Mark Lloyd wrote:

I do have a follow-up question: one response mentioned "connections
[that] are backstabbed into holes in the back of the receptacles" and
another response mentioned "a loose connection or fried one in the back
wired push in connections". What is this referring to? The outlets I
have inspected thus far are wired to the screws on either side of the
receptacle.


That's good. Are they wired so the current for the NEXT receptacle
goes through this one?

The housing for the burnt receptacle has 2 bunches of wires coming into
it and all 4 screws (plus the ground) on the receptacle were occupied.
So I think that's a yes to your question about passing current to the
next receptacle.

Since the wires go to the screws, I don't need to worry about the
comments concerning "push-in" connections, correct?

Thanks again,
Matt