Rewireing a old house

[2mJps]

I am going to replace fuse boxesss with a breaker box. My house has a basment it has low ceilings. Is it ok to run wires on bottom of floor joists rather than drill them? I plan on runing them close to the wall. Wright now my boxes are on side of stairs center of house is it a good spot or does it need to be moved? thank for your help

 

[wyliesdiesels]

When u say bottom, do u mean on the edge of the joists? And do u have any pictures of what you're doing?

 

[pattenp]

In unfinished basements or crawl spaces any NM cable smaller than 6/2 or 8/3 needs to be run through bored holes in the joist when run at an angle to the joist.

 

[smithbd2]

My experience has been that Inspectors are lenient on re-models.
The panel on the stairs would not pass todays codes. You would need a 3' x 3' platform at the panels.
The biggest reasons not to run wire on the bottom of the joists is head clearence and future ceiling in the basment. Drilling joists is not fun, but it looks a lot better. Be sure to drill the holes in a line, or it will be hard to pull romex thru holes that are offset from one another.
If I have questions, I pay for an "Advisory Inspection" before I start the job.
I show the inspector what I am up against and he tells me what I can do about it.
Also this covers me with the customer, they can't accuse me of making stuff up so I can charge them more. It saves a lot of money and headaches in the long run.

 

[2mJps]

It is a half basment and it wont ever be finished but i will drill joist. I would like to put box on stairs on platform. Are codes the same every were? I have never seen a 3x3 platform. I have 10 electic and wireing books and they dont say alot. Is their some were i can look up about what i can and cant do with out geting a headache. I have 2 houses to do one i live in and the other is a house we have to sale or rent it has some usable holes from knob and tub.

 

[eljefino]

See if you can run a 1x2 or 1x3 strip under the joists and staple the wire to that.

They want the wire protected, and they don't want you using it for a clothesline, tempting as it may be.

PS your box is in the center of the house? Where does the service come in?

 

[jbberns]

I am going to replace fuse boxesss with a breaker box. My house has a basment it has low ceilings. Is it ok to run wires on bottom of floor joists rather than drill them? I plan on runing them close to the wall. Wright now my boxes are on side of stairs center of house is it a good spot or does it need to be moved? thank for your help

Drill them. Looks tacky just stapled, even next to the beam. And you never know if you'll want to put a ceiling of some kind or if you decide to sell.

 

[2mJps]

It is a very small basment i Cant see any one ever wanting to do something with it but i will drill. The box is in the center of the half basment. The meter is on corner of house were basment is. House is 24 feet wide.

 

[kenfath]

Seems to me more info is needed about the scope of your project. Are you keeping the existing entrance wiring or will it be replaced? What is the amperage of existing service?

In my way of thinking a fuse box suggests not many amp service. Sounds like a perfect time to upgrade entire service. I'd locate new panel behind meter and run wires from there in EMT to where they would branch.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Good point!

 

[2mJps]

The service has just been up dated and has new entrance cable. I am going to replace all of the wireing but i wanted to keep box in same location and meter is very close to a basment window.

 

[2mJps]

The main deal be hind my rewireing is house has one box with 4 fuses and 3 boxes with 2 fuses. I would like to put box in same spot. luckly when i got it there was a new meter and entrance cable. Like most old houses it started out with a plugin in every room and then grow into a spaghitt of wirers.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

So the cable going to your fuse boxes will most likely need upgrading as well! It's probably too small to support a decent size panel. What size is the cable going from your meter to the fuse boxes?

 

[2mJps]

This house was used for storage and some time ago they buried electric lines in this area so every thing from fuse box out was updated.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

U mean the fuse box in the basement out to the meter? What size wire is it?

 

[2mJps]

I dont know i will have to look at it tonight.