What the heck is a lifted ground???

What the heck is a “lifted ground” and why does it matter? A lifted ground is a term that inspectors and electricians use to describe an outlet that has no ground, or the ground is not bonded to the neutral. I know, I know what does that mean? All that you need to know is that there are two main pathways for electricity – in and out. And there is a third pathway that serves as a sort of emergency pathway for stray electricity that may or may not be exposed in your house. This is called the ground. If there ever is electricity in one of your fixtures that accidentally leaps from the “in” wire and doesn’t go to the “out” wire, The grounding wire is there to try to capture the voltage and send it back where it came from.

This is an image of a standard “edison” outlet.

So why is it lifted? In order to answer this, we need to understand old building practices. Old houses were built without grounding. That’s why in most older homes that have not been renovated, the outlets will have two prong holes and not three. Modern building practices REQUIRE outlets to be grounded for safety purposes. When a builder or a flipper comes in to do a renovation on an older home, they will most likely just change the outlet and not the wiring, because to do so will be costly in both time and money. So you are left with outlets that have no grounding, or, outlets that have a “lifted ground”.

Are you wondering if your outlets are grounded or are maybe someone cut some corners? We can swing by and take a look-see!! Remember Orange and black have your back!