The Need to Come Out of the Closet

Let’s face it closets are made for clothes, so the only thing going into or coming out of a closet should be that, clothes. Now as a home inspector in Connecticut I know that people put all kinds of other stuff in their closets. I am not snooping, well yes I am, but I’m not being nosey. It’s my job to open every door look in every space. In my many years now inspecting houses I have seen a lot non clothes items inside of closets. People have to store their stuff somewhere, right?

Now as a home inspector there are a few things I do not want to find inside a closet. One of these items would be an electric panel.

I was a bit surprised one morning not long ago to open a closet door in an otherwise very well kept house and find an electric panel.

One of places electric service panels can not be installed is inside a closet. I think most people if they stopped and thought about it, would see why putting an electric panel in with your clothing and your unmentionables is unwise. The electric code doesn’t allow panels in clothes closets for several different reasons. The most obvious here is the lack of working space.

An electric panel must have its own personal space that can not be violated. The space is meant to allow easy access to the panel at all times. There should be at least three feet of clear space from the front of the panel, 30 inches to the sides and six and a half feet vertically. The panel inside the closet here probably has the vertical space, but that is about all. \

So this panel has to either come out of the closet or the closet has to come out from around the panel.

James Quarello
Connecticut Home Inspector
Former SNEC-ASHI President
NRSB #8SS0022
JRV Home Inspection Services, LLC

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