Electrician in Oak Ridge

Oak Ridge at a glance

Oak Ridge is a city of 31,402 people (2020) in Anderson and Roane counties, about 25 miles from downtown Knoxville. It's home to Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex.

What that means for your electrical

Many Oak Ridge homes were built quickly in the 1940s as part of a planned city, and later neighborhoods followed. Original wartime and postwar homes often need panel upgrades, grounding and more circuits; see panel upgrades. Some original houses still have fuse boxes or 60-amp services, and small kitchens with few outlets.

Small original homes

Compact original houses were not designed for today's appliances, and adding central air or a kitchen remodel often means new circuits. Many homes have been renovated over the years, sometimes with amateur wiring that an electrician should check.

The Secret City

In 1942 the federal government bought nearly 60,000 acres of farmland in the Clinch River valley and built a planned city for 75,000 residents as a Manhattan Project production site, designed with help from Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. It earned nicknames like the Atomic City and the City Behind a Fence, and in 2016 the element tennessine was named for Tennessee partly in recognition of work done here. Homes from those first years are now more than 80 years old, and many still carry wiring worth updating; see rewiring older homes.