Where We Work in Cleveland, Lakewood and Parma
Shoreway Electric works in single-family homes, two-family houses, condos and small shops in three Cuyahoga County cities: Cleveland, Lakewood and Parma.
Across the three, the houses run from pre-war doubles to post-war ranches, and the wiring tends to follow the age of the street. The city and the decade a house went up say a good deal about what sits behind its walls.
ZIP Codes by City
| Community | ZIP codes | County and setting |
|---|---|---|
| Cleveland | 44102, 44103, 44104, 44105, 44106, 44108, 44109, 44110, 44111, 44113, 44114, 44115, 44119, 44120, 44127, 44128, 44135, 44144 | Cuyahoga County; the city itself, east side and west side |
| Lakewood | 44107 | Cuyahoga County; on the lake, next to Cleveland’s west side |
| Parma | 44129, 44130, 44134 | Cuyahoga County; south of Cleveland |
ZIP codes don’t follow city lines. 44130 takes in parts of Parma, Parma Heights and Middleburg Heights, and several Cleveland ZIP codes reach into the suburbs next door, so the city a house sits in settles it, not the ZIP code.
Checking Which City a House Is In
Mailing addresses can mislead. The post office accepts “Cleveland” as the city name in parts of several suburbs, so a house in Parma may carry a Cleveland address. The property tax bill shows the city the house actually belongs to, and so does the county’s property record.
Still unsure? Call with the street and the nearest cross street.
What the Wiring Looks Like in Each City
Cleveland
Much of the city went up before the Second World War: wood-frame doubles, foursquares and brick bungalows on tight lots. Many still have knob-and-tube wiring in the walls, ungrounded two-prong outlets and a fuse box, or a panel added onto for decades. Rewiring is often planned a floor or a few rooms at a time.
Lakewood
Lakewood is dense and mostly pre-war, with two-family “up-and-down” houses on narrow lots and apartment buildings and condos near the lake. Knob-and-tube turns up here too, and garages tend to sit at the back of the lot, so a car charger often means a long cable run from the basement panel.
Parma
Parma grew fast after the war, and its streets are lined with bungalows, Cape Cods and ranches from the 1950s and 1960s. The earliest may have cable with no ground wire, and many began with 60- or 100-amp services sized long before central air, finished basements and electric cars.
Two things hold in all three cities. Basements here are damp, so the outlets down there need GFCI protection, and older kitchens rarely have enough circuits for the countertop appliances a kitchen runs today.
Who Owns Which Wires
Who owns a stretch of wiring decides who has to agree before work starts on it.
- The service. The wires from the pole, and the meter itself, usually belong to the utility; the mast, the meter base and everything past them are the owner’s.
- Condos. The unit owner usually controls the wiring from the unit’s own panel onward, while risers, meter rooms and hallway lights belong to the association.
- Small shops. In a leased storefront the tenant’s panel may sit in a basement or back room the landlord controls, and changes to the building’s service need the owner’s say.