Licensed Electricians and HVAC Technicians in Fairfax, VirginiaElectricians and HVAC in Fairfax

Fairfax Is Two Jurisdictions Wearing One Name

Your address says Fairfax either way. Which office issues your electrical permit, and which inspector signs it off, depends on which side of the city line the house sits on.

ZIP code is a guide, not a boundary, and 22030 spills past the city line into the county around it. The address itself is what settles it, and we check before we quote so the filing goes to the right desk the first time. On the county side, a residential electrical permit is required for a new service, for new electrical equipment or fixtures, for replacing electrical equipment or fixtures, and for an EV charger. Direct like for like replacement in the same location is generally exempt. If you want to read the county rules yourself, they are published at the residential electrical permit page and the guide to when a permit is required.

If Your Fairfax House Went Up Between 1965 and 1973, Find Out What the Wire Is Made Of

Copper ran short in the late 1960s and builders switched branch circuits to aluminum. The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates about two million homes nationwide were built with aluminum branch wiring between 1965 and 1973. That window sits right on top of a large share of what was going up around Fairfax at the time, so it is worth knowing which one you have.

To be clear about what we are and are not saying. We are not saying any particular Fairfax street has aluminum branch wiring. We are saying the years line up, that the check costs nothing, and that a house wired this way is perfectly safe to live in once the connections are dealt with properly. Aluminum branch wiring also needs an electrician who has worked on it before. Call PRO Electric plus HVAC at 703.244.3432 and we will come look.

Source for the date range, the warning signs and the recognized repairs: the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Repairing Aluminum Wiring. Note that COPALUM installers have become scarce since that guidance was published, which is why we check availability before we quote it.

Two Free Checks Worth Doing Before You Book Anything

Dead outlets in one room are usually one of two things, and neither of them needs an electrician. In older Fairfax houses the catch is that the thing you are looking for is often nowhere near the room that went dark.

Two things that change the answer. If it trips straight back, stop. Something on that circuit is faulty and resetting it again does not fix anything. And if the face plate was warm before it went dead, treat that as urgent rather than routine, particularly if the house falls in the aluminum wiring years above. Either way, leave the panel cover on and call PRO Electric plus HVAC at 703.244.3432.