Wiring help for my son's house please.

[PWC Repair]

My wife and I have been building our son's house. I'm playing architect, engineer, GC, framer, electrician, plumber, HVAC man,..........well, you get the picture. I wired my whole shop and have upgraded and replaced a lot of wiring in my old house. I have a good grasp on things and will have an electrician friend of mine look it all over before drywall. It's a small 2 story on a foundation with crawlspace. Is there any reason why I should NOT make runs with MC cable to the area I need UNDER the house to a junction box, then split off to outlets, etc.? I CAN run everything inside the I'joists (upstairs floor) but it will be more difficult and then everything will be daisy chained cause there would be no access to J-boxes........or is typical to do it like that? Upstairs will be no problem at all. I'm just running up the walls of each room, into a J-box, then homerun from the J-box to the breaker for that room.

 

[Junkman]

I am far from an electrician; however, I believe that most electricians would say that wild (mice, rats, etc.) animals might find wire a tasty meal in the crawl space.

 

[mike93lx]

Why Mc? It has the same protection requirements as NM-B (Romex)?

I would not add any unnessary junction boxes and in a small 2 story, the runs shouldn't be substantial enough to need it. Just run to each room and branch from there. I like lighting separate from wall receptacles and multiple rooms of lighting can be on one circuit.

All junction boxes must be accessible... Which you should know if you are doing this project.

Don't forget hard wired smokes

 

[PWC Repair]

Why Mc? It has the same protection requirements as NM-B (Romex)?

I would not add any unnessary junction boxes and in a small 2 story, the runs shouldn't be substantial enough to need it. Just run to each room and branch from there. I like lighting separate from wall receptacles and multiple rooms of lighting can be on one circuit.

All junction boxes must be accessible... Which you should know if you are doing this project.

Don't forget hard wired smokes

Mc cause if it's in the crawl it will be less accessible to mice chewing on it. Yes, I'm aware J-boxes must be accessible.........that's why I'd like to run to them in the crawl, THEN branch up into the walls on the first floor from below. Is there any reason NOT to do this? Or is it perfectly acceptable to run to the room then just jump outlet to outlet to switch to light. I like to have each room contained to it's own breaker.

 

[mike93lx]

Or is it perfectly acceptable to run to the room then just jump outlet to outlet to switch to light

It is.

I like the lighting separate so a tripped receptacle breaker doesn't take the lights out, or if you need to do something on a receptacle, you have lights

 

[readhead]

Have mice caused a problem in the past?

 

[PWC Repair]

Have mice caused a problem in the past?

It's a new build,so.....no. BUT, it's not much more money to just run it in MC instead of romex for the extra protection. I don't see any way for mice to even get into the crawl, but just in case.

 

[WildBill]

If you are worried about code you should really stay away from junction boxes, they are historically places for bad splices and iffy connections to hide. The one thing my inspector stressed multiple times to me was no junction boxes. Run from the breaker to the nearest outlet in a room and branch out from there. I would run power and lights separately to each area, maybe sharing some light circuits if it makes sense.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

i would avoid j boxes like that at all costs

 

[PWC Repair]

I sure don't NEED to have J-boxes. In my mind I was seeing this daisy chain method as something Billy Jo Ray Bob would do. But if it's the norm I can just stay inside the ceiling, then down a wall, then branch out. I'm NOT an electrician, nor have I ever been. There is no such thing as code around here BUT, I'm trying to do as much as I can by sorting through the IRC viewed online. So basically twice as good as most any contractor in my area LOL! My buddy stays busy and has every Tom, ****, and Harry bothering him with questions on Facebook 24/7. I want to just have everything done and get him to come look it all over once and done so I'm not "that guy".

 

[mike93lx]

There is no such thing as code around here

There absolutely is. You are subject to code regardless of any inspections that are done

 

[Norcal]

My wife and I have been building our son's house. I'm playing architect, engineer, GC, framer, electrician, plumber, HVAC man,..........well, you get the picture. I wired my whole shop and have upgraded and replaced a lot of wiring in my old house. I have a good grasp on things and will have an electrician friend of mine look it all over before drywall. It's a small 2 story on a foundation with crawlspace. Is there any reason why I should NOT make runs with MC cable to the area I need UNDER the house to a junction box, then split off to outlets, etc.? I CAN run everything inside the I'joists (upstairs floor) but it will be more difficult and then everything will be daisy chained cause there would be no access to J-boxes........or is typical to do it like that? Upstairs will be no problem at all. I'm just running up the walls of each room, into a J-box, then homerun from the J-box to the breaker for that room.

That is true Arkansas wiring although most prefer to use the attic space, cause the proper way "uses too much wire." A lot of Counties have no inspection other then Septic.

 

[PWC Repair]

There absolutely is. You are subject to code regardless of any inspections that are done

Uummmm, NOPE. You can do whatever you want, however you want on your own property, outside of city limits. Apparently you've never been to Arkansas, land of the backwood hillbillies. Seriously though, if you read my whole post you saw that I'm doing everything I can to ACTUALLY be at or above code standards.

