Electrical grounding/earthing Question

New houses get two grounds that are 6 foot apart and have #4 ground wire feeding them. ETA If you have post tension slab,the ground wire isn’t tied into the slab but if you have a regular slab, the ground wire is tied on to rebar in the footing and you really only need one ground rod.

It wouldnt pass inspection unless it was propeely grounded, assuming the inspector does their job.

It could very well vary from area to area. Here we need 2 rods spaced a minimum of 6' apart, the size to be determined by the largest ungrounded wire in your stem.

If you want some fun reading you can access the NEC code for free on their site. You will find out all about grounding!

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Also, is there a way for a guy to check if his home is properly grounded without calling a professional?

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You can check for proper installation just by visual inspection. To determine the actual effectiveness of your ground system requires special equipment to measure the ground resistance at the rod. The biggest variable is the type and condition of the soil around the rod, as others have posted some areas require two rods spaced a certain distance apart, this is done to lower the resistance of the ground system, the lower the better.

Nope. Brand new...2014.

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Mike Holt is the electrical grounding guru.

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Yeah I have watched a number of his videos over the past few days. I enjoyed the one where he went onsite to a house and ran the grounding rods. He had to place one rod 50 feet deep before he got the required 25 Ohms resistance. They placed another rod 50 feet and ran the two in parallel. Both were below the NEC requirement of 25 Ohms. The total current they carried together was only 13A, which is NOT enough to clear a fault and trip a breaker. I recommend watching it: YouTube - Mike Holt Grounding

He goes onto explain in other videos that grounding rods are not for human safety and that even many certified electricians don't understand that. In fact the NEC code book makes it clear that grounding rods are not for safety and are only for static discharge (lightning and the like).

So basically, a lot of people seem to be under the impression that electricity always "travels to ground" (by which they mean the earth) and that it always takes the path of least resistance. Neither are true and Ohm's law explains why. The Physics stack exchange has a good thread debunking the path of least resistance myth: Stack Exchange - Path of Least Resistance

So my question is this:

If grounding rods (at the house itself) don't clear faults, then what does? I assume the faults are cleared at the utility pole with the power company's own grounding system. I assume their utility poles have a much lower resistance than 25 Ohms. I believe there are situations where grounding rods are not needed at all on site and all grounding is connected back to the utility. I believe this is called the "TN-C-S" method and is apparently common in the UK. This chap from the UK has a good video discussing the 3 types of earthing techniques used over there. It's worth watching to get a better understanding how it all works:

Types of Earthing in UK