Hi, Had to have a lot of wiring run in an old house we bought. Hired a pro who was recommended, and now I find I have questions. When previous owners started finishing the basement, they updated the supply box and ran new wiring in the basement, but the rest of the house was left with the old, two wire supply. I thought all the old wiring was being replaced. As the job progressed, I saw the overhead light wires were not being changed. When I asked why, I was told that it wasn't necessary. Lights aren't grounded, so the old wire is fine, and if I wanted those done too, it would be a LOT more expensive and there would be a lot of ceiling damage, etc.. Not what I understood, not what I wanted, but I figured 'he's the pro, it must be ok'. The job was finished last week, yesterday we turned on a switch to an overhead light, it arced and blew the circuit. I called and the electrician sent someone right over. He wrapped all the light switch wires in the boxes, telling me we are all set now. The original wires are good, they just get brittle in the boxes once the casings have been stripped back, but now they are all wrapped, so there can't be any more brittle casings causing cracks and shorts. Now call me suspicious, but does this sound right to all of you out there who know? I don't - that's why I hired someone with a good rep. - but I have to admit I'm worried and would like more info - from a different source.
Thanks for any help!

Seems to be a lack of communication between both parties.

Not sure how this came about, written contract with a definite scope of work , or a verbal contract with not enough questions by the customer and explantation by the contractor.

There is no national code stating the two wire needs to be replaced or upgraded. There may be something per local code,but I doubt it.

Fixtures do need, per current code, to be grounded. The issue is the national code is not retroactive.

So, there is no code requitrement to rely on to help with this dicrepancy.

If I was the contractor, and this is not hind-sight- I have done this many times in the past, we would have gone over the exact scope of work, what would have been installed, what would have been replaced, and why.

Then I would be ready to perform CPR on you after you got the real price.

This would be all up front thou. With me, there are no surprises later.

We would have discussed options, leaving the two wire for fixtures, or replacing, with adds or deducts depending on what is chosen to be the scope of work.

It is a shame it had to come to this, the contractor really should have been upfront about what he would do and not do, for the agreed price.

What type of agreement did you two have?

We had a verbal agreement. Went through the house together, pointed out this and that and I relied way too heavily on the recommendation I was given instead of being guarded (as I usually am). My main question now is - are we safe with these wires being left in place, and how can I know? I do know there is nothing in local code that requires this.

Fixtures not being grounded is not a serious safety issue, as they usually are out of reach, and not close to grounded surfaces, so even if one did short out to the exposed metal surface of the fixture, not very likely could cause an injury.

The wires with cracked insulation in the switches happens, and can be repaired with a sleeve type insulation, usually heat shrik tubing works fine, better than trying to wrap tape around the entire lemgth of wire inside a switch box.

A short can occur at the switch box if bare wire touches the metal box. This can energize a switch box, but injury can be prevented by using non-metallic cover plates, and often inspectors will demand non-metallic screws, to eliminate any chance of exposure of energized metal parts.

Now that I mention it, was a permit issued and was all the work done inspected?

To be sure to eliminate as much possible chance of injury due to the ungrounded system left in the home, any of these circuits can be protected with a Ground Fault circuit breaker.

Thank you very much! I feel better having your input. Inspection was quick and that's why I know there isn't a local code for changing those wires. I will follow up with a ground fault circuit breaker, and I know all the wires have been wrapped. Thanks again!