Anyone know if Electrical Outlets in the baseboards are legal?

Question

I have an old house and I don't know if I should go through the expense of relocating the electrical outlets since they're mounted sideways all the way down in the baseboards.

Do I relocate them? Is there a minimum height when rehabbing a house? thaks guys.

Roy N. · Answer

@Ricardo G.

I do not know about the history of SFR in Texas, but around here when you have receptacles in the baseboard of an old house you are dealing with a house having lath-and-plaster walls, quite often where electricity was added sometime after the house was built.   This was done because it was the easiest place to install them and it seemed to be the fashion of the time.

Here we are not required to move them from the baseboard, however if we are doing a full gut renovation we do move them into the wall to modern convention {I do not know if your national, state or local building codes in Texas specify a height}.

The biggest thing you need to check is the wiring behind those receptacles.  Unless someone has been in there recently it is guaranteed they are not grounded and are may even be knob-and-tube wiring.   Also, when electricity was introduced into these old houses it was common to only have 1-2 circuits per floor - meaning you may find all the receptacles junction in ceiling light box of a room and 2-3 rooms will be strung together.   This was long before modern life and today's electrical loads, so you will want to investigate and may need to pull new circuits throughout the house.

Edward Burns · Answer

The National Electrical  Code (NEC) is the standard manual for everything electrical. As of 2010, according to the  NEC, there is no minimum height requirement for electrical outlet installation.  However, you must check with the local building inspector for the requirements  in your area, as their guidelines supersedes the NEC code