Leaving extra wire in wall for future expansion?

[JackOfDiamonds]

I'm expanding my garage entry by building a garage/mudroom wall that will be mudroom on one side and the other side will be dining room.

There's a decent chance in the future that I will reconfigure the kitchen so this new wall will be kitchen countertops on the non-mudroom side. That will require several counter-height 20A receptacles. But until I reconfigure the kitchen, it will just be blank dining room wall, and I don't want receptacles in it and I don't know exactly where they will go yet.

I was thinking about running some romex through the wall with a loop of extra slack so that in the future I can cut outlet box holes where I need them, pull the wire out and put in a receptacles. But I was told that all wires have to terminate in accessible junction boxes, and also Romex must be securely fastened.

I'm thinking about putting in a low-down receptacle box somewhere in the wall, and just run a roundabout run with a bunch of extra wire to it, but given Romex is supposed to be securely fastened, I don't know how to leave any slack to add more receptacles to that run later.

 

[PCustoms]

Pretty sure if it isn't connected in the panel you can just have a coil of wire behind the wall....

 

[JackOfDiamonds]

I guess that's one option I didn't think about... don't connect either end of the wire. I was fixated on "all wire terminations must be in accessible junction boxes" so I thought that would apply even to "dead wire".

 

[The Cobbler]

since your plan is to add cabinets etc, it's an easy job to fish wire .as much as I like to save work down the road, I would hold off, what you do now will very likely be not what you want down the road once you get planning & building.

 

[PCustoms]

I guess that's one option I didn't think about... don't connect either end of the wire. I was fixated on "all wire terminations must be in accessible junction boxes" so I thought that would apply even to "dead wire".

If you connect to the panel (or any other points in a circuit) then yes you would need to have it in an accessable box.

 

[nadogail]

I did that during our last kitchen remodel. I had the ceiling open to run the power for the Induction Cooktop and pulled in two 12 gauge cables that were later used for the feed to a microwave and the office printer.

 

[larry_g]

If your building this wall new then screw on a section of wall board in the mudroom. That way you can remove the screwed on piece to gain access to the inside of the wall to run additional wiring and then re-screw on the wall covering. I have in my garage a few screw on wall panels to access the interior for wire runs and plumbing.

After some thought, put in some wainscoting, top that with a removable 1x12 trim piece screwed on, and then drywall up from there. Remove the 1x12 for wiring.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[FMB4]

I'd consider drilling the wall studs for future wiring and just fish tape the wiring through when you get to that upgrade point. I say this because I'm not sure if 120v wiring, even if cold, can be left loose ended in a wall or ceiling without the ends being in a junction box.

 

[dcg9381]

While our home was going up, I watched our electrician run "big loops" in the bathroom between the studs. Exactly for the reason you mentioned - unsure of exactly where the lights would go. When we did final wiring, he just cut a hole in drywall, reached in there and grabbed the wire.

It's going to come down to your inspection procedure (if you have one). I wouldn't want a wire that's connected to a breaker not to be terminated, but otherwise.....

 

[Jim greengo]

Last time I ran "future" wire into an attic ,the inspector made me terminate it into a box.

 

[Milton Shaw]

Tape pictures with a ruler or tape measure before you cover the wall, Make sure it's in a safe place several years down the road when you finally want to finish the wall. Or just run empty conduit so you can really change the wiring when you want to.