DIY Electrical Repairs: What's Safe and What's Not

Some electrical jobs around the house are simple and safe. Others only look simple, because the danger sits behind the cover plate where you cannot see it. This guide sorts the two, explains what Ontario's rules say about doing your own electrical work, and lists the jobs that belong with a licensed contractor.

Jobs a Homeowner Can Handle

Changing a light bulb, with the switch off and the old bulb cool, is the most basic of them. Resetting a tripped breaker is fine as long as it stays on. If it trips again, there is an overload or a fault on that circuit, and repeated resets let heat build up.

Resetting a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) receptacle after it trips is fine too. A receptacle that has gone dead is often just a tripped GFCI somewhere else on the same circuit. The Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) recommends a test of each GFCI monthly, and our GFCI guide explains how to do it.

Swapping a cracked cover plate on a switch or a receptacle is a small job, but turn off that circuit first.

What Ontario's Rules Say About Doing It Yourself

ESA's guidance is that you may do electrical work in your own home, but a notification of work, which is the permit, has to be filed with ESA before you start. It applies even to small jobs. When the work is done, ESA has to review it.

Friends, relatives and neighbours cannot do the work in your home for you. Anyone you pay for electrical work has to be a Licensed Electrical Contractor, and ESA counts it as a warning sign when a contractor asks you to claim the work as your own.

Even with a permit, the risk stays with you. A bad connection inside a wall can stay out of sight until it starts to overheat.

Jobs to Leave to a Licensed Electrician

Some work is better left to a licensed contractor even where the rules would let you try it.

Anything inside the panel, from replacing or adding a breaker to upgrading the panel itself. The wires coming in from the utility stay live even with the main breaker off.

A new circuit or new receptacles, which need a permit and must comply with the Ontario Electrical Safety Code.

Repairs to aluminum branch wiring, which needs approved connectors at every device, or to knob and tube, an old system with no ground conductor.

Finding the cause of a dead circuit, flickering lights or a warm outlet, where the fault may be a loose connection hidden in a wall.

Our electrical repairs service takes on all of these, with a flat-rate price agreed on site before the work starts.

The Risks Behind the Cover Plate

Shock is the obvious risk, and a circuit can still be live if the wrong breaker was switched off. Heat is the quieter one. If a receptacle feels warm, or you catch a faint burning smell near a switch, something is overheating, so switch that circuit off and get it looked at.

Work that does not meet the Code gets a defect notice from the inspector and has to be corrected. ESA also warns that an insurer may deny a claim that is traced back to unlicensed work. At sale time, the Certificate of Acceptance is the proof that past work was reviewed and passed, and buyers and insurers may want to see it. Work done without a permit has no such record, and it tends to come to light at exactly that point.

When You Are Not Sure

If a job goes beyond a bulb, a reset or a cover plate, call a licensed contractor. Before you hire anyone, you can confirm their licence with our ESA licence check guide. If the repair is part of a bigger project, our renovation planning tips are a good place to start.

• Electrical Planning Tips for Your Next Renovation Project

• GFCI Outlets: Why They Matter and Where You Need Them in Your Ontario Home

• 10 Electrical Safety Tips Every Ontario Homeowner Should Know

➡ Learn more about our Electrical Repairs service