Running Electrical Wire In Attic

I was also under the impression that if wiring is in an attic space that it may need to be derated because it can get very hot up there.

Running electrical wire in attic.

Hi all i have to run some romex in my attic. When adding or replacing wiring in finished walls most electricians will attempt to make the horizontal portion of the cable run in the unfinished attic or basement crawlspace areas looping the cable down or up through the wall cavity across the floor or ceiling joists then vertically through another stud cavity to the next wall box opening. Nec 2008 394 12 uses not permitted. Cut a hole for each box with a drywall saw or a saw appropriate for the wall material then feed the wires down from the attic or up from the basement toward each hole using a fish tape or a fish stick and have a helper catch them and pull them through.

When cutting through drywall from the interior of a room use a utility knife and cut carefully you don t want to drill through a hidden wire or the paper backing of the attic insulation. My attic is non accessible so i know for a fact that i must protect the romex with guard strips or bore holes 1 25 from the face of the joists when running perpendicular to the joists and when i run parallel i must staple the romex to the face of the joists. Concealed knob and tube wiring shall not be used in the following. If you drill holes in the joists and run wire through those holes you ll be disturbing the insulation.

If this meets code then i will be running attic wiring in this manner from now on. Dragging extension cords across the yard to power the weed whip fumbling around in a dark shed most of us take these hassles for. To run cables vertically go into the attic or basement and drill holes in the wall plates above or below the locations of connection boxes. If you will need to fish wiring through a wall drill a hole through the wood plate in the attic only.

Select proper wire or cable. 5 hollow spaces of walls ceilings and attics where such spaces are insulated by loose rolled or foamed inplace insulating material that envelops the conductors. The following links will assist you with your electrical question. Yes this should be corrected and it would be good to have the wiring and all the circuit connections inspected as well.

And use semi rigid wiring fish tape to pull your wiring down to your outlet location. Also it may not be as simple as stapling the wiring to the structural members. Run electrical wires underground to reach sheds lights patios and other locations following safe wiring practices. The attic wiring should be protected and secured to ceiling joists or other wood structural supports.

We show the easiest way using rigid conduit. Make sure you use ul rated in wall wiring that meets local building and fire codes including cm cmr or cmp for computer networking and cl2 or cl3 for speakers. Whenever i do attic wiring i remove the insulation and staple it to the ceiling joist. Always turn off the breakers in your electrical box before you begin to reduce the chance of an electrical shock should you accidently cut or drill into existing wiring.