Two-Prong Outlets: What They Mean and What to Do
If your outlets have two slots instead of three, the wiring behind them has no ground. That was standard before the 1960s and it is still live in thousands of Central and Northern New Jersey homes. It means surge strips cannot protect your electronics the way they claim to, and a fault in an appliance has nowhere safe to go except through whoever is touching it.
The dangerous shortcut to avoid
The cheap fix people try is a three-prong outlet screwed onto ungrounded wiring, or a cheater plug that makes the third prong disappear. Both make the outlet look modern while removing the very protection the third prong exists for. It is also a code violation an inspector will flag on sale. If a past owner did this in your home, you cannot see it from the outside — we can, in minutes.
Your Three Honest Options
Run a proper ground to the outlet. This is the real fix and it is best where the run is accessible — usually a basement, first floor, or during other work.
Install protected outlets, labeled correctly. Where running a new ground would mean opening finished walls, code allows a protected outlet on an ungrounded circuit, labeled so future owners and inspectors know exactly what they have. It is legal, honest, and dramatically safer than what is there now.
Rewire the circuit. When the wiring behind the outlet is knob and tube or brittle cloth, replacing the circuit solves grounding and the real underlying problem at once.
We tell you which of the three your house actually calls for and why — including when the answer is the cheaper one.
What It Costs
Our $229.99 service call includes a small repair — often one outlet corrected and the rest of the house checked and mapped on the same visit. Additional outlets on the same trip are $89.99 each. Whole-circuit work gets a written flat price before we start.
Central and Northern New Jersey, Around the Clock
We work in older homes across Monmouth, Middlesex, Somerset, Union, Morris and Essex County every week. Licensed, insured, lifetime craftsmanship guarantee on everything we install. Call or text 732-585-6560.
Meet the Crew
Locally owned and run. This is the team that shows up at your door.