 

[mike93lx]

Uummmm, NOPE. You can do whatever you want, however you want on your own property, outside of city limits. Apparently you've never been to Arkansas, land of the backwood hillbillies. Seriously though, if you read my whole post you saw that I'm doing everything I can to ACTUALLY be at or above code standards.

You are wrong. Arkansas is on NEC 2020

Maybe you can get away with anything you want. That is different

 

[PWC Repair]

That is true Arkansas wiring although most prefer to use the attic space, cause the proper way "uses too much wire." A lot of Counties have no inspection other then Septic.

Ya, sounds about right. Also on the Septic inspection........NOPE! When we started this we actually went in to the county office and were told since we are outside of city limits we have to do nothing, BUT they suggested an inspection to make sure it would be working properly. And just an FYI.....we're only about 1.5 miles outside city limits and then only 1/4 mile off the main highway. There is really just no enforcement of standards around here at all. In fact, I can take and show you guys pics of a place IN TOWN, open for business every day that has a bowed ceiling with super extra crappy SORT OF style framework. And people walk under, and stand under it, ALL THE TIME. I'm talking sketchy!

 

[PWC Repair]

You are wrong. Arkansas is on NEC 2020

Maybe you can get away with anything you want. That is different

Wow! Such agression ! Did you read where I said I was doing everything correctly?

 

[njride]

Most of the time you would be using jbs in a crawlspace when doing a rewire on a house that you aren't opening the walls on and you need to move or change things around, add length etc. It is perfectly fine, assuming your splices are neat, your boxes are labeled, your cables are secured etc. It is just fine. Let some of these keyboard warriors get under a 70 year old house and see how well they do. Be neat and do things right and you won't have any problems.

 

[mike93lx]

Wow! Such agression ! Did you read where I said I was doing everything correctly?

There's no aggression. I'm just stating fact and also not saying that you are doing stuff wrong

Good luck with the project, I'm out

 

[Norcal]

More Arkansas style wiring, steel stud home with aluminum triplex pulled through the studs as a feeder, triplex is not a recognized wiring method by the NEC, but there is nothing better for overhead feeds, a 200A Bryant panel with ITE breakers, fed by 2 white, & one black THW, conductors without conduit, fed from a 100A meter can.

 

[cmandp]

If I have access in the walls I run everything there and daisy chain outlet to outlet box. Working in a crawl space on purpose doesn't sound fun and I don't see any future benefit for servicing.

Yes I have done accessible j-boxes in the attic or basement on updating old work but that's only so walls don't have to be ripped out.

 

[PWC Repair]

OK. So it sounds like the daisy chain method is actually the pro preferred method, and is the route I will take. Thanks guys............including mike93lx.......who may have left the party mad. Sorry bro.

 

[dave*99]

Mice can go anywhere. This was a sheet rocked wall.

 

[Junkman]

I have seen mice pull out all the fiberglass insulation from a wall stud to make their nest elsewhere. That is why I am going with closed-cell foam insulation for my renovation.

 

[mm08822]

Aside from air infiltration reduction, mice are another good reason to firestop-caulk stud/plate openings.

 

[Chuckster in NJ]

More Arkansas style wiring, steel stud home with aluminum triplex pulled through the studs as a feeder, triplex is not a recognized wiring method by the NEC, but there is nothing better for overhead feeds, a 200A Bryant panel with ITE breakers, fed by 2 white, & one black THW, conductors without conduit, fed from a 100A meter can.

The inspector said:

 

[rharman]

I'm not advocating this or seeing any advantage but just curious....

IF (big IF) you wanted to do what the OP originally proposed and use J-Boxes... Could you put one in a wall in each room but accessible from the inside with a blank cover on it? Again, I can't fathom doing so - it makes zero sense - but wondering if anyone has seen it.

 

[dscheidt]

I'm not advocating this or seeing any advantage but just curious....

IF (big IF) you wanted to do what the OP originally proposed and use J-Boxes... Could you put one in a wall in each room but accessible from the inside with a blank cover on it? Again, I can't fathom doing so - it makes zero sense - but wondering if anyone has seen it.

You'd do it where you had a device, and branch out from there. It's not that uncommon to want to come into a box from one direction, and leave by two or three, so there are bigger than normal boxes, and for extreme cases even bigger boxes with covers that have a single device yoke, but they're not usually on the shelf at the box store, and expensive, to boot. So, cheapness would probably drive a more normal routing. It's a lot more common in conduit than in romex land, because minimizing the time and material running the conduit, while using a bit more wire, is cheaper than running conduit that minimizes wire use.

 

[The Metric System]

Could you put one in a wall in each room but accessible from the inside with a blank cover on it? Again, I can't fathom doing so - it makes zero sense - but wondering if anyone has seen it.

Yes, I lived in a house where the bedrooms and living room all had this.

I didn't notice any functional issues, but the plastic blank cover next to the light switches was kind of weird looking.

 

[75gmck25]

As part of upgrading my 1940 home I ran wire from the basement up to the attic, added junction boxes, and then wired down into the walls on the 2nd floor to add new circuits. All the new junction boxes have visible, accessible covers on the attic floor.

I used a similar scheme for the first floor, but ran the new circuits up from the basement. The junction boxes there are accessible in my mechanical room, or in some cases I used larger receptacle boxes that served as both wire junctions and receptacle box.