Carol Shenkenberger wrote in a message to All:
 CS> Ok, best place to ask seems here.
 CS> My husband and I are very good with many home repairs, but are 
 CS> completely untrained in anything electrical.  This work, and 
 CS> even the survey are beyond the skills we have to *safely* do.  
 CS> Short of using a multimeter to see if an outlet is live, we are 
 CS> not knowlegeable on electrical things.  (But we can rebuild 
 CS> anything else or add a room/bathroom with ease).
Actually,  you don't need a meter to see if an outlet is live,  a lamp will 
do just as well.
 CS> What we have is a 35 year old house.  It seems to not have the 
 CS> use for the 3rd prong on any plugs except in some rooms.
Ouch.
 CS>  Last owner rewired a good bit of it, but not all.
 CS> I think we have more outlets than our power box can handle. 
What's the rating on your main fuse or breaker?
 CS> Seems safe as long as one diesnt try to use all of them at 
 CS> once.  (I am speaking mostly of our back porch, with 7 outlets, 
 CS> and apparently only 1 feed from the breaker box if we guess it 
 CS> right).
It's not a question of how many of them are going to be in use,  but of how 
much power is being pulled on the whole circuit.
 CS> Question:  How much can we assume it would cost, to have a 
 CS> professional come in, check it out, and rewire at least 4 rooms 
 CS> (11 outlets) to make it completely safe to use all at once with 
 CS> at least the draw of a lamp?
Lamps don't draw all that much,  usually.  I wouldn't necessarily assume that 
you're going to get in trouble now.  As far as the cost is concerned there 
are an awful lot of variables involved,  and inspecting the site is really 
the only way that can be estimated.  If new wire has to be run,  for example, 
 it's going to cost more than if existing wiring can be used.  And that's 
only one variable.  I'd get several electricians to come look and bid on what 
you want done.
 CS> For now, out of uncertainty, we use only a few outlets but for 
 CS> sales value, we need to fix this.  I want that 3rd prong used 
 CS> as intended for a ground .
It's a safety issue,  too.
 CS> Oh, rooms we know are rewired and all prongs working: Kitchen, 
 CS> Living Room, Computer room, Laundry area of Garage.
That sounds to me like most of the worst of the job is already done.
 CS> Breaker box has extra breakers, not being used for anything as 
 CS> part of the initial re-wiring paid for by previous owner (who 
 CS> couldnt afford the rest due to divorce and selling the house).  
 CS>                                       xxcarol
That's a little strange,  as if I were doing wiring the last thing that I 
would do is put those breakers in the box.  The next-to-last thing is to 
attach the wire for the hot side of the line to the breaker,  and I'd *much* 
rather do that while that screw I'm going to is not live.  
I have a file here that may be of some interest:
FAQ_ELEC.LZH   42598 12-09-95  [   1] FAQ on electrical wiring
Feel free to freq or download it from here.  If nothing else,  it will enable 
you to get a better grasp on the subject for dealing with your electician.
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