is an arc in there." I told him he was violating safety rules, voiding the homeowner's warranty and risking damage with what he was doing. When I caught up to him he was cramming my once neatly folded wires back into a receptacle box(metal box lucky he didn't skin a hot one). I also told him he couldn't enforce any such rule because it didn't exist in our locally adopted code. Then the GC jumped him for re-installing the cover plates without making sure all of the screws had the slots vertical(this GC is anal about detail). Just to stir the stink I told the GC in front of the inspector that if I had to straighten any receptacles, cover plates or screws the inspector had jacked with I was going to charge him for it. The GC turned to the inspector and told him he would send the bill to the county. The inspector didn't remove anything else but he left with a 4 gang switch box with all 4 switches hanging out. That was a pain to line up the first time. Have any of you ever heard of this requirement before?
