Residential Electrical in Scarborough, Maine

Scarborough allows accessory dwelling units anywhere residential uses are permitted, with its own ADU permit. A unit must be at least 190 square feet, can be internal, attached or detached, and if detached must sit within 100 feet of the main house. Its maximum size depends on the main house, from 40 percent or 750 square feet for homes under 2,000 square feet up to 20 percent or 1,500 square feet for homes over 5,000. Electrically, an ADU with a kitchen, bathroom and heating is a small house of its own, and the existing service has to carry both. That may mean a subpanel fed from the main house, a larger service, or a separate meter, depending on the property.

Pools and spas come with their own electrical requirements. The town requires an electrical permit for pool filter and circulation pumps, outlets and lighting, and strongly recommends a licensed electrician because of the specific bonding and grounding rules for pools. Hot tubs are similar: they need a dedicated circuit, a GFCI-protected disconnect within sight, and equipotential bonding done correctly. These are also common reasons a service upgrade becomes necessary, since a pool heater or spa can be one of the largest loads in the house. Outdoor kitchens, patio heaters and landscape lighting around a new pool add still more, so planning them together avoids tearing up a finished patio later.

The town inspects electrical work before insulation goes in, and it checks temporary services for at least one ground rod and permanent services for two ground rods and a bonded panel. Work done without a permit can be legalized only through an after-the-fact permit, which requires, among other items, a notarized affidavit from a licensed electrician stating the work meets code, a costly surprise for buyers and sellers. The town’s smaller stock of pre-1940 houses, about 8 percent of homes, may still need knob-and-tube or cloth wiring replaced. That work, along with added circuits, outlet and switch changes, ground-fault and arc-fault upgrades, fault-finding and wiring for additions, is what Goodnow Electric does in Scarborough homes, permit included.