We bought our first home last October and one of the things agreed upon between us and the sellers was that they’d have the yellow jacket infestation mitigated. They had a pest company out before we closed but after closing, we realized the infestation was still very much an issue and couldn’t move in right away. Our realtor felt guilty and paid for another pest company to continue coming out to treat the yellow jackets. Eventually the issue settled down and we kind of forgot about it. Then we had an electrician out this week to fix an issue in our electrical box (previous owners for some reason had some illegal wiring setup so they could get 240 volts to a 120 rated outlet…no idea why but it was causing issues). Electrician was shocked to find that but even more shocked to find that the pest company sprayed pesticide directly inside our electrical panel, causing corrosion and requiring us to now replace our entire electrical panel…which is setting us back thousands after having to pay to correct their illegal wiring setup. Is the pest company liable here? I’m not even sure how we’d get them to admit they sprayed the panel. Electrician said we’re lucky nothing happened when they sprayed it, but that we’re now at risk for a fire with wires being corroded. Such a bummer. Any advice is appreciated!
Location: Virginia
Comments
IANAL but I would think the hardest part would be proving that the other company sprayed there AND that the spray cause corrosion that quickly.
I am having some doubts that the pesticide caused the corrosion. I get the stuff, at the local hardware store designed for high voltage electrical applications, that is dielectric up to 27kv for the same price as regular raid or equivalent.
If the infestation was also inside the electrical box, which can happen, then that is why they may have sprayed in there. A good pest control company would have informed you/your realtor that they found part of the infestation in the electrical box and would explain if the infestation caused damage which would require replacement in the future.
The previous owner sounds a bit kooky, especially running a 240v to a 120v outlet. He may have sprayed it himself to save a few dollars to mitigate the infestation.
The insecticide wouldn’t have caused corrosion. Did you not have a home inspection done? If so did they not open the electrical panel? theres more holes in this story…